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“Smile, Miss,” the plane’s captain said as she stepped onto the Jetway. “You’re in the biggest little city in the world.”
Beth Spence bristled inside yet obliged. After all, the man did just defy physics for the past ninety minutes and got her there in one piece. She adjusted the tote bag on her shoulder and limped through the passageway and into the Reno-Tahoe International Airport terminal. On the outskirts of the waiting area, a tall, spindly airport attendant stood behind an empty wheelchair.
“Will you be heading to baggage claim, Ms. Spence?” the young, dark-haired man asked.
Beth slowed to a stop, which didn’t take much effort considering her lack of speed to begin with, and glanced down at the walking cast on her left leg, then up at the attendant. Before he had a chance to make his own comment about her expression, she flashed him her winningest showgirl smile and waved him off.
“Thank you,” she told him, “but I won’t be needing any assistance.”
“But, Ms. Spence,” he pleaded. “The airline received several calls from a Delaney Callahan insisting—no, warning—that if we didn’t take you to baggage claim, she would have whoever was responsible drawn and quartered. She even named the four horses who would be up to the task.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer to keep my limbs attached to my torso.”
Beth laughed. Only Delaney could bring a genuine smile out of her after the month she’d had, and the woman wasn’t even here yet. “Consider you and your limbs safe, my friend. My big sis is way more bark than she is bite.” She winked at him and then spun on her good heel, continuing on her way.
Her left ankle throbbed, and her throat grew tight. On any other Tuesday, she’d have been thrilled to make the trip from Vegas to Meadow Valley to visit Delaney, Sam, and her adorable niece, Nolan. But this was a pity party disguised as a visit.
“I’m sending you a ticket,” Delaney had told her when she called the week before. “All expenses paid, open-ended, stay as long as you like.”
“All expenses paid?” Beth had asked dryly. “Like, all forty bucks? Or do I get to check a bag too?”
“Baggage is free,” Delaney responded, playing along. Beth could hear the artificial perkiness in her sister’s tone. “Up to two checked bags.”
“I’m busy,” Beth lied, though what was the point? Delaney knew exactly what Beth had been doing since being released from the hospital and what she’d be doing for at least another four to six weeks. Absolutely nothing, unless you counted wallowing. She’d be doing so much wallowing. Just because her sister had gotten her out of Vegas didn’t mean she’d gotten Beth out of her funk.
“Sam and I will pick you up in Reno and bring you back to Meadow Valley. Ticket’s already purchased and in your inbox, so I won’t take no for an answer…unless you want to cough up that forty bucks.”
So here Beth was, on the day she should have been stepping out of a taxi and into Times Square, finally transitioning from Vegas showgirl to Radio City Rockette. She should have been dancing her way through the company’s summer preparatory programs before beginning rehearsals for the Christmas Spectacular in early autumn. Instead, she was headed for Middle of Nowhere, California, on an open-ended ticket, final destination unknown, but it was certainly not the city that never sleeps.
The pain in her ankle increased with each step, a constant reminder that the girl who had been a dancer since the age of four now couldn’t make it a few steps without wincing or swearing under her breath. She should have let the guy do what he was asked and take her where she needed to go. But pride was funny like that. It knew what was best for you yet chose the opposite. If you let yourself believe you can’t even walk to baggage claim, the next thing you know, you’ll start believing the doctors that your dancing days are over. That was what the voice in her head told her. Still, Delaney would take one look at her and know she was in pain, and that poor guy who was just doing his job would actually get drawn and quartered.
“Sorry, airline guy,” Beth mumbled under her breath. “You deserved better.”
When she finally made it to the baggage carousel, her rolling suitcase had already been pulled from the belt and placed in a clump of other unclaimed luggage. Had it really taken her that long to get there?
She sighed, lifted and extended the arm of her case, and began rolling it toward the exit.
She expected to find her sister standing inside the doorway, arms waving as she yelled, “Bethy!” Instead, she slowed her approach as she noticed a tall, dark, and clueless…cowboy?…looking right, left, and just past her as he held up a piece of white paper with Beth Spence scrawled on it in black marker.
“Who are you?” she asked when she was only a few feet away from him. “And please tell me you’ve got something parked outside that doesn’t have four legs and hooves.”
He startled, his head dipping so his bright blue eyes met hers.
“Shit,” he said softly. “Where’d you come from?”
“Well, that’s a hell of a greeting,” she answered, letting go of the suitcase handle and crossing her arms as she appraised him. “But I asked you first.”
He looked at the sign in his hand and then at her. He pulled a phone from the pocket of his jeans and swiped at the screen. Now he was glancing from his phone to her and back to his phone again.
“I guess this is you, right? Beth?” He showed her the photo on his phone, a selfie she and Delaney took years ago at a New Year’s Eve party. “You look different,” he added.
Beth’s pulse quickened. “You mean younger?” The words came out more defensive than she’d intended.
He raised his brows. “No, it’s just… You’re smiling in the photo, so I wasn’t sure if—”
“Ooooh,” she interrupted. “So this is the part where you tell me I’m prettier when I smile or that I should be happy to be in the littlest big city…or the biggest littlest city…what the heck did the guy say?”
The stranger held his hands up in surrender, his phone with the picture of her in one and the sign with her name still in the other.
“The biggest little city in the world? And you can smile or not smile. Makes no difference to me. I’m just making sure I have the right person before I take you back home. I don’t need your sister having me drawn and quartered for accidentally leaving you stranded at the airport.”
