He found them caught in a fold of his sweater and put them on. The steward smiled, and his left cheek dimpled.
Reese straightened up. “Uh, yeah.” Harrington and Phillips were already on their way out the door.
“Do you need help with your luggage?”
Laughing was probably the wrong thing to do.
The young guy almost dropped his professional smile.
“Sorry.” Reese held up a hand. “I wasn’t laughing at you.”
“You were laughing with me?” He sounded hurt.
“No. I was laughing at the fact my luggage consists of a single duffle bag. And the only reason my few pieces of clothing aren’t in the paper bag they came in is because the handles came off.”
The steward opened the overhead. He took out Reese’s duffle bag with the tag still attached.
“Did you think I was lying?”
“Uh, no, no I—”
Reese took the bag. He started toward the exit but stopped. “Uh, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
The guy’s smile returned, and his eyes sparkled. “Absolutely.” He rocked on his heels.
“Where are we?”
The guy blinked at Reese. “Excuse me?”
“Where are we?”
“ILM airport.”
“That’s in…” Reese scratched his chin, rasping his fingertips against the three days’ worth of stubble. “North Carolina, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, just wanted to make sure I remembered right. Thanks.”
The look of disappointment the steward wore wasn’t missed. Reese hurried down the steps to the tarmac.
“Get a move on Reese, we’re on a time table.”
Harrington led the way to another mammoth SUV. The taxi lights on the plane streaked the paint.
“Do you guys get a discount on these things?”
Phillips didn’t look up from her phone.
Harrington said, “Buy them by the fleet.”
Of course they did. “Why black? There are a million other colors, but every car you people have is black.”
“Reese.” Harrington opened the rear passenger door. “Shut up and get in.”
He did. This time Harrington got in the front passenger seat. Phillips remained outside the car.
“Just us?” Not that Reese cared.