Two days later Daniel was on a plane bound for Boston with Ms. Sabrina Gosling sitting in the seat next to him. He had picked her up at Catherine's early that morning and then left his car in the long-term parking lot at Denver International.
The good people at Boston College had sprung for first class, so he was really quite comfortable. It was a good thing, too, because it was going to be a long flight. He always hated flying coach. Because of his long legs, he would invariably arrive with cramps in his hamstrings and a killer backache. But this was great. He took a sip of his complementary cocktail, thank you very much, and regarded his sleeping companion.
Sabrina really was an attractive woman. With her strawberry blond curls, vivid blue eyes, and just a smattering of freckles across her nose, she was the picture of fresh faced innocence. And what was it about women with curly hair anyway? Sarah, Sha're, Kira, and now Sabrina.
Daniel chided himself for categorizing her as a potential girlfriend. This was a professional trip, nothing more. Just two people with one thing in common: their love for Catherine Langford. That's all.
But Daniel couldn't help but think about their dinner earlier that week. Surely he hadn't imagined that spark between them, not to mention that surprising goodbye kiss the next morning. Daniel couldn't help but think that this was going to be a very interesting trip indeed. He stretched his legs and then pulled out the novel he had brought to read on the long trip.
Sabrina woke up just as the in-flight meal was being served, so she and Daniel were able to have a lengthy conversation over their poached salmon. They talked about a lot of things: their memories of Catherine and Ernest, her schooling in Paris and later in Rome. She practiced her French and Italian on Daniel, but soon found that she was out of her league.
When the conversation eventually got around to Daniel and his work, he had to be deliberately vague. This was nothing new to him, but he felt a little dismayed when he saw her eyes starting to glaze over as he laid out his standard cover story; that he was basically a translator with a love of antiquities.
What he couldn't tell her was the other part of his job, the part where he got to step through a shimmering event horizon and travel to other planets, sometimes two or three a week. It was the best job in the world, but he had to keep that to himself. Too bad. What a great pickup line that would be.
Nevertheless, the time passed quickly, and before long they were making their final descent onto the runway at Logan. When they finally got to their downtown hotel and checked into their rooms, it was close to six o'clock, EST. Daniel suggested that they take time to unpack, freshen up and then meet for dinner at eight. Since neither one of them knew the city very well, they opted to eat dinner in one of the restaurants at the hotel.
Daniel let himself into his room, closed the curtains, kicked off his shoes and stretched out on the bed. He loosened his collar, took his cell phone out of his pocket to set an alarm for dinner, and noticed that he had two missed calls; one from Jack and one from Sam. Big surprise there.
Sam's message had been left that morning and was wishing him a good flight. Jack's message was a little longer. He was trying to track down some missing CD's before he left for Washington and was wondering if Daniel might have them. Daniel smiled and then grimaced at Jack's parting shot: "Oh, and Daniel, have a nice date!" He set his alarm for seven-thirty and then fell asleep almost immediately.