I was expecting a doughty, flower-dressed, gray streaked hair, hunched back earth mother.”
“Hunched back?”
“From carrying the weight of the world.”
“Oh my gosh, you are a real prize.”
“And what do you see?”
Despite himself, he was actually starting to enjoy this. There was more wit here than he expected, and plenty of spirit. “I see a very attractive woman in front of me.”
“Well, Gen—.”
“Can we drop the General? Please call me Alex.”
She nodded. “I’m Sandra.”
“Perfect.”
The waitress came with their drinks and took their order. He ordered pot roast, and she ordered the same. He couldn’t stop looking at her eyes, they were light smoky blue and she had astonishing strawberry— blond hair. Her skin was lightly tanned but clear, he guessed her age to be in the mid-forties, but she was in what appeared to be terrific physical condition.
“So what should we talk about?” she said.
“Sandra just how much have you been told.”
“Well I’m a designated person, so I know everything you know, I wish I didn’t.”
“Yeah, same here.” At least he didn’t have to reinvent the wheel.
“Sandra I’m flying up to Coeur d’Alene tomorrow to start looking for potential survival facilities. I know this may be short notice, but I’d like you to come along and assess the area as an agriculture center post event. I plan on being up there for two or three days.”
“Well, I don’t have anything more important on my schedule. I just put in my sabbatical notice, and today was my last day at UC Davis.”
“Fantastic.”
“When I get back to the office I’ll pull the Ag stats on that county and the surrounding counties, I’ve never been there before, it should be interesting.”
“Excuse me for being forward, but is there someone that you have to account for?”
“Husband or a boyfriend? Or girlfriend?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to intrude. It’s just that I’ve had to deal with my son and his fiancée and trying to figure out how I was going to skirt around all these issues without alerting them. I didn’t manage it.”
“No offense taken. And to answer your question, no, I just jettisoned a suitor. A male suitor.”
“To a pilot the word jettisoned, can be both good and bad.”
“I am going to enjoy working with you. So are we driving up or what?”
“No we’re taking the plane they gave me.”
“What is it, I’m a pilot myself?”
“It’s a C-21— military version of an eight seat Lear. Brand new.” She was a pilot? No wonder it costs so much to attend a university, all the professors are out playing around in their private planes.
But her eyes.
“Hey first class I’m going to like this I can tell.”
“The plane is for our exclusive use, and the government picks up all the tabs no questions asked. But we’re not flying down to Rio in it.”
She sobered. “Wouldn’t dream of it. We’re going to be busy.”
They finished lunch and Alex took her back to her office. He told her he would confirm hotel reservations for the entire party and to plan on wheels up at nine in the morning. She gave him her home and cell phone numbers and asked if she could leave her car at his house while they were away.
The drive home was an exercise in self-discipline; he kept drifting back to her eyes. They were so mesmerizing…
He couldn’t even think about going there. He had to stay focused…And besides, he hadn’t been available for Ellen. He was going to be a lot less available now.
Tomorrow they started the arduous task of finding suitable locations for an as yet to be determined number of people who were going to be needed to save the world.
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