Page 7 of Time Served in New York
“That’s been done already, hasn’t it?” Blue asked.
“I don’t think so,” Matalie answered. “They’re always at some exotic location. Oh wait! Maybe one of them was in Central Park!”
“Right,” Paula said sarcastically. “Because that’s an exotic location.”
“Woman, hush. Everything I know about Central Park I learned fromStuart LittleandSpider-Man,” Blue snapped.
“An American Tale,” Jenn said with a sappy look. “Somewhere out there. . .”
When the other women, Paula and Frankie included, started singing the theme song to the movie, I glanced over at the saleswomen who were huddled near the counter and laughed at their mortified expressions.
As I followed the singing women out of the boutique, I couldn’t help but think that this next week was going to be one hell of an adventure.
3.
SANTA
“Are you in charge of the baggage?” I asked a man who was standing on the tarmac watching some other men sort through the luggage that everyone had set in the area cordoned off near the rear of the plane.
He looked like he didn’t belong there and seemed to be scrutinizing the crews’ every move.
“I’m a private employee. I don’t work for the airline,” the man said flatly. “You’re Mr. Miller?”
“That’s me,” I said as I stuck my hand out to shake his. “You can call me Santa.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No, that’s actually what I go by,” I assured him.
The man glanced over at the large plastic bin I’d helped Stamp and a few of the other guys secure a few days ago before he said, “I find your name ironic considering you’re delivering a very nice gift to my employers just a few weeks before Christmas.”
I laughed when I realized how funny that sounded and shrugged, “At least there aren’t any reindeer involved, right?”
“I appreciate that.”
“Is there anything you need us to do?”
“Not a thing. I’ve got it from here.”
“Thank you. I’m sure I’ll see you again when we get to New York.”
“No, you won’t,” the man said as he shook my hand again and glanced back at the luggage. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes as he warned, “You didn’t even see me here.”
???
BREA
“How many times have you flown, Marques? It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
“I’ve flown at least a hundred times, but it doesn’t get any easier,” he mumbled before he leaned forward and rested his head on the seat in front of us. “The trainers always gave me some kind of pill when we met at the airport.”
“Just take some deep breaths in through your nose,” I said as I rested my hand on his back and tried to soothe him.
“You’re gonna be fine,” I heard Blue say from somewhere behind us. “People fly all the time, Jude.”
“There’s a reason man doesn’t have wings, Blue,” Preacher growled in return. “If I was fucking meant to fly, we’d be sweeping feathers off the floor every day.”
“He’s so dramatic,” I heard Sis whisper from her seat behind me.
