Page 8 of A Miracle for the Reserved Flyboy

“Wait, um, how old are you?”

“Twenty-nine.”

“Is the age going to be a problem?”

“Not at all.”

“Whew – I guessed you were about thirty and Susan said that was fine with her so long as you were mature about things.”

“I don’t want to have dinner with Susan.”

“But she’s here,” Krista stammered, horrified. “She’s waiting for you.”

“I’m only in town five days and leaving just after Christmas to return to Afghanistan. I think we got off on the wrong foot or something because I’m not looking to go on a blind date…”

“But she’s in there waiting for you,” she reiterated, lowering her voice to a panicked hiss. “Are you really bailing out on me? I’ve lined up three dates this week alone for you and…”

“What?”

“You’ve got three dates this week already scheduled.”

“Cancel them.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because these are lonely sweet women who are looking to meet someone nice and kind – and you’re both. I have a reputation to uphold, and they know that nobody has ever bailed on me at the last second. Even druggie-Davy showed up for his date with Beary, the mechanic, and he was half-lit out of his gourd,” she blabbered, putting a hand to her forehead and trying to process this disaster. “Susan is going to kill me, and I told her I would be waiting outside for you to show up so I could introduce you to each other. I can’t believe this is happening. What am I going to do?”

“Krista…”

“This is a nightmare. No one is going to trust me again and…”

“Krista, I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

“I’ll do this if it will make you feel better – but I really had no plans to go on a date while I was in town. I’m only here for a short time and well, everything seems to be going sideways since the moment I got out of the plane.”

“You know Cajun was going to set you up.”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“He wastrying,” she nodded emphatically. “He doesn’t have the track record that I do, and it was bound to backfire, but you don’t need to worry about me because everyone falls in love when I take control of the situation.”

“I bet,” he murmured in this dreamy voice that made her knees tremble.

“C’mon,” she choked out nervously, grabbing his arm. “Let me introduce you to Susan.”

“Wait…” he protested faintly, but she was already dragging him through the door toward the blonde woman sitting in the last booth. “Krista, wait a second…”

“Hello, Krista… and you must be Terry.”

“Gary.”

“Oh mercy,” the woman fluttered, laughing loudly. “Silly me. I must have heard Krista wrong when she told me there was a big, strong, handsome military pilot new in town and looking for love. I hear men named Gary are born lovers and thrive at seduction. So do you? Hmm?”

“She told you that?”

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