He disappeared into his bedroom and returned moments later with a T-shirt and the neon-green running shorts I’d admired all summer for the blessed view of his legs they’d provided. “No time to waste,” he said,tossing them to me. I slipped them on over my bathing suit, reminded of the night he’d lent me his towel.
Which Nina was apparently thinking about too. “You’ve really got to stop meeting Alex barely clothed, Josephine.”
—
When we arrived at the hotel, a Days Inn only a mile from the airport, Alex and Greyson kept watch by the entrance, while Nina and I marched up to the front desk attendant, a woman with bright orange lipstick and matching cat-eye glasses.
She scanned my and Nina’s outfits with skepticism. “Checking in?”
“Did two teenage girls get a room here yesterday?” I asked.
The woman gave me a glassy stare. “We don’t allow minors to book rooms, ma’am.”
“One of them has a fake ID. Please, they’re my nieces. They were staying with me for the summer, but they ran off.”
The woman pursed her lips, unmoved. “I told you, we don’t allow minors to book rooms.”
Apparently appealing to this woman’s sympathies wouldn’t work. “They used my card. Their names are Mia and Catherine Taylor, but the card they used was under my name, Josephine Walker. That’s fraud, right?” I showed her my ID, but still the woman didn’t move.
Nina shoved me aside and stood on her toes to lean over the counter, eyeing the woman’s name tag. “All right, Brenda. I’m going to level with you.”
Brenda raised her eyebrows, unimpressed.
Nina jerked her thumb in my direction. “This gorgeous human butterfly needs to get to her nieces, and you’re going to help her because, one, I’d hate to call corporate and tell them you don’t have proper security. Seriously, letting minors rent rooms? And two, I know exactly what goes down in room 24 on Wednesday nights. I’m sure the local news would love a good story on—”
“One moment,” Brenda said, cutting Nina off.
I turned to Nina as Brenda typed on her computer. “Is this another Craigslist thing I don’t want to know about?”
Nina winked. “I’ve got blackmail on half of Palm Beach.”
Brenda cleared her throat. “It seems they checked out about an hour ago.”
My heart sank. I’d finally tracked the girls down, and we’d missed them. It had been a ridiculous idea thinking I could get to them in time. Deflated, I thanked Brenda and turned to go, but she called out after us.
“They booked the shuttle to the airport. It says they had a ten fifteen flight.”
I turned to her, adrenaline coursing through me again. They weren’t gone yet. There was still time. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Breathless, Nina and I joined Alex and Greyson at the entrance.
“They already left the hotel.” I walked past them and out the hotel door without stopping. I checked my phone; it was already nine thirty. We had to get to the airport and find them before they boarded their flight.
“Looks like I’m getting my airport run after all,” Nina said once we were in the van again.
“You were amazing in there,” I said to Nina. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’re a gorgeous human butterfly too.”
Nina waved me off. “Nah. I’m much more exotic. Like a gorgeous human flamingo.”
—
When we tumbled out of the van and into the airport parking garage, Alex shoved his keys into his pocket and turned to me. “What’s the plan?”
I stared at him. Wasn’t the plan obvious? We’d race through the airport, getting to Mia and Kitty just as their flight was about to board. They’d run into my arms when they saw me. Right now, they wereprobably sitting in those fake leather chairs, Mia with her headphones in, Kitty readingThe Art of War.
“I’ll march in there, ask for the cheapest flight I can buy, and hope I find them before their flight boards,” I said.
Nina and Greyson looked ready to sprint toward the terminal.
But Alex looked less than enthused. “I don’t think that will work.”
