Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
“T his is exactly why I didn’t tell you about Martin,” Cait informed Joe as he tossed her suitcase into the back seat of his car.
She checked her watch again and groaned.
They had barely an hour and a half before her flight was scheduled to leave.
Cait was never late. Never—at least not when it was her own fault.
“It seems to me,” Joe continued, his face deadpan, “that there could very well be some legal grounds to our marriage.”
Joe was saying that just to annoy her, and unfortunately it was working. “I’ve never heard anything more ludicrous in my life.”
“Think about it, Cait,” he said, ignoring her protest. “We could be celebrating our anniversary this spring. How many years is it now? Eighteen? How the years fly.”
“Listen, Joe, I don’t find this amusing.” She glanced at her watch. If only she hadn’t slept so late. Never again would she have any Christmas punch. Briefly she wondered what else she’d said to Joe, then decided it was better not to know.
“I heard a news report of a three-car pileup on the freeway, so we’ll take the side streets.”
“Just hurry,” Cait urged in an anxious voice.
“I’ll do the best I can,” Joe said, “but worrying about it isn’t going to get us there any faster.”
She glared at him. She couldn’t help it.
He wasn’t the one who’d been planning this trip for months.
If she missed the flight, her nephews and niece wouldn’t have their Christmas presents from their Auntie Cait.
Nor would she share in the family traditions that were so much a part of her Christmas. She had to get to the airport on time.
Everyone else had apparently heard about the accident on the freeway, too, and the downtown area was crowded with the overflow. Cait and Joe were delayed at every intersection and twice were forced to sit through two changes of the traffic signal.
Cait was growing more panicky by the minute. She just had to make this flight. But it almost seemed that she’d get to the airport faster if she simply jumped out of the car and ran there.
Joe stopped for another red light, but when the signal turned green, they still couldn’t move—a delivery truck in front of them had stalled. Furious, Cait rolled down the window and stuck out her head. “Listen here, buster, let’s get this show on the road,” she shouted at the top of her lungs.
Her head was pounding and she prayed the aspirin would soon take effect.
“Quite the Christmas spirit,” Joe muttered dryly under his breath.
“I can’t help it. I have to catch this plane.”
“You’ll be there in plenty of time.”
“At this rate we won’t make it to Sea-Tac before Easter!”
“Relax, will you?” Joe suggested gently. He turned on the radio and a medley of Christmas carols filled the air. Normally the music would have calmed her, but she was suffering from a hangover, depression and severe anxiety, all at the same time. Her fingernails found their way into her mouth.
Suddenly she straightened. “Darn! I forgot to give you your Christmas gift. I left it at home.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I didn’t get you a gag gift the way I said.” Actually she was pleased with the book she’d managed to find—an attractive coffee-table volume about the history of baseball.
Cait waited for Joe to mention her gift. Surely he’d bought her one. At least she fervently hoped he had, otherwise she’d feel like a fool. Though, admittedly, that was a feeling she’d grown accustomed to in the past few weeks.
“I think we might be able to get back on the freeway here,” Joe said, as he made a sharp left-hand turn. They crossed the overpass, and from their vantage point, Cait could see that the freeway was unclogged and running smoothly.
“Thank God,” she whispered, relaxing against the back of the seat as Joe drove quickly ahead.
Her chauffeur chuckled. “I seem to remember you lecturing me—”
“I never lecture,” she said testily. “I may have a strong opinion on certain subjects, but let me assure you, I never lecture.”
“You were right, though. The streets of Bethlehem must have been crowded and bustling with activity at the time of that first Christmas. I can see it all now, can’t you? A rug dealer is held up by a shepherd driving his flock through the middle of town.”
Cait smiled for the first time that morning, because she could easily picture the scene Joe was describing.
“Then some furious woman, impatient to make it to the local camel merchant before closing, sticks her nose in the middle of everything and shouts at the rug dealer to get his show on the road.” He paused to chuckle at his own wit.
“I’m convinced she wouldn’t have been so testy except that she was suffering from one heck of a hangover. ”
“Very funny,” Cait grumbled, smiling despite herself.
