Chapter 1
“Would you like some Mardi Gras beads to welcome you to New Orleans?” Leaning forward, I allow the cheerful woman at the end of the jet bridge to place the bright purple string of beads around my neck. As I thank her, images of how people usually get beads during Mardi Gras pops into my head. Adorned with my new jewelry, I make my way towards the throngs of people standing at baggage claim. Weaving in and out of the crowd, I look for a place to stand close to the conveyor belt. At barely five feet tall, it only seems fair I shouldn’t have to stand behind all the people taller than me when trying to watch for my bright orange suitcase.
Waiting for the conveyor belt to start up, I pull out my iPhone to take it off airplane mode. My phone begins chiming as tons of the message boxes pop up, showing I’ve missed a bunch of texts from my friend Bryan, the gracious owner of the condo I’m staying in for free while attending a romance book convention. His message gives me an immediate sense of panic when I see:
“Heidi, there’s a problem with the condo.”
Immediately my finger swipes right on the message to open all my texts so I can find out what’s going on. If Bryan’s condo isn’t available, I’m going to be stranded in New Orleans for four days with no place to stay. I don’t have any money budgeted for a hotel room, let alone enough of a balance on my credit card.
I jump at the sound of the luggage carousel starting up. My panic abates as I read through all of Bryan’s texts reassuring that I do still have a place to stay. It’s just that I’ll be sharing with one of our friends from college. Glancing up, I see no luggage on the carousel, so I look back at my phone to see just who will be my roommate this weekend in Bryan’s studio apartment condo.
The phrase, “Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” slips out of my mouth when I see the name Bryan texted me.
“Sorry, I forgot this is Sam’s firefighter
convention and he needs a place
to stay. He’s fine sharing.”
My brain begins a slideshow of memories of Sam. All of them extremely sexy, and I feel my whole body flush with heat. Back in our college days, Sam was one of the guys in our group of friends that wanted more from me. More than just the friends with benefits situation we had going on. But it just wasn’t what I was looking for back then. I was concentrating on getting my degree, getting through college, and then moving back home to teach in the school district I’d graduated from. No matter what he said he wanted, every girl knows that guys don’t take girls who sleep with them that easily as serious relationship material. Not to mention I didn’t want to mess up any of my friendships with any of the guys when it went wrong, which I just knew it would. So I’d turned him down.
Staying with him could be interesting, or it could be just like hanging out with Bryan these days. I’m sure it will be just like with Bryan. Sam is divorced with a kid now, so things will probably be a lot different than they were back in college. I text Bryan back:
“Not a problem. I’m sure it’ll be great catching up
with both of you! Just landed. Grabbing luggage
then I’ll Uber to the condo. Is Sam there yet?”
Looking up, I notice suitcases finally making their way down the conveyor belt. Before I can put my phone away, my text alert sounds again. According to Bryan’s newest text, Sam won’t be there till late, so I should just grab the key from the bartender at Creole Bay as usual. Quickly texting back a thumbs up, I put my phone back in my purse. When I see the bright orange fabric of my suitcase pushing through the rubber flaps of the baggage claim opening, I step closer to be ready to grab it when it comes by. It’s full of books and quite heavy.
Once I’ve retrieved my bag, I wheel it away from the diminishing crowd and outside the building to the Uber stand in the airport parking garage. Typing my destination into the app on my phone, I wait for my driver, and soon my bag is in their trunk, and we’re pulling away from the airport. In the back seat of the car on the way to Bryan’s condo in the French Quarter, I allow my mind to drift back to those memories of Sam and engage in a few harmless fantasies of what this weekend could be like if things were different.
