But airlines didn’t provide hotel accommodations when weather was to blame for flight problems. And this trip hadn’t been business. She’d come to clear her head and try to get herself back on track. She’d paid for the entire thing herself. She didn’t have the budget for another night at a hotel.
“What are you planning to do?” she asked. “Wait it out or reschedule?”
His smile was slow and soft. “I have all the time in the world, Jane. I’m willing to wait.”
She shouldn’t have liked the sound of that, but she did. She very much did.
Chapter Four
Ididn’tnotwant it.
Miguel wasn’t sure what she’d meant by that, but he liked what it hinted at. He figured she’d turned down his proposal because she didn’t want to be with him. But that, apparently, wasn’t entirely true. He had to figure out whatwastrue.
He sat in their booth, finishing off his chips, trying to decide what came next. It had been almost thirty minutes since she’d taken up her bag and offered him a “talk to you later.” He was determined to hold her to that. Of course, there was a fine line between being determined and being a stalker.
He slouched low on the bench. “Love is a pain,” he muttered.
“Tell me about it,” someone answered behind him.
Miguel looked back. A guy who somehow managed to look fashionable and shockingly comfortable sat there alone, but with several mismatched carry-on bags around his feet.
“I’m Tim,” the guy said.
“Miguel.” He turned a little on the bench, stretching his legs out the length of it, sitting full profile to the guy, who sat the same way.
“How long do you think we’ll be stuck here?” Tim asked.
Miguel motioned with his chin toward the TV. “With that kind of weather, I’d guess all night. If the flight doesn’t end up canceled altogether.”
Tim pushed out a huff of breath. “Just my luck. My first week off in eighteen months, and I’m going to spend it here in the airport.”
“Is New York home or Denver?”
“New York is, Denverwas.” Tim crossed his feet at the ankles. “Some friends and I were going to spend some time enjoying nature. LaGuardia’s not exactly what we had in mind.”
Miguel could appreciate that. “This airport is all I’ve seen of New York. It’s not exactly Broadway, but I guess it has its own charm.”
Another guy, dressed in slacks and a tucked-in button-down shirt, joined Tim at his booth. Their styles were different, yet something about the two of them was very similar.
“This is Darren,” Tim said. “Darren, this is Miguel, who just attempted to compare the charms of LaGuardia to Broadway.”
Darren eyed Miguel disapprovingly, though with enough drama to make the look hilarious. “We burn people at the stake for that kind of heresy.”
Miguel silently chuckled. “My girlfriend would probably be the one to light the torch; she’s crazy about Broadway. Well, myex-girlfriend. But I’m working on that.”
Tim’s brow shot upward. “Ah. Now we’ve stumbled on the reason for your earlier declaration about love.” He turned to Darren. “That’s how I met Miguel. He was emoting about the pains of love.”
“‘Emoting’?” Miguel laughed. “I only said four words.”
Darren shook his head. “You can emote without any words if you try hard enough. But back to the ‘I’m working on that’ part. You’re trying to win your ex back?”
Miguel gave the two a very quick, very vague version of his current predicament, minus the personal reasons for their breakup. He found in them a very sympathetic audience.
“And she’shere?” Tim’s eyes darted about, looking for her, though he couldn’t have known what she looked like. “That is fate. You can’t ignore fate.”
“Fate seems to be ignoring me,” Miguel said. “We talked for a while over junk food, but as soon as I brought up anything even kind of personal, she took off.”
Darren scratched at his chin. “Took off in a huff, or just took off?”
