Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(61)

I stroked his hip and kissed his neck. “I’m not going anywhere, Love,” I told him reassuringly.

That seemed to help. He relaxed against me and I hugged his back and burrowed into him. It was an hour before he had to wake up, so I drifted off again, still clutching him.

When I awoke again two hours later, James was long gone.

I worked that night, flying to JFK for our usual layover, James occupying his customary seat in 2D. He’d come to the airport directly from his casino, so we didn’t even get to see each other before the flight.

He seemed fine, just a little quiet and reserved.

It was a full flight, and he was asleep before I’d finished my service. I stewed about it, worried about him and his mood swings.

“The crew is going shopping tomorrow,” Stephan was telling me. “Canal Street.” Canal Street was the designer knock-off capital of the U.S. Every crew we’d ever worked with made at least one trip a month there. “You up for it?”

We were eating our crew meals in the galley. I shook my head, chewing and swallowing my food before I answered. “No thanks.”

I had other plans tomorrow, plans that made me nervous and gave me a whole other reason to stew.

He didn’t ask me about what I did plan, and I was relieved. I wouldn’t have had the heart to lie to him, even knowing that he wouldn’t like what I’d decided to do. In fact, he’d dislike it so much that I thought he might even try to interfere. Him not asking made the whole thing much easier for me.

James made it easier on me, as well, when we got to New York. He had the driver drop him off directly at his hotel, rather than going home for a nap.

“There are a lot of things I need to attend to today. I have to get to work right away,” he explained.

“Do you want me to come have lunch with you?” I asked him. “I’m flexible. Just name the time.”

He just shook his head, his face unreadable. “Not today,” he said. That was all.

It was when he just gave me a brief kiss on the forehead, not even looking at me before he got out of the car, that I knew for certain that something was wrong. This wasn’t just a mood.

I tried to take a nap back at our place, but it was no good. I was upset and nervous and out of sorts. Best to just get it over with. Perhaps it could even distract me, for a time, from dwelling on James.

I scrolled through my phone, looking for the contact Jr. I had tried to put his first name into my phone when I’d saved the number, but I just hadn’t been able to do it. Even knowing it wasn’t my father, I’d been horrified to have that name in my contact list.

Bianca: Would today be a good day for you to meet up?

His response was almost immediate, which I found encouraging.

JR: Yes! Anytime. I have a two hour lunch that I can take whenever I want. Just tell me when and where.

I started to text him back then decided to call him. Hearing his kind voice again would bolster my confidence.

He answered on the third ring.

“Hi!” Sven said. “How are you, Bianca?” His voice was as warm as I remembered.

“I’m good. I was wondering if you wanted to meet for coffee sooner rather than later. Like now.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “That’s perfect. Where at?”

I named off a place that I could walk to, one of the major chain coffee joints, so the place would be very public and likely crowded.

He agreed without hesitation.

“I work no more than five minutes away from there,” he told me.

I found some conservative, cuffed navy shorts, with a blue and white striped boatneck shirt. I didn’t want to dress up to meet my half-brother, but I didn’t want to look like a slob either. I completely ignored Jackie’s shoe suggestions, finding a pair of plain navy sandals with no heel to speak of.

I left my phone in the bedroom, and my purse. I only had my debit card with me when I boarded the elevator. That was a nerve-wracking endeavor, since I could hear Blake and Marion talking in another room as I waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive.

I didn’t want security with me for what was already bound to be an awkward meeting, and I didn’t think I was in any real danger, going out to a very public place, in broad daylight, for a brief meeting. If I could just slip away unnoticed, I could be there and back before anyone even realized that I wasn’t asleep in bed.

I had another brief moment of panic as I passed through the lobby. Johnny was there, presumably to guard me. He was leaning over the lobby desk, chatting up a receptionist, and didn’t even twitch as I walked briskly out the front door.

The doorman nodded to me, and I nodded back.

“Have a pleasant day, Ms. Karlsson,” he said as I strode away.

Well, he had recognized me, but perhaps it didn’t matter. James had posted security. Maybe the building’s staff wouldn’t be notifying anyone about my activities. Either way, I was planning to be too quick to garner attention.

Still, I took a sharp turn, walking fast, just in case. I would go the roundabout way to my destination, losing any potential tails. As far as I could tell, I was successful.

It was only as I approached the entrance to the café that I realized that I had no idea who to look for. It seemed like such a ridiculous thing to overlook. Why had I thought that I would just know what he looked like? Because we shared a tainted bloodline?