The shyness wrapped in what feels like genetically encoded charisma throws her just as much. It all makes it hard to tell if he actually wants to buy her coffee or if he only feels guilty.
Tea sounds good, but she decides to pass and be polite. “No, thank you.”
“Y’all are gonna need to leave the scene of the crime so we can clean this up.” An airport attendant appears with a mop and bucket.
“Actually, maybe I’ll take you up on that after all,” Nora relents, and it might be the harsh lighting or wishful thinking, but she could swear he seems to perk up at her acceptance.
What harm can it do to let a handsome man buy her an overpriced drink? It’ll be a distraction from the stain on her clothes, from the fact that she’ll be on a plane soon,from her life. And one thing’s for sure…he is handsome. That much is blindingly clear when he flashes her another wide, white toothed smile before escorting her to the coffee counter.
That kind of instant attraction is a foreign thing to her, and she’s not sure how to handle something she always assumed happened to other people. The most logical answer is that she does not handle it at all. Nope. Absolutely not. She will accept his coffee as an apology, and they will go their separate ways. Not that he’d have any desire to take it further anyway.
Fuck. She should have packed her vibrator for the hotel. Of all the things to forget.
He gets a coffee with extra cream and sugar for himself, and a chai tea latte with whipped cream for her.
“No mocha this time?” she teases.
“No, I think I need less sugar, not more,” he replies, handing her the tea as they head back into the land of plastic chairs.
“So, vacation?” she asks
“Not really. My brother’s getting married out of the blue. Eloping in Alaska. I figured I should be there.”
Well now. This is unexpected, she thinks, as the pieces click into place. “Oliver and Gwen?”
“You know them?”
She huffs out a half-laugh. “Gwen’s my best friend. We’re going to the same wedding. I guess it’s not a long shot. Plane travel out there is limited, and the wedding is this weekend.”
“Yeah, guess so.” He pauses, sipping his coffee with an amused smirk. “Never thought he’d get hitched. She must be something.”
“I never thought she would either! Too independent. She used to tell me marriage wasn’t for her. Then one day, I get a call saying she met someone and two weeks later…here I am.”
“About that. Is it just me, or is this kinda fast?”
“It’s not just you.” Nora shrugs. “Doing it the traditional way doesn’t always work either, though. Maybe they have a better chance by going against the norm and not waiting. I hope so.”
“Me too. I’ve never heard him so happy, and lemme tell you, Oliver’s never happy. Sounds like he’s walking on fucking sunshine every time I talk to him. It’s sickening.”
She grins at his deadpan jab. “You’re not a romantic, huh?”
“Who me? Far from it. I’m happy for them, though. Hey, have you gotten in touch with them in the last few days? He’s not answering calls. I’m assuming the signal up there is rough.”
“Actually, I haven’t spoken to her since last week. She told me communication can be unreliable.The wildlife research center sucks up all our signalis her favorite rant. Plus, there are all these random outages going on lately. Have you seen that?”
“Yeah, I did. Something about a virus. It can’t be that bad, though, if they haven’t shut down the flights. Probably the flu again.”
“Probably. I brought extra hand sanitizer just in case. If you need some, you’re welcome to it.”
He whips out a small bottle from the zippered pocket of his carry-on. “I come prepared.”
“Impressive,” she smiles.
“Anyway, that’s probably it. Bad signal, outage, whatever. Can’t imagine what could go wrong. There’s nothing up there to begin with.”
“Nothing but penguins and polar bears.”
The boarding call for their flight to Barrow, Alaska sounds over the system before she can reply, and they say their goodbyes before wandering toward the gate. He’ll split off, and so will she, then she’ll see him again at the wedding, maybe think of him at the hotel during a little stress relief, and that’s all well and good except that she’s slightly terrified of who she’ll be sitting next to now that she can’t put it off any longer.
