𝐁𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄

27

The pilot talks too much, and the eventually we're loading off in Canada. Dieson's in changed clothes and dry pants, I'm sweeping my hair out of my bonnet and braiding it quickly, and then we're out on Canadian soil.

"Someone should be meeting us here. To pick us up. Do you see a sign with our name on it? Or mine?" he asks.

"Uh," I glance around the crowd, but my vision doesn't work too well when my head is moving.

"There. Come on," he surpringly grabs my hand and I'm gently pulled alongside him as we reach two women. One lady is much older with faint, grey whiskers above a thin upper lip and the other woman is younger, sharing the same nose and eyes as the first woman and a shapely figure.

"Business partners," Dieson grins, shaking each lady's hand properly and bringing his lips up to each.

"Hello, hello," the older woman says, then turns to me, "And who is this young lady?"

Dieson seemed to pause, clearly not having thought this through. "Uh, my-my girlfriend. Who is, uh, also my secretary," he quickly cleaned up his lie.

Was it a crime to just bring his secretary on a business trip? Internally I scowled, but I sent Dieson a pleasant smile. Maybe this was more rich people shit that I just wasn't privy too. Would Amina have known this?

"Wonderful. Nice to meet you," both women gave me geniune smiles. I knew I needed to watch out for the younger one. Something in me told me to. Is it out of jealousy or a true warning- that much I didn't know.

"I'm Harriet, and this is Ethayn," the older woman introduced them. Harriet had fully grey hair, low cut and styled with some sort of hairspray to make her roots stand and her curls stay in place, but her clothing was pretty boring with just a plain cardigan and some thick leggings and boots like an English teacher. Red-headed Ethayn was nearly dressed the same, although her plain outfit took on some slight stylish flare. It was clear they were both simple people and enjoyed simple things, not that being that way is bad. I crave a lot of simplicity nowadays.

Both women were also White, or for now I believe so, crinkly green eyes and cheery expressions, topped off with reddish ears and rosy noses from the cold. I'm glad that I had dressed prepared, unlike Dieson, ever the male, trying to play off his shivering.

"This is Courtlynn," Dieson then introduced me.

We gave up on any form of small talk and eventually were led to a white sprinter, and I'll admit I was surprised that the wheel was on the left side. Clearly, I didn't know much about much aside of the places I grew up at.

Dieson and I rode in the back, and the two women in the front. The small talk started up again, and I learned that Ethayn was the niece of Harriet and had been taken in by her when both her parents were drafted off into the military. She might have done a bit of trauma dumping, telling us that after she lived with Harriet so long, that she never wanted to live with her parents again and that they loved the military more anyways. Then Dieson gave them a brief background of him, nothing I hadn't heard from him personally or NJ, at this point.

Just thinking about him shattered the brief peace being in Canada with its beautiful surroundings had brought me.

"Oh, that's nice. Any siblings, Dieson?" Harriet inquired.

Weren't they too nice to be business partners? It felt like I had met up with family or something to stay with them for the summer, not like we were about to start up another club. Another fiasco.

"A little brother and a little sister," he told them.

"Oh, are you close?" Ethayn asked.

Was it a Canadian thing to just be nosy, or just a foreign thing?