Chapter 2
Mary was in her own rush to make it to the airport so that she didn’t miss her flight. She was in Venezuela as a photographer and after a couple of weeks without air conditioning, she couldn’t get home quick enough to Houston. Even the cool air in the small airport made her feel better, a precursor to what was to come. All Mary could think about was a hot shower with good water pressure and then the moment of freeze as the air conditioning hit her body. It was the little things that she missed so much.
She heard what she thought was her name and she stopped to turn around. Instead it was someone else named Mary and when she turned back, Mary ran right into a tall man with a cowboy hat. Her body was stopped by his hard chest and she would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed her arm to steady her. “Are you okay, Miss?”
Mary could only see the soft blue eyes looking down on her as she nodded her head. She hadn’t seen blue eyes like his in weeks or ever. There was something about the way she felt in his arms, looking up at him, that made her just look at him with a blank stare on her face.
“Miss?”
She realized the error of her ways and stood back up. He let go of her and she wished that he hadn’t. Her body was cold from where he had touched her and she missed the touch terribly. “Sorry about that. I don’t want to miss my flight. I have got to get out of this godforsaken place.”
He chuckled at her and nodded like he understood. “Where are you going?”
“Home. Back to America where there is air conditioning and hot showers.”
Henri too was looking forward to a nice hot shower. There was only bath tubs at the ranch and it didn’t matter how hot it was outside, in the mornings when there was still a bit of a chill in the air, there were several times that he would have paid well for a hot, steamy shower.
He noticed her green eyes first and the smile that had crossed her face since they bumped into each other. She was tall and though she had a bit of a tan, her blonde hair and eyes told him that she was not from there, even if she hadn’t told him. They started to walk towards the ticket booth. There was only a few flights leaving in any given afternoon and Henri wondered where home was for her.
“So where are you headed?”
“Houston.”
“Me too. I live a bit out of the city, but it will be good to go home for a bit. My sister is getting married.”
She nodded, while Henri tried to figure out why in the world he was just going on and on like he was. It became clear that he wanted to talk to her, get to know her and Henri wondered if it was the woman herself or the dancing ones from the night before that made him feel so friendly all of a sudden.
“That’s nice. I live in the city. I was just here getting some photographs for a new book coming out on the area. I love the place, it’s beautiful, people are great, but I am just ready to go home.”
He was feeling the opposite way, but he didn’t say anything. Waiting for her to get checked in, he gave his ticket to the man behind the counter and found her waiting for him when he was done. “So what are you here for?”
“I have been working on a ranch, learning old techniques.”
She had no idea what he was talking about. Mary may have been from Texas, but she had never even stepped foot on a ranch. The animals were huge and freaked her out. “Is that what you do back home?”
“Yeah. My family owns a ranch and our business is in Houston, but I try to stay out of the city. Too many people.”
“Well you must love it here then. There are a lot less people than Houston or most of the towns in Texas. I miss the buzz of movement and people all running around. It has been hard to sleep without all the background noise.”
“I do like it here. I plan to come back in a week or two. My family is big and there is never any peace and quiet.”
“I come from a small family, only child and I think I have always craved the big groups.”
“It’s not all it is cracked up to be, trust me. My name is Henri by the way, Henri Callahan.”
“Callahan? As in Callahan’s Meat?”
He nodded and felt the strange feel of being recognized. It had been months since anyone had said his last name like that. “What are you doing here again?”
Henri smiled. “Running away from responsibility I suppose.”
She smiled at him and found a seat towards the gate they would be leaving out of. “Well I am Mary Walts. Don’t worry, you have never heard of me.”
“So you do photography for a publisher or?”
“I freelance, so I have many clients. At the moment when I get back, I have a few assignments with the Herald and then after that, who knows.”
“I see you are a free spirit like me.”
“Yeah, well I suspect is a lot easier when your family is loaded.”
That made him laugh. It was the type of thing that an American would say. It was never mentioned in the place he had been. South America the conversation of money was taboo, but he had never been used to it that way. Being around Mary was refreshing in general and she started to make him miss being home.
When the two got on the plane, there weren’t very many other passengers and Mary popped down next to him to finish their conversation. The flight attendant didn’t seem to care and Henri found himself enraptured with the bubbly woman. She was far more sociable than he was, but she didn’t seem to notice or mind by the way she acted towards him.
He asked to see her pictures and true to her trade, she had a few books full of them. She also told him that she had to have a picture of him, which he posed for in his seat next to the window. It wasn’t awkward, nothing about her was. She reminded him of several people that he knew in his own family. She made him feel warm and fuzzy. It was clear that she was used to different people and even an old solitary man like him couldn’t help but be caught up in her open minded conversation. It was clear to him that she was the type that was interested in learning about everything.
“You should come to the city with me and I will show you a good time.”
“Is that an offer?”
“Of a good time, yes. But slow down cowboy, I see the look in your eyes.”
Henri felt himself blushing, something he was sure he hadn’t done since he was in secondary school. “Have I made you blush, Henri? You must have some really naughty thoughts for that to happen.”
“You have no idea.”
Mary was going to say something back, but there was a need that caught her off guard and it didn’t seem like such a laughing matter anymore. “Are you going to tell me that you are single?”
He nodded. “Yeah, what about you?”
She kind of shrugged and it threw him off. It was not a reaction that he was expecting and he had a feeling that she wasn’t near as single as he was.
“Pretty much, I mean I think we all have that ex that we call up from time to time. Don’t you?”
He shook his head. “No. I figure once they are an ex, they are that for a reason, so why go back?”
She had this faraway look. “I suppose. I am weaker than you are I guess. Sometimes I just need to feel something and at least with an ex, they know what it is that you need.”
The conversation had turned suddenly and he was sure that it was getting hot in there. Did she not realize that it had been months for him? Henri was ready to make a move in flight, but his control was held together by a string. The woman undoubtedly didn’t even know how she affected him. She was one of those souls that were open and thought everyone else was too. Mary had no qualms to have a taboo conversation and it appeared that he was having a little trouble with it.
“I have those moments for sure, but still don’t think I would go back to an ex.”
“Yeah, I guess guys would rather something new huh?”
His eyes were on her crossed legs and he had to willfully pull his gaze away from her. “Something new does sound pretty good.”
“Well calm down, Henri. I am not that kind of girl.”
Henri’s smile tightened a little. She was the type of woman that could drive a man crazy and then just smile at them as she was now, knowing full well what she was doing. She was one of those minxes.
Leaning in, he held his breath as she got closer to him. “But if I was, Henri, you would be the one I took in the bathroom.”
She moved back and giggled a little as he swallowed hard. Mary was worse than a minx; Henri was starting to wonder if she was the devil.