Double Score

“Our jet is down for maintenance or something. That said it’s going to be tomorrow before we can fly out.”

“The Warriors aren’t getting you out of there?”

“No,” she answered. “We have to wait until a part comes in. I don’t know. They aren’t handing out many details.”

“I’ll get a ticket for you. I can fly you in here and then drive you back to Austin in the morning. I’m off tomorrow.”

“I can’t let you do that. I just wanted to let you know what was going on.”

“You can let me do that. It’ll take five minutes for me to get you on a flight out of there. You can be here in three hours.”

“Sam.” Her voice was firm. “What will everyone think if I fly out of here like that?”

“They’ll think you have somewhere important to be. They don’t have to know that place happens to be my bed.”

It made her laugh. “As much as I want to be in your bed tonight, I’m going to have to wait until all the Goddesses can fly out of here together.”

“I don’t like it. I don’t want you on a jet with maintenance problems. This is ridiculous, Natalia. Let me get you out of there.”

She was being stubborn and hard-headed. It was the French side coming out. Although, she said my stubbornness came from being Texan.

“No. We’re going back to the hotel and I’ll call you when I find out more. Okay?”

I took a swig of beer. It wasn’t okay. But she wasn’t playing along.

“All right. But call me as soon as you find out. And if there’s something unsafe about that jet, you’re not getting on it. The Warriors are a bunch of cheap bastards. I don’t want them fixing the plane with duct tape.”

“If I see any duct tape I promise to call immediately,” she answered sweetly, but I knew she was mocking me.

“Should I fly up there?”

“No. God, no,” she whispered. “And get me fired?”

“All right, then take your safety more seriously.”

She huffed. “I’ll call you later.”

“Hey, wait.”

“What is it?”

“I miss you.”

She whispered, “I miss you too.”

Then there was silence.

30

Natalia

It took two days for us to make it back to Austin. The maintenance staff had to order a part that wasn’t easy to find and the Warriors refused to buy commercial tickets for us when they had to pay for the jet to be fixed. I sat in a hotel room two extra nights with Heather, missing my chance to meet Sam at Canyon Lake.

I sat on one bed while Heather sat on the other, flipping through channels.

“Do you think the Warriors would pay for us to watch Game of Love?” she asked.

“They need to after leaving us to die in DC.”