Seven
Bay
The familiar scent of my favorite coffee shop was comforting.
I’d been unsure and unsettled since walking outside to find Hale Carver.
I knew his first name now. He had a daughter in DC, yet he was from Mississippi.
That didn’t surprise me though. His Southern drawl was thicker than anything in Virginia.
His having a daughter, however, gave me a twinge of security.
Maybe. I mean, that could be a lie, but why would he make that up?
He hadn’t known me when he was on that flight.
His showing up had been coincidental. It had to have been.
There was no way this man was stalking me.
Men who looked like him did not have to stalk a woman.
Women likely stalked him. I knew Lillibeth would if she could.
Her reaction to my being with him had been as expected.
But she was the only flight attendant who could pick him out of a lineup.
No one else had been on that flight with us.
She wasn’t going on the flight to Sydney, but she would be arriving to work today for another set of domestic flights.
If I didn’t report in, she’d hear about it, and she would know what to tell the authorities.
Okay, my imagination was getting out of control.
“What would you like?” Hale asked, pulling me from the rabbit hole my thoughts had gone down.
I stared up at him. I was going to order after he was done. “I, uh…” I stammered, unsure if he was planning on paying for mine. I didn’t want him to do that. His giving me a ride was weird enough. I blinked, hoping he said something.
“It ain’t that hard, Snow,” he said with a smirk.
Snow? Was he making fun of my pale skin?
“I, uh…are you done ordering?” I replied.
He nodded. “Waitin’ on you, darlin.”
Now it was darlin’. My stomach didn’t need to get all fluttery over that. He had called me darlin’ before. It was likely something he called all women. A Southern thing. Part of his sexy-cowboy swagger or whatever.
I am not into older men. I am NOT into older men, I chanted in my head even though I doubted this man was flirting with me. He was just being nice.
I wasn’t young enough to be his daughter, but I already knew all about attractive older men. I’d tried that. Hadn’t ended well.
He was staring at me…right. He had asked what I wanted.
“Oh, um, I—you don’t have to get my drink. I can do that.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “What do you want?”
Okay, fine. Arguing in the coffee shop was pointless. I’d just give him the six dollars and seventy-two cents that I knew it cost when we got back in the fancy SUV.
“Iced lavender latte with a drizzle of caramel,” I replied, biting off the, “Please,” because I didn’t like being told what to do, not that he was being rude.
The barista heard me and turned to go start the order.
“Not that I’m judging you, but lavender? In coffee?” he asked with a touch of disgust.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” I told him.
“I think I’ll have to pass,” he drawled.
The barista handed him his cup of boring black coffee. Figured he’d order that. Went with the cowboy swagger after all. He took a drink, watching me over the rim.
“Anything is better than that,” I told him, pointing at his cup.
He chuckled, but said nothing.
We waited in silence for a few moments, but my curiosity about this man was creating a pile of questions. He’d asked me some in the car, so I decided it was fair if I asked a few.
“How long are you visiting your daughter?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Not sure.”
He wasn’t sure? Did he not have a job to get back to? Was his flight a one-way?
“Is she in college?”
He smirked and shook his head. “No, she’s in politics. Works at the White House.”
Well, damn. I had not expected that. How old was she? Better yet, how old was he? He couldn’t be older than forty-five. But if his daughter was out of college, then…jeez. Was he fifty?
“Here you go,” the barista said, snapping my attention off Hale and to the drink the younger guy was holding out for me.
I thanked him, taking it, then turned back to Hale.
“You do not look old enough to have a daughter out of college,” I said bluntly.
He cut his eyes at me. “I turned fifty last month.”
Oh. Wow. He must have sold his soul to stop aging, like I was sure Jared Leto had—at least, that was my theory on him. Hale could also be a vampire. But I wasn’t suggesting that out loud. I’d sound crazy.
“Is she your only child?” I asked as we walked back out onto the street and toward his Escalade.
“Nope, she’s the middle. I got a twenty-eight-year-old son and one who is twenty-five.”
He didn’t wear a wedding band—I’d checked that already—but I had also once believed another man wasn’t married because he didn’t wear a wedding band, and now I was a flight attendant. That dark thought brought me back to reality.
“I would have never guessed that,” I replied.
“Thanks,” he said, then glanced over at me. “So, the other place you work, is it like a Boys & Girls Club thing?”
He was changing the subject. He didn’t like being asked questions. Interesting.
“I volunteer,” I corrected him. “After the Bell is kind of like that, yes. It’s a great option for kids in foster care.
Not all those homes are places where they get help or even decent meals.
The kids who need extra attention or just need to feel wanted come there.
Reggie and Belinda have made it a home of sorts.
I wish I’d had somewhere like that to go as a kid. ”
“Were you a foster kid?” he asked.
“No, I wasn’t in foster care, but I might as well have been.” Hopefully he didn’t ask me more about that comment. I shouldn’t have said it.
Instead he walked over to the passenger side and opened the door for me.
I did need a little help with my balance while holding my coffee this time, and I wasn’t as awkward as I took his hand and stepped up.
He closed the door and walked back around.
I took that time to appreciate the man’s appeal.
Knowing he had kids made him seem less dangerous.
But he still had an edge about him that made me uneasy.