No Kissing Allowed

Chapter 5: The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 5: The Butterfly Effect

"Wait." Jamie took a tentative step toward the woman he'd been waiting for all night. "Can I just talk to you for a minute?"

By way of answer, she pulled her phone from her pocket and refreshed it. She flashed the screen so he could see. Jamie took the opportunity to move closer, positioning himself between her and the hotel's revolving doors.

Bora Bora - AF1685 - 8:48am - On Time / No gate assigned

"That's loads of time," he said. "Let me buy you a coffee."

She looked dumbfounded. Genuinely thunderstruck. Had no one ever asked her to coffee before? Not that he was asking her out in the usual sense. Jamie could see how it might come across as an odd move at 6:30 in the morning.

He waved an arm to indicate the empty lobby, then fixed her with a steady, open gaze.  "Look, no cameras now. No show. Just me. I'm not asking you on a date. I need your help. Will you just hear me out? It's important, or I wouldn't ask. Life or death."

She craned past him, eyes on the revolving doors and the curb beyond. "That's the shuttle bus to the airport. I'm sorry. I need to..."

She beat a hasty path toward the doors, brushing close enough for him to feel the air current as she went past. Jamie resisted the urge to grab her elbow. He let her go by, but he turned to follow in her wake. He slipped himself between the bus's folding glass doors before they closed.

Outside the bus windows, the rising sun hung low, casting the longest shadows of the day. She stood in the aisle despite the empty seats that lined the windows in two parallel rows. She faced the front of the bus, holding the handrail overhead and keeping one hand on her suitcase. She had a purse slung across her chest and a backpack hanging from one shoulder. Eyes alert and wary. A house cat with its claws out, considering whether to scratch.

At the sight of her, Jamie closed his eyes, wishing he'd let her go. Would this waking nightmare never end? He hadn't meant to corner her. He knew better than to do that to a woman traveling alone at odd hours. She was right to have her guard up.  She would never listen to him now.

The bus was empty aside from the two of them and the driver. Jamie slumped into an empty seat by the front and hung his head. "Never mind. Sorry. I'll get off at the next stop. I didn't meant to..." He shook his head, wincing at the pain in his stiff neck.

She set her backpack down and took a seat. Not across from him, but not at the farthest point away. A long moment passed before she spoke. "Are you OK?"

"Not really. No." His neck was killing him. He'd done something to it in his sleep.

There was a moment last night when he thought she might be the one to save this neck of his. But no. She'd been the one who snapped it. The noose had already been around it long before she showed her pretty face, but she'd dropped the floor out from under him. "Fuck my life."

He heard her sharp intake of breath. Such a schoolteacher, he thought. Would she give him a demerit for swearing in class?

"You were really that desperate to get on that show?" she asked instead.

He looked up. "Look, I know you didn't mean any harm, but this is my livelihood at stake. That was my career you were playing games with."

"I wasn't playing anything! They asked me for an hour of my time."

He scrubbed his eyes with his fingertips. They felt like sandpaper. He couldn't begin to imagine the state of his hair. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I'm about to get dropped by my agency, but I dug my own grave. It's nothing to do with you." He covered his eyes with his palm, unable to bear the look on her face. "Oh God. Kill me now."