One of the girls.
If they weren't with one of their guys.
Alistair cleared his throat and tapped his cup. I forgot about him for a second.
"You ever had a boyfriend?" he said.
I mouthed, "Nope."
His eyebrows shot toward the ceiling. "Never? What about a kiss?"
"Had a few of those."
He laughed. "No boyfriend?"
"It's just not something I'm interested in. People fall in love too easily and it's all fuzzy and surfacey, then what happens? They get cheated on or they break up or they lose interest. Does that sound appealing to you?" I picked up my drink. "Way too much drama for me." I shook my head. “Way too much.”
He finished his coffee and tossed the cup into the trashcan beside us, then folded his hands on the table and smiled.
"I know, I know. Jane Austen, the paradox."
"Fascinating."
"It's not that fascinating."
"Not at all."
"I'm not trying to be negative, just honest."
"No." The sunlight beamed through the windows and highlighted his hair. "Honest is good. It's perfect."
I glanced in my lap as my phone screen lit with Donovan's text. Signing off for now. See you in a few days. Happy birthday girl. Smile for me! Miss you.
I typed back, Love you. Be safe!
Alistair ended up doing something on his phone too. I watched his fingers move for a few seconds, then noticed two men gawking at me from the table beside us. I looked away. Did other girls actually enjoy being nothing more than someone's eye candy? Sometimes I wished I were completely unattractive just to avoid weird and creepy stares.
I decided to stare back at them and make them feel uncomfortable. They looked away and refused to make eye contact with me. Alistair when looked up, confused. He shot them a look and turned his gaze back to me. First time I noticed his eye color. Same as mine, only less green and more gold. Normally I noticed eye color as soon as I met someone. In fact, I already knew the girls to our left had blue and brown eyes and the creepy men to the right both had brown eyes. Why didn't I notice Alistair's?
"Wait ... what?" he said.
"I didn't say anything, but I should probably go now." I smiled and stood up, only to bump into a woman with a nasty look on her face.
"Watch where you're going." She huffed and blew by me.
I sat back down and raised my eyebrows at Alistair.
"Is it just me,” he said, “or do most people in the world have a natural propensity toward impatience?""
"Definitely not just you."
I nodded toward his phone. "Who were you texting? You looked a little upset."
"My girlfriend."
"Nice try. You don't have a girlfriend."
"How do you know?"
"Wild guess."
"No, really?"
"You aren't the type to sit with another girl if you're taken."
"And what makes you think that?”
"Well, first of all, you offered me a treat as an apology for being there when I turned and tripped you. Wasn't your fault, but you insisted and then insisted on buying me a drink. The cashier was flirting with you majorly, and you were as oblivious as can be. You handed me my drink, tried to pull the chair out for me but I sat down too fast, and didn't look at your phone when it was beeping until I looked at mine. Want me to keep going?"
"I don't understand what this has to do with my relationship status."
"You're a nice guy, Mr. Alistair. Nice guys don't entertain other girls in airports while their girlfriend's wait anxiously at home. These guys with rings on their fingers. The ones next to us, you know. They, on the other hand, may be that type..."
He shrugged. "Fair enough."
"Why are you here?"
"Dropped my best friend off. Now"—I stood—"I really should be going. It's my birthday and I need to figure out what I'm doing today."
"I'll walk you to your car." He stood beside me, heating my arm with his. "Since I'm a nice guy it shouldn't be creepy, right?"
I walked toward the door and he followed. Odd start to my birthday. I felt bad asking him to leave me alone, but wanted to get in my car and drive away without some strange guy trying to give me his number. That is what he'd do after all. I just knew it.
We finally reached my Jetta and I clicked the button on my keychain to unlock the car doors. He glanced at his phone and sighed.
"Thanks for the coffee and everything," I said. "I better—"
"Can't believe this." He looked down at his phone and shook his head.
"I better get going." I opened the door. "Hope everything goes well with your friend there."
"I procrastinated. Changed my flight and decided to stay a few extra days. Came from Nashville, but my flight stopped here to board for London. But I missed it because of a delay from Nashville. I suppose I need to find a hotel. You mind taking me to—wait, it's your birthday. I don't want to intrude." He stepped back and turned to walk away, then looked over his shoulder and waved. "Have a great birthday."
No phone number. No flirting.
Color me shocked.
I sat down and turned on my car, then looked at the box on the passenger's seat. Still couldn't believe Donovan found it. I held it in my lap and opened the top, then slipped a credit card under the velvet and pulled up. The tape didn't have the slightest tear. Donovan didn't see it, then.
I set the box back on the passenger's seat and backed up, then drove away only to find Alistair holding his thumb out along the main road.
I slowed down and pulled over. He motioned for me to keep going, but I parked and stuck my head out the window.
"Come on," I said. "I'm not letting you hitchhike in Philadelphia."
He settled into the passenger's seat and closed the door. "Are you sure?"
I laughed and pulled back on to the highway. "Stop being so nice. "
He exhaled, barely laughing under his breath.
I started to speak, but stopped when I realized he was saying something at the same time.
"You go right on," he said.
"What were you saying?"
"Just that there's a hotel about three minutes up this road." He pointed over the dashboard. "That will be fine. Thank you so much. I feel rubbish messing up your birthday."
"Rubbish. That's cute." Did I actually just say cute?
He didn't seem to notice. "Turn right here."
"You know what?" I ignored the turn and drove straight. "You obviously know a thing or two about tattoos. That was my birthday present today from my friend. Pretty much the only thing I wanted besides a different name. Want to come with me? You seem like you could use a distraction from whoever is bothering you with those texts."
"You really want to change your name?"
I nodded as emphatically as possible.
"But it's who you are."