With the time change, it was only 11am when Eddie and Jamie landed in San Diego. As soon as they made it into the terminal, Jamie was ready to get a move on.
"Okay, we don't have any checked bags, so we can head straight to ground transportation," he said, spinning slowly as he oriented himself.
"Slow down, sport. I need to use the bathroom. And I'm hungry."
"Of course you are. Wouldn't you rather wait to eat downtown? There will be lots of places near the hotel."
"We can't even check in for a couple more hours. Let's just take our time."
"Alright, okay," Jamie said, though he still planned to move through the airport quickly. There was no reason to hang around. "Bathrooms are up there."
When Jamie came out of the bathroom, Eddie was nowhere to be seen. He assumed she was still in the restroom. He waited; though there wasn't a long line as as far as he could tell, and it really was taking her forever...
"Jamie!"
He turned halfway around and saw her a ways down the terminal, trying to balance a smoothie, an open cup of ice cream, her purse, and her suitcase handle.
"What are you doing?" he asked, hurrying forward to help her.
She handed him the smoothie. "This is for you."
"Thanks. But ice cream before lunch?"
"What? I'm starving. That flight took forever. And it's yogurt."
"Right. Ready to get going?"
"No. I still have to go to the bathroom. Watch my stuff, would you?"
Jamie had no choice but to take her cup of yogurt as she shoved it at him and walked into the ladies' room. Since he was holding it anyway, Jamie helped himself to some of the gummy bears from the cup.
"Why do you always eat my food?" she complained when she came out.
"Healthy moderation. And you're taking forever."
"Please. I'm always the one waiting for you to get out of the locker room after work."
"Come on. We've only got twelve minutes to make the bus or we'll have to wait till noon for the next one."
"What is your hurry? Half an hour is no big deal," she said, but she followed him, holding her yogurt one-handed and licking it instead of stopping to use a spoon.
Their luxury hotel was just down the street from the convention center; both structures were right on the water overlooking the marina. Their shuttle arrived at noon, an hour before early check-in started.
"Now what are we going to do?" Eddie groaned. "This is why it made no sense to sprint through the airport."
"We didn't sprint," Jamie argued. "We can leave our bags at the desk and go over to the convention center. Check-in over there started this morning."
He approached the reception desk and informed the woman that he had two rooms reserved.
"Unfortunately your rooms aren't ready yet, Mr. Reagan, so we can't give you your keys. But I'll let them know to put a rush on them so you can go up as soon as possible."
"There's no hurry on the rooms, but could we leave our luggage here while we go over to the convention for a while?"
"Of course. I'll be happy to take it for you. One question: it looks like I can give you two rooms on the same floor, like you requested, but I actually have two adjoining king bed rooms if you'd like that."
"Like, the rooms with the door directly between them, so we don't have to go out into the hall?" Eddie cut in.
"Yes ma'am."
"That sounds great," Eddie said without giving Jamie a chance to offer an opinion. If she had given him that chance, he would've told her that he wasn't sure adjoining rooms was such a good idea.
"Perfect. I've got those reserved for you, then. They'll be ready around one, and when you come back you'll just need to stop by the desk for your keys."
"Thanks so much," Eddie said, and she passed their suitcases and Jamie's backpack to the woman through a gap in the desk.
"Got your shield?" Jamie asked.
"Shield, yes. But I feel kind of naked without my gun," Eddie admitted.
"Me too. I'm not used to leaving it home. But nobody will try anything in a building with a few thousand cops. Let's go."
They crossed the street to the convention center and followed the signs inside to the check-in tables. They received lanyards with name tags, which noted their department, and program books detailing the weekend's schedule. Jamie's name badge stated that he was a featured speaker while Eddie's listed her as a distinguished guest. Eddie flipped through her program and found a full-page ad for Jamie's talk, complete with his stoic department photo taking up a quarter of the space.
"Look!" she giggled. "You look so important!"
"Don't remind me," Jamie groaned.
"Oh, don't be nervous. You're going to be great!"