Dearly Departing by Geoff North

Author:Geoff North [North, Geoff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-20T22:00:00+00:00

Tyler knew it was hopeless. He walked amongst the cluster of travelers waiting for their luggage on the slow-moving carousels, searching for Dawn, knowing full well the odds of spotting her were practically nil. They would’ve been through here hours ago. He didn’t know where her father had travelled from, what flight he would have been on, or when he would have arrived.

He’d been loitering around the airport for too long. He had missed her, simple as that. A few people were beginning to give him second and third looks—people that worked there. The last thing Tyler needed now was having some security guard question him. He knew he looked like shit. His mother would call the appearance dopey and dishevelled. Tyler didn’t need the attention. He needed to find Dawn, and he wasn’t going to find her here. He started back the way he’d come—out of the arrival area and past the long corridor of airline terminals checking in travelers’ luggage to wherever the fuck it was they were going.

“Hey, guy!” Somebody called out. Tyler kept walking. “Hey, buddy!” It was coming from one of the long lineups behind him. Probably not for me. Just some loudmouth wanting to get someone else’s attention. He shoved his hands deeper into his coat pockets and moved faster.

“Tyler! Is that you?”

He stopped instead of breaking out into a run towards the exit. He hadn’t done anything wrong—at least not here. There was nothing to hide. He turned and saw a middle-aged man with a frizzy mop of greying hair waving at him from the end of one of the snaking lines. There was something familiar about him. Tyler moved slowly towards him, trying to look as carefree and inconspicuous as possible. Where did he know this guy from?

“Sorry, it is Tyler, right?”

“Yeah… Tyler Wahl, Do I know you?”

The man excused himself to a few people standing in line behind him, allowing them to move ahead while he worked his way to the back. “I’m a friend of Ray Wallace’s.” They were now standing face to face, the only barrier setting them apart was the yellow nylon rope of the lineup. “Delbert Doole. We met last spring in Rokerton. You came down for a weekend with his daughter.”

He offered Tyler a meaty hand to shake. “Oh yeah, I remember now.” Tyler shook his hand. The fat asshole that came over to Dawn’s father’s place for a backyard barbeque. He drinks like a fish and thinks he’s the life of the party.

“How you been, kid? Are you still seeing Dawn?”

Tyler nodded. “For sure. Things couldn’t be any better.”

“Good to hear.” Delbert finally released his hand and studied him intently with his dark, beady eyes. “I haven’t seen you since. Thought maybe the two of you had gone separate ways. What brings you to the airport?”

Tyler thought a lie up quick enough. “Waiting for a friend from the States. His flight was delayed a couple hours. Where are you headed to?”

“I just got back from the Dominican Republic with Dawn’s dad yesterday.

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