Bad Traveler (3 page)

“Is someone meeting you here, or can I give you a ride home?”

“My dad should be here, but thank you for the offer.”

They walked toward baggage claim when the sight of a familiar older woman with streaks of gray mingling with her brown hair captured her attention.

“Mom!” She couldn’t ever remember seeing her move that fast as she closed the distance. She anticipated a full-body hug, enveloping her in the most delightful way. Instead, Mom dropped to her knees in front of the stroller and reached for a pink-sleeper-clad toe.

“So, this is my granddaughter! Chloe is even lovelier in person than in the photos you’ve sent. May I hold her?”

“Yes, after I get a hug.” She peered over Mom’s shoulder as she transferred Chloe into her grandmother’s arms for the first time in her life. “Where’s Dad? I thought he was coming to pick me up?”

“He was held up on a conference call, so here I am. Besides, I simply couldn’t wait any longer to see little Chloe.”

A cough drew her attention. Kyle shifted from foot to foot. He probably wanted to get on with his trip home, but she couldn’t say or wave good-bye, not without explaining who he was to Mom.

“Mom, may I introduce Kyle Collins. Not only is he a friend of mine from my undergrad, but he’s also your new assistant basketball coach.”

Her intense scrutiny aimed to intimidate but failed. “I thought you looked familiar. I’d shake your hand, but I’m in no hurry to let go of my first grandbaby. You may call me Charlotte.”

“It’s nice to meet you again, Dr— I mean, Charlotte. I hope you, your husband, Gwen, and Chloe will come to some basketball games. I seem to remember Professor Jones liked going to the games. I’ll arrange for tickets if you would like.” He pulled a business card out of a pocket. “Call me at the office and let me know when you would like to come.”

Mom dropped the card in her purse with her free hand. “Thank you, but James has season tickets. He loves his basketball. Aren’t you beautiful? And so snuggly, too.” Since her mom seemed content to hold Chloe, Gwen put her shoulder bag in the seat of the stroller.

“Should we continue on to baggage claim?” The exhaustion of travel caught up with her after an interminable day. Seeing Mom made her realize how much she wanted to get home, lie down in her bed, and sleep. She half-hoped her mother would make her a cup of the spiced warm milk she offered when Gwen didn’t feel well as a kid. Her parents had converted her room into a guest room years ago, but she longed to gaze out the familiar window and hear the familiar creeks and moans of the old house.

“You look tired, dear. Let’s go.”

Gwen pushed on the stroller, which felt fifty pounds heavier…or maybe her arms were spaghetti. Kyle appeared unrumpled and strong. Everything she wasn’t but needed. Heat radiated from his body, even through his jacket as she touched his arm.

“I hate to be a bother after you’ve already done so much, but could you maybe help me with my luggage? I have two large suitcases plus a car seat and portable crib.” Lowering to a whisper, she continued, “Mom has muscle spasms in her back and is not supposed to lift much. I had hoped my dad would be the one to pick me up, so Mom wouldn’t try to lift the suitcases.”

He placed his free hand on top of hers. “It’s my pleasure.”

Her head seemed to be drifting away from her body but not from motion sickness. She was pretty sure it was from inspecting his mossy-green eyes and the feel of his hand. Cheeks burning, she pulled away and grabbed the stroller. The foam-covered handles provided a welcome reminder that there were far more important things in her life than gazing into a man’s eyes. Even if they were Kyle’s.

Considering the pile of suitcases and baby gear she extracted from the luggage carousel, how had she managed all the stuff in the first place? At least the gigantic suitcases had wheels. The car seat and what he presumed to be the portable crib were bulky, possessing neither wheels nor a handle. He took advantage of the straps on the car-seat case to jerry-rig a backpack and carefully balanced the weight of his medium-sized suitcase with the portable crib. She pulled the two large suitcases. He wished he could have carried one of them in addition to his own, but he remembered his physical therapist’s words of warning about carrying uneven loads. The huge car seat had to weigh as much as Gwen.

“Where are you parked, Dr.— I mean Charlotte?”

