DETOURS Excerpt

Bekka hoped she didn't come across as rude, but it really was hard to carry on a conversation with Shane when Maxwell dominated the conversation on the short ride to the airport. She tried not to catch glimpses of him in the rearview mirror. She didn't need him to think she was spying on him or fascinated with him -- although she couldn't seem to keep her gaze off his hat. How did he manage in Ohio's stormy winter weather wearing that Stetson? Didn't his ears get cold?

And why wasn't that pregnant girl going with him for Christmas vacation?

Was it possible she was a relative, or at least someone who wasn't that close to Shane? Meaning he was available...

Yeah, like you know how to let a guy know you're interested without tripping over your tongue and sending him screaming into the night?

Thanks to a wreck on Route 237, traffic slowed to a crawl to get around the wreck and the tow truck, only two hundred yards from the airport exit. It took Maxwell's car longer to get those last two hundred yards than it did the rest of the trip from the university. When the three of them raced through the long-term parking garage and came up the escalator from the tunnel under the drop-off and pickup lanes, Bekka said a hurried good-bye and ran for baggage check-in. She had plenty of time until her plane boarded, but she didn't feel like staying around to listen to Maxwell grumble about how he only had fifteen minutes to get to his plane.

Her heart jolted out of her chest when she got to the gate, found an entire empty bench in the waiting area, unloaded her computer case from her shoulder, and turned around to see Shane stepping into the same gate waiting area.

"Hi." Shane's dark eyes brightened as he looked at her, then at the gate. "Orlando, too?"

"Grandparents."

"Aunt and uncle. Only family I've got." He shrugged and dropped his duffle bag on the floor at the end of the bench.

"Me, too." Bekka just knew she had a dumb grin on her face.

"Okay if I sit here?"

She made a show of looking around at the half-deserted waiting area. "Gee, there aren't that many seats, are there?" Immediately, she thought how stupid or snarky that sounded, but Shane laughed, gestured for her to choose where she wanted to sit, and tipped off his hat, turning it end over end three times before landing it neatly on his duffel.

"Any chance we'll be able to sit together on the plane? It'd be great to have a friendly face for the trip. Something in common, you know?"

"Yeah, that'd be great." She shrugged. "I can't imagine the plane will be full up, so we can probably shift around."

"Sounds good. Of course, I'll probably fall asleep on you." Shane let out a weary groan as he stretched out his legs and slouched comfortably. "Great closing night, huh?"

"Fantastic."

They talked about the play, sharing horror stories of the General's foibles for nearly thirty minutes. They laughed, wincing every once in a while when their voices got a little loud. Most of their fellow passengers seemed to be either trying to sleep until the plane boarded, or were trying to get some serious reading done. Bekka would have been reading, her first novel since Thanksgiving, if Shane hadn't been there.

When the boarding of their plane was finally announced, Shane switched to talking about where they were going, what they were doing for Christmas break. They traded phone numbers, in case rides fell through for getting back to the airport or they got deathly bored and had to escape the relatives. He didn't mock her or give her a look meaning he thought she was crazy when she admitted she didn't have a cell phone like everyone else on the planet. Bekka wondered if he was just being nice or he might be interested in her, personally.