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“I can probably get you thirty blankets, but I don’t know about the pillows…” Her pen clacked on the desk tunelessly. “Right. Tell Jovan he owes me big time,” she said before hanging up.
“Hey, Imani,” he said. “I’ve gotta come back and cover in the morning, so I’m gonna be sleeping in the break room. I don’t know if I snore, but don’t be alarmed if you hear me sawing logs.”
“Hey, Cap.” She looked up at him, her expression thoughtful. “I need a favor.”
He eyed her warily. “What is it?”
“You’ve got a commercial driver’s license, right?”
The lumpy couch was calling him and he was only half paying attention to her. “Yeah?”
“Cool. Metro called and said they ran out of bedding for all the stranded passengers. They asked to borrow some of ours. Since the flights are all grounded, I let Manny go home, so now I’ve got no one to drive the shuttle to take the stuff over there. Can you do it?”
He wanted to say no. He was just so damned exhausted. The holidays wore him down in the best of circumstances, and these weren’t the best. But there were stranded people at the airport and he could make their night a little better if he sucked it up and did this. Knowing that, he really didn’t have a choice.
“Dammit,” he said.
She grinned from ear to ear. “You are a lifesaver! I owe you.”
He remembered Talia’s words earlier. Defeats the whole good deed thing if I get something out of it. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“Still, I’ll pay you back, you know I will. For now, I’ll have housekeeping bring the bedding down while you go to the restaurant and order whatever you want before they close. Tell Joel to put it on the management tab.”
He was too hungry to argue. At the restaurant, Joel cheerfully tossed a menu at him. “You barely made it, but In the spirit of the holidays, I will not kill you for keeping us here an extra twenty minutes.”
“Your grudging kindness is all I can ask for,” he said, studying the menu. His eyes skimmed past the roast beef holiday family special. The sandwiches mostly looked unappetizing. His thoughts drifted to Talia sleeping in an airport cot, eating a likely contaminated tuna sandwich if he knew anything about the food stand.
Would he see her there? Did that defeat the whole good deed thing if he got something out of it?
“Can I get two burgers and fries?” he asked. “With all the stuff on the side?” He thought for a moment. Talia ate tuna fish, but she could be pescatarian or something. “A house salad with lemon dressing. And maybe something chocolate for dessert? The lava torte thing. And uh, two sets of silverware.”
Fifteen minutes later he had a bag of delicious food, but no dessert. “Sorry, Captain,” Joel said. “I want to say that we’re completely out of desserts, but the truth is, the chef threatened my life for even suggesting he heat up anything else.” He walked to the tall tree decorating the restaurant and plucked two candy canes from it. “You can have these, though.” He handed them over with a cheery smile. “For you and what I’m assuming is an incredibly hot date.”
“You’re the best.” Gabriel gave him a cheesy wink and slid the candy into his jacket pocket before heading to the front.
Imani had pulled the shuttle up front already, and the seats were laden with piles of folded blankets and pillows. “Be slow and be safe, alright? Go to the luggage pickup area, and show your security badge. They’ll let you in.” She looked at the bag of food. “Want me to put that in the break room for you?”
“Um, no. I know someone over there, so I’m gonna…”
“Gotcha gotcha.” She waved him off and he found himself making the slow drive to the airport. In good weather the shuttle barely took seven minutes. It took a lot longer, with the snow coming down as hard as it was, but there were no other vehicles going into the airport or coming out of it, and it looked like they were plowing every couple hours, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
He pulled up to the doors, where cars would ordinarily be lined up to the road with grinning families eager to be with their loved ones. But now, it was deathly quiet.
Kinda felt familiar.
The door flew open and Donald, one of the airport security guards he knew, stood there with an exhausted smile. “Heeeey, Gabriel! How you doing, man?”
“Doing better than these folks,” he said, pulling him in for a quick hug.
Donald patted him heartily on the back. “No shit. Every time I think I’m having a bad time, I try to remember that at least I’ll be sleeping in the employee lounge and not on a cot in a cold-ass baggage claim.”
“Speaking of feeling cold.” He looked Donald over. “What’s this about?” He pointed to his dark, now shiny bald head.
Donald ran a hand over his dome. “Shaving my head in the winter wasn’t my best idea. But this hairline was receding so far back it looked like I had on a headband. It was time.”
“Middle age is coming on fast,” he said with a laugh. “Lucky for you and your wife, you’re still pretty.”
“I am, aren't I?” Donald grinned and waved Gabriel toward the doors. “I could use your help with this, if you have a second.”