He took the exit for the airport and Cait was gratified to note that her flight wasn’t scheduled to leave for another thirty minutes. She was cutting it close, closer than she ever had before, but she’d confirmed her ticket two days earlier and had already been assigned her seat.
Joe pulled up at the drop-off point for her airline and gave Cait’s suitcase to a skycap while she rummaged around in her purse for her ticket.
“I suppose this is goodbye for now,” he said with an endearingly crooked grin that sent her pulses racing.
“I’ll be back in less than two weeks,” she reminded him, trying to keep her tone light and casual.
“You’ll phone once you arrive?”
She nodded. For all her earlier panic, Cait now felt oddly unwilling to leave Joe. She should be rushing through the airport to her airline’s check-in counter to get her boarding pass, but she lingered, her heart overflowing with emotions she couldn’t identify.
“Have a safe trip,” he said quietly.
“I will. Thanks so much... for everything.”
“You’re welcome.” His expression sobered and the ever-ready mirth fled from his eyes. Cait wasn’t sure who moved first. All she knew was that she was in Joe’s arms, his thumb caressing the softness of her cheek as they gazed hungrily into each other’s eyes.
He leaned forward to kiss her. Cait’s eyes drifted shut as his mouth met hers.
At first Joe’s kiss was tender but it quickly grew in fervor.
The noise and activity around them seemed to fade into the distance.
Cait could feel herself dissolving. She moaned and arched closer, not wanting to leave the protective haven of his arms. Joe shuddered and hugged her tight, as if he, too, found it difficult to part.
“Merry Christmas, love,” he whispered, releasing her with a reluctance that made her feel... giddy. Confused. Happy.
“Merry Christmas,” she echoed, but she didn’t move.
Joe gave her the gentlest of nudges. “You’d better hurry, Cait.”
“Oh, right,” she said, momentarily forgetting why she was at the airport. Reaching for the bags filled with gaily wrapped Christmas packages, she took two steps backward. “I’ll phone when I get there.”
“Do. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.” He thrust his hands into his pockets and Cait had the distinct impression he did it to stop himself from reaching for her again. The thought was a romantic one, a certainty straight from her heart.
Her heart... Her heart was full of feeling for Joe.
More than she’d ever realized. He’d dominated her life these past few weeks—taking her to dinner, bribing his way back into her good graces with pizza, taking her on a Christmas shopping expedition, escorting her to Paul’s party.
Joe had become her whole world. Joe, not Paul. Joe.
Given no other choice, Cait abruptly turned and hurried into the airport, where she checked in, then went through security and down the concourse to the proper gate.
The flight had already been called and only a handful of passengers had yet to board.
Cait dashed to the counter with her boarding pass. A young soldier stood just ahead of her. “But you don’t understand,” the tall marine was saying to the airline employee. “I booked this flight over a month ago. I’ve got to be on that plane!”
“I’m so sorry,” the woman apologized, her dark eyes regretful. “This sort of thing happens, especially during holidays, but your ticket’s for standby. I wish I could do something for you, but there isn’t a single seat available.”
“But I haven’t seen my family in over a year. My uncle Harvey’s driving from Duluth to visit. He was in the marines, too. My mom’s been baking for three weeks. Don’t you see? I can’t disappoint them now!”
Cait watched as the agent rechecked her computer. “If I could magically create a seat for you, I would,” she said sympathetically. “But there just isn’t one.”
“But when I bought the ticket, the woman told me I wouldn’t have a problem getting on the flight. She said there’re always no-shows.”
“I’m so sorry,” the agent repeated, looking past the young marine to Cait.
“All right,” he said, forcefully expelling his breath. “When’s the next flight with available space? Any flight within a hundred miles of Minneapolis. I’ll walk the rest of the way if I have to.”
Once again, the woman consulted her computer. “We have space available the evening of the twenty-sixth.”
“The twenty-sixth!” the young man shouted. “But that’s after Christmas and eats up nearly all my leave. I’d be home for less than a week.”
“May I help you?” the airline employee said to Cait. She looked almost as unhappy as the marine, but apparently there wasn’t anything she could do to help him.
Cait stepped forward and handed the woman her boarding pass. The soldier gazed at it longingly, then moved dejectedly from the counter and lowered himself into one of the molded plastic chairs.