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He looked up and his heart stuttered. The woman from the gift shop stood there, giving him a tentative smile. Melting snow dripped from her hair and shoulders.
He sat up straighter. “Um, hi--hi,” he said, stumbling over the single word. “Uh, how’d you… find me?”
She shrugged. “There are only three hotels directly across from the airport and it’s not like I had other things to do. Found you on the second try.”
“You’re leaking. Snow. I mean.” He fumbled for some napkins on the desk and handed them over.
She smiled gratefully and wiped her face and jacket. Pocketing the damp paper, she stuck her hand out. “I’m Talia.”
That name suited her. Warm, like the sun on beach sand. He shook her chilly hand. “Oh, uh, Gabe--Gabriel. Not Gabe. I don’t like nicknames. Gabriel.” Jesus christ.
Her mouth curled into a smile.“So I shouldn’t call you Gabe, then?”
“Please don’t.”
“Alright Gabriel-not-Gabe, I am your unofficial stalker for the evening and I have a gift for you.” She leaned down and picked up a bag resting on the floor beside her. “Here you go.”
“What would make you an official stalker?” He reached out and took the bag from her.
“I don’t know. I think I need a license for that, or something.”
Inside the bag was a familiar pile of assorted tchotchkes and stuffed animals. “I forgot all about this. I’m so sorry I stuck you with it. How much do I owe–”
She waved a hand at him. “Nothing. You don’t owe me anything. It’s been a long, shitty day for me, and I imagine it hasn’t been much better for you. So Merry whatever. Christmahanakwanzidan. I hope your niece and your kids like that stuff.”
“Oh, I don’t have kids–or a partner, er...” Why did he tell her that? Who cared? “These are for my employees.”
“Oh.” She seemed to perk up some. “I shouldn’t have assumed…”
He ran a hand over the new silver hairs mingling with the black hair at his temples. “No worries. I’m forty-two. I’m used to people thinking I have kids.”
“No, that wasn’t it. I wouldn’t make that kind of judgment based on age. Lots of people don’t have kids. I’m forty and I don’t have them. I just saw stuffed animals and thought…” She laughed helplessly and threw her arms out at her sides. “I’m not my best self today and I wasn’t thinking. Sorry about that.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” He took a breath and released the tension from his shoulders. Seeing her just as flustered as he was made him feel a little less self-conscious. He smiled at her. “This is the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in a long time. Can I order you something to eat? We’ve got a great restaurant here. It has a Michelin star. Whatever that means.”
She bit her lush lower lip. “Oh, that’s so…Nah, it’s alright. Defeats the whole good deed thing if I get something out of it.” She backed away, shifting a carry-on bag high on her shoulder, as she picked up another bulging gift shop bag with the sleeve of a peppermint striped onesie sticking out of it. “Anyway, I already bought a room temperature tuna fish sandwich from a food stand, and I’ve got a comfy cot calling me in the terminal.”
“Oof, those cots are rough.”
“Yeah, I think the floor would actually be more comfortable.” She took a few more steps back and gave him a wave. “Happy Christmas Eve-eve, Gabriel-not-Gabe.”
One chance meeting was something he could let go of, but this felt…different. She’d wandered out in the middle of a storm to bring him a bag full of meaningless stuff, so she must have felt the same oddly acute fascination that he did. He didn’t want her to go, but damned if he could find the right words to say about it, so he watched her turn away.
“Later alligator,” he finally blurted out. Heat started at his jaw and spread over his whole face. He tried to keep his weird cheeseball tendencies to himself, but sometimes they just slipped out.
“After a while, crocodile,” she volleyed back, laughing. Then she headed for the door. Beneath her voluminous coat and the thin scarf, she really wasn’t dressed for the weather at all. It was bitterly cold outside and a long walk and she had on tennis shoes and leggings that were soaked. And no gloves.
“Talia,” he called out. “Wait.”
But she was already gone. He shot up to go after her, but his two-way radio crackled to life. “Gabriel, we have a problem on the third floor. Someone’s drunk and naked in the hall.”
By the time his shift was over, hours later, he was bone exhausted. He’d texted all of his employees to check on them and most were unable to come in for their next shift. The streets were impassable and the city declared it a state of emergency, asking people to stay off the roads if at all possible. It looked like he was going to have to find a place to sleep at the hotel, so he could be there to cover in the morning.
He wondered if Talia made it back to the airport safely. Would it be weird to call over there and check? He sighed. He didn’t even know her last name to have them page her.
One problem at a time, he supposed. He made his way to his office to retrieve the bug out bag he carried daily. He’d never quite stopped being a boy scout or a marine on the inside. So he always had an extra set of clothes, first aid supplies, water, MREs, and a handful of other things he might need in case of emergency.
He slung it over his shoulder and closed the office door behind him. The break room has a fairly comfortable couch in it that he could crash on. He stopped by the front desk to let the night manager know where he’d be, but she was on the phone, looking stressed.
