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“Nice job on the landing, by the way, with this crosswind.”
He smiled. “Thanks.”
I turned back to the attendant in the galley. “Could you spare two scotches?”
She grabbed tiny bottles from a drawer. “Sure.” She handed me four.
I pocketed them and headed toward Nicole, who waited part-way up the jetway.
When I got close enough, she huddled next to me. “I need a drink. Screw that. I need a whole bottle.”
I draped an arm around her, and we continued up the jetway. “What’s the hurry to get back?”
She ignored my question and shivered in my grasp, still seemingly terrified by the ordeal.
“Maybe I can help.”
“I doubt it.”
“Try me.”
She answered after a few steps. “I promised to take care of my cousin. She needs me back in LA right away. I have to bail her out of jail.”
Jail?
* * *
Nicole
The first wordabout my cousin being in jail, and Josh reacted as they all did. His jaw dropped open, but no words came out.
I pulled away from him and the shame he made me feel. Looking back, I saw him digging in his pockets. Being in the last group to board, I’d had to check my carry-on at the gate. At least without a bag in tow I could get away from him faster now.
The inside of the small terminal was teeming with angry people. The first ones off the plane had made a beeline for the few chairs. Another group stood in front of the Hertz counter. The rest of us were out of luck. Nowhere to sit, too small an airport to have concessions, and no escape once the dozen or so rental cars were gone. At least the place had a bathroom, so I shivered in line behind the two dozen other women with the same idea.
An airport bathroom had to be better than the filthy lavatory on the plane.
I had to pee badly. Between the cold and the adrenaline of our near-death experience, I couldn’t stop shaking.
I was almost to the bathroom door when Josh spied me.
He walked purposefully my way and nodded toward the Hertz counter. “Come with me.”
“No.” I managed the words with only minimally chattering teeth.
Somehow he didn’t understand that simple answer. He leaned close and whispered, “If you want to get home tonight for your cousin, you have to trust me and come along right now.”
Blondie behind me heard him. “I’ll take that offer, if she won’t.”
I turned to catch Blondie batting her fake eyelashes at Josh.
I nodded toward the restroom door. “I have to go.”
“I can solve that too.”
I shouldered my purse and left the line. “Driving won’t be faster.”
He walked ahead briskly. “Didn’t I tell you to trust me?”
