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Chapter Nine
Teagan
I walked through the parking lot, going through checklists in my head. It was hard to believe my trip was coming up so soon. I’d been up since seven that morning, running errands and generally freaking out. I didn’t remember feeling this frantic about leaving the last time, but I’d been younger and life had been a little easier. I stepped to the left to give a wide pickup truck the berth to pull around and tripped on a bit of uneven pavement. The truck near me caught my fall and as I twirled to get my hand off it, lest I set off a car alarm, I spotted Jess from the grooming place walking ahead of me.
For some reason, Julianna didn’t get along with Jess or her business partner, but I thought both women were kind of sweet. I guessed Jess was in her late thirties or early forties and she reminded me a little of my mom when I was a kid—all soft curves and long legs. I hoped the letter was about her.
I started walking again, staying back because even if I didn’t have sunglasses and a trench coat, if I was going to lean into solving a mystery, I was going to lean all the way in. I hadn’t gotten to talk to Silas for long the day before. He’d left in a hurry when his shift was over, but he’d texted me what Martin said and it felt serendipitous to follow Jess in from the parking lot, though I wasn’t sure what I expected. I pulled out my phone.
Teagan:Are you on your break? Jess is walking in front of me.
Silas:Wasn’t there any other hobby you could pick up this week besides sleuthing? I don’t know if I like this side of you.
Teagan:Yes, you do.
Silas:Well, did you ask her if the note is about her?
Teagan:I can’t do that! If it’s her, maybe she doesn’t know.
I rolled my eyes instead of including the emoji. Silas thought this whole thing was silly, but he’d play along. He’d help because I asked him to, even though I hadn’t explained all the reasons I wanted to figure this out before I left.
Watching Jess walk ahead, though, made me think about my mom, and about my parents. They’d weathered hard financial times when I was in college and after I dropped out, but they’d made it through. I loved my parents, but my mom had told me about the plans she had when she was young, how she’d take the world by storm, but then life happened, and she never saw her quiet home life as much of a storm. I promised myself I’d never set my dreams and plans aside for any man. And I hadn’t. Unfortunately, so far, that meant I hadn’t gotten a love story, either.
I stepped out of the way again, letting two cars get through before I kept going, being more careful of the uneven concrete this time, part of that old conversation playing in my head.
Ahead of me, a lanky man stepped out of a car and called to Jess, and when she whipped around a smile all but exploded on her face.
Jackpot.
They chatted as he walked toward her. They didn’t kiss or embrace, but he approached her eagerly, angling his body in a way that looked like he wanted to kiss her cheek or wrap an arm around her.
Teagan:They’re so cute together.
Silas:Doesn’t your shift start in ten minutes?
I glanced at my watch. Damn it! I sped up and ended up at the elevator with Jess as the man slipped into the stairwell.
“Good morning,” I said. The doors slid open just as I arrived and I took it as a good sign from the universe.
“Morning,” she said, hitting the button for us.
This is where my lack of planning bit me in the butt, because I was always friendly with Jess but we’d never had any substantial conversations that would let me casually, in the length of an elevator ride, find out if the man from the parking garage was secretly in love with her.
I said the first thing that came to my mind, and it wasn’t my best work. “That guy you were talking to looks so familiar. Is he an actor or something? I swear I’ve seen him on TV.”
Silas would have hung his head and laughed at my bald-faced, poorly acted lie, but I was fairly certain Jess didn’t know me well enough to think I was being anything other than strange.
She gave me a curious expression and let out a small laugh. “I don’t think he’s ever acted. He just opened a luggage store on the D concourse.”
“Must just be one of those faces,” I said, racking my brain. I’d hoped for a little more information, like he just opened a luggage shop and we kiss on the weekends, but she hadn’t tacked anything on. “That’s cool, though. You two are friends?”
The doors opened with a whoosh and her phone rang as we stepped off. She glanced at the screen with a grimace. “I need to take this, but yeah, we go way back.” She stepped away and I waved, hurrying toward the shop and determined to fill in Silas as soon as I got the chance.
In the years since I’d started working in the airport, I’d had a few fantasies. One was the superhot TSA agent giving me a very thorough pat down and the other was a faster way to get through security to get to work. As I took notice of said hot TSA agent two lanes over, I realized the odds of either happening were about the same. I tapped my foot and waited in the line for staff. I’d really wasted time trailing Jess, but death, taxes, and the TSA were on no one else’s timeline, so I followed the young woman in front of me with the bouncing ponytail and her friend who had dark hair. They looked familiar and I listened to their easy banter about work. It sounded like they worked at one of the coffee kiosks.
I was in my head because now I immediately jumped to whether they were a couple and if one of them might be considering confessing their romantic feelings. Maybe Silas was right. I did look for love stories.
“Late for work?” Martin called out when he saw me power walking to the candy shop. “Julie’s not going to be too happy about that.”
“You’re the only one who calls her that.”
Martin shrugged. “Call it a perk of age.”
“Perk of beauty,” I said with a wink, hurrying by.
“You know, you’re right,” he said. “Tell her not to be too hard on ya.”
“Would that work?” I called over my shoulder.
Martin laughed. “Nah. Can’t imagine it would.”
