“Why did that happen all of a sudden?”
“We put a little bug into his attorney’s ear about a plea deal. Chad’s brother may now be seeing the handwriting on the wall. He thinks he may be going down and wants to talk about a deal.
None of this would have happened if his big brother had stayed in town to protect him. With Chad leaving, his brother knows we’ll close in on him. I can tell you that for certain.
Chapter Twenty
Charlene sat down in the waiting area of her gate. She had thought about going up to the first class lounge but decided against it. She wanted to see Joe before they took off and the plane was going to be huge. He certainly wouldn’t be allowed to enter first class where she would settle in.
She had her carry on and her very expensive purse in the seat next to her, nearby. She scanned the cavernous airport from her seat. She wondered how Joe would get to the airport and when. He didn’t own a car. There were a few people seated around her. More were filtering as the minutes passed.
The seats were made so that no one could lie down while waiting for their flight and get some needed rest. Some travelers arriving were black Africans heading home to many different countries while others were obviously tourists. Most were young and full of energy.
The many young back packers talked loudly with their traveling companions about the adventures they were going to have on the dark continent as they sat among many well worn carry on bags. The group of travelers was a mixed bag of people, to be sure. The older Africans wore their local or tribal clothing adding a large splash of color.
Charlene pulled a magazine from her large purse and looked it over. She didn’t want to dive in yet as she had only so much room for for her magazines to entertain her when Joe was off writing in the evenings and didn’t want or need her around. They would be riding together in the jeeps on safari most of the long, hot days. It didn’t matter what he was going to do during the day. She would be seated next to him. That would be enough for her to start with.
She thought and hoped pheromones and proximity might move things in the right direction.
Joe arrived near her twenty minutes later. She saw him approaching in his very worn Levi’s, blue long sleeved shirt and blue windbreaker. He had obviously forgotten or didn’t have time to shave. His shoes were well broken in to say the least. She liked what she saw.
“Well, he’s off to Africa, so why not,” she thought. She had only ever seen him in suits at work. They weren’t great or expensive suits but he looked good in them.
He had been walking for sometime when he finally saw her, waved and came in her direction through a crowd of travelers going to who knows where.
He started to walk faster when he saw her. That pleased her. “There really maybe be a chance,” she thought and smiled. He joined her next to the seat between them filled with her overflow of travel accessories.
He sat his carry on bag on the floor. It had seen some use and looked right at home on the floor.
“Hello Charlene, glad you made it.”
He noticed her outfit and was surprised. She looked to be wearing some very expensive clothing not suitable for travel, or so he thought.
“You look nice tonight Charlene” He instantly thought he shouldn’t have said that to her, being a fellow employee or coworker, after all.
“Well, we’re not at work and we’re going on vacation sort together, so what the hell,” he mused. “All bets are off from her on out,” he thought, as he looked at a different Charlene.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I hope you are all having a great week end.
I want to thank our new arrivals. Welcome.
Don’t forget that “Atlanta,” one of my detective novels, “Sunrise, Sunset,” my book of ten short stories and “Kazu, son of Osheda Kamasaki,’ my asian historical fiction and romance novels are now available on Audible.
For more info on yours truly, use ChatGBT and type in, R.C.Hand, American author.
I haver several novels available on Amazon and Kindle.