“I’m on the second level about four cars down the first aisle. With all of this stuff, I’m glad I’m nice and close.” The smile on her face seemed upbeat, but there was an undertone of worry in her voice. When they approached her car, he saw why.

“Mo-ooom, why didn’t you bring Dad’s car?”

“I don’t like to drive it, dear. It’s too big.”

“It’s a Honda Accord. It’s not that big.” There was a sharpness to her voice that he hadn’t heard before. Her mother’s eyes widened, aghast.

Gwen shook her head and rubbed her temples. “Sorry, I’m really tired. It’s been a long day. I’m just not sure the seat will fit rear-facing in this car.”

He surveyed the Mini and compared it to the pieces of luggage piled around. He hoped to avoid further conflict between the two. Gwen had had a rough day. His car was nearby and, besides, he wasn’t ready to say good-bye. Charlotte took charge.

“We can try putting the car seat in the back. Once that’s in, we can stack everything else around it. There’s a lot of room on the floor.”

He doubted anything would fit in the tiny car unless he played origami with the seats.

She removed the seat out of its carrying case and shoved the passenger seat as far forward as it would go.

“I know how it goes in, so let me get in.” Gwen climbed through the gap between the bucket seats and into the back. “Kyle, please pass the seat back to me.”

He moved slowly to thread the front part of the seat between the headrests of the front seats, but the seat blocked his view.
Don’t let me hurt her
.

“Ooof.”

A gasp escaped his throat. “Gwen? Speak to me.”

“I’m all right. I just bumped my head on the roof, but it’s back here.”

The three of them rotated the seat around about eight different ways, working different angles to wedge it into place. Gwen had one knee on the seat bench and one in the infant seat. “Before I latch the seat in, could you try putting the passenger seat upright?”

Charlotte pulled the lever to raise the seatback, but it stopped partway. He guessed the seat back was at a seventy-five-degree angle, a guaranteed miserable ride. Even with the yellow light of the parking garage, he could make out Gwen’s features. Her lower lip trembled and shoulders caved inward, but he might be able to prevent her from crying.

“I have a Jeep. It’s got pretty good legroom in the back, so I think the seat would fit. I should be able to drive Gwen and Chloe home if that is okay with everyone.”

“If it wouldn’t be any trouble. I would hate for you to go out of your way.” From the back seat, she pleaded.

“I have to drive through town to get to my apartment.”

“Thank you.” Two feminine voices spoke as one.

They reversed the process to extract the seat and divided the luggage so Charlotte kept the portable crib and one suitcase in her trunk. She invited him to put one of his smaller bags into her car. He declined but accepted her offer to come to his car and make sure everything fit before leaving the parking garage.

His four-door simplified the installation. In a matter of minutes, Gwen’s capable hands positioned the seat. As he loaded the luggage into the back, he snuck a peek at her sexy rear end wiggling in the air as she kneeled and bounced in the car seat to pull the straps tight. She turned him on and amused him at the same time. He had no idea grown-ups could climb into those things, but he was sure none looked as good doing it as she did.

Once she secured Chloe, she hugged her mom and promised to meet up at home soon. He deliberated as she strapped in. Although she sported a healthier color than on the plane, if she needed a bag, he’d rather find one before getting on the road.

“How will you be in the car? Do you need anything in case you are sick again?”

“No, I’m fine in the front seat.” She opened her mouth as if to say more but closed it without saying another word.

As they left the parking garage, the rhythmic thumping of Chloe’s kicking feet echoed in the interior. By the time they merged onto the two-lane highway that would take them to Corwin, the car was quiet, except for the low drone of sports talk on the radio.

Gwen twisted her body to check on her daughter. “She’s asleep. I don’t know what this will mean for her bedtime tonight, poor girl. She has a lot of changes going on right now. She has to adjust to a new home, new people, new smells, cold weather, and a new time zone.”

He thought her assessment could apply to her, too, but he didn’t dare tell her. Even in the study groups back in the day, she didn’t rely on other people to find the answers for her, and if someone told her the answer before she figured it out, her nostrils flared. Did she still have that flash of temper? No signs showed as she gazed out the window.

“The leaves are already gone from the trees. I missed fall.” Her wistful tone tugged at his heart, making him wish he could glue the leaves back on the trees to make her smile.

During the drive, she tried to relax and think about the promise of better days. She focused on objects in the distance and deep breathing to help ease any lingering feelings of queasiness. After all his kindness, the last thing she wanted to do was to get sick in Kyle’s car. The flat, straight, easy drive ran under an hour. There wasn’t enough time to feel ill and little time to wallow in a humiliating rather than triumphant return home. As if sensing her trepidation, he didn’t push conversation, for which she was grateful.

She hadn’t been home for two years. Her last visit had been a weeklong jaunt during the summer for sister Keira’s graduation. Chloe’s father had refused to come along, which was okay since mostly she fought with her parents over career plans. They wanted her to go back to school for an advanced degree rather than working in retail for her whole life.

They questioned plenty of other decisions in her life like when she would get a career and why she stayed with someone who was so self-centered he wouldn’t stand beside her at a family event. If she hadn’t been so stubborn, she might have listened to what they were saying. But she wouldn’t have Chloe. She would do anything for her daughter, even coming back home with her proverbial tail between her legs.

Let the past go
. To make the best life for her daughter, she needed to focus on the positive. To start her own business took determination, but she’d learned so much while working for the restaurant-supply shop. For once, she had a plan, an honest-to-God business plan typed on real paper. Only after drafting one did she allow herself to leave Phoenix and return home.

“You’ll have to help me find your house, but would you like to take a quick tour of the downtown area? I was surprised how has much changed since we were undergrads.”

“Let’s take the tour.” She wasn’t good company, but he was. Besides, his suggestion spared her persuading him to take the long way home for the sake of her sleeping baby.

“Germano’s is still here.”

“Yum! They were always the best pizza in town; of course, they were the most expensive, too. Ooh—there’s the Tree House. Remember freshman year when your military friend bought us beer there, and later, we were both tipsy and ran into our history TA? I was so worried he’d tell my father I was drunk in public.” Her memory of the night was a bit fuzzy, but she was pretty sure she kissed him on the cheek without much of a reaction from him. That night she realized she would always be no more than a friend to him. “Looks like the sandwich shop went out of business.”

“Yeah, the used-CD shop is gone.” He made a right onto a side street. “So is the teahouse that used to be across from the movie theater.”

The old teahouse would be The Sweet Spot as soon as she signed the lease. From the photos on the Internet and the inspector’s report, the inside needed a thorough cleaning. Brown paper covered the windows, but a friend of her sister’s promised to paint the logo on the window. She hated the existing floor but liked the tables and chairs. So long as a contractor completed the required electrical upgrades, she could open the doors before the calendar turned.

“Thanks for the tour. Turn here. My parents are on the other side of Main Street.”

She gave directions until they stopped in front of an older brick two story with the well-maintained yards typical of the year-round residents. He pulled into the driveway leading to the detached garage. After he shut off the engine, she touched his forearm and considered those dangerous eyes that made her want to melt.

“You’ve been so good to Chloe and me today. I don’t know what we would have done without you. Thanks for rescuing me.”

Driven by impulse, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. Heat rose in her cheeks. She’d been presumptuous. He didn’t want her attention. She climbed out of the car, opened the rear door, and removed Chloe’s car seat as fast as she could.

She kissed him, again. By his count, this was the third time, and although he was pretty drunk the night they went to the Tree House freshman year, he thought she planted her lips on his. Nothing else happened between them that night. She’d never seemed interested in him as more than a friend, even when he invited her to his military formal sophomore year. There was that one other kiss at a party, but he might have imagined it, too. The war had done strange things to his head. He’d dreamed of kissing her often enough. This time, he was sober and awake. And so was she. But it was nothing more than a brotherly kiss.

Charlotte’s car sat in the open, detached garage. Gwen’s parents rushed over to help unload the luggage, preventing him from recreating the feel of her lips soft and light against his cheek. After a quick reintroduction to Professor James Jones, he helped bring in the various bags. Holding Chloe, Charlotte played traffic director.