"To the airport?" Jared asked as they pulled out of the car park and onto the main road. Well this certainly was a turn up for the books. He was driving away with a woman he had gone to great lengths to keep at a distance. Just about summed up his evening, he thought as he put the car into gear and joined the sporadic traffic.
"If you take me home, I'll get changed and then head for the airport." Caitlin's mind was already on what needed to be done. Pandering to one arrogant male did not feature in her plans for the rest of the evening. Of course she was grateful for the ride home, but she wasn't going to fawn all over the man just because he was demonstrating some humanity.
"Sure." He'd forgotten that they were still in evening gear, and while he could discard his jacket and tie and tone down his attire, her eveningwear would look out of place at an international airport. Not that her tone of voice suggested that she cared about what he thought. She sounded as if she was miles away. She gave him directions to her house and they drove in silence for about ten minutes before he glanced over at her and asked bluntly, "Why didn't you tell me you were set up?"
Her mind was still on what needed to be organized once she got home, so she answered frankly and briskly. "It didn't occur to me." Caitlin replied off handedly, and snuggled deeper into the seat. There was so much that would need to be arranged. And if things were as bad as she imagined, there was going to be a lot of emotional baggage to deal with as well. So the last thing she wanted was to add to her current frame of emotional baggage.
Another short silence greeted that.
Jared decided he ought to make amends for his part in this evening's debacle. Apologising wasn't his forte. But he figured a straightforward direct apology would suffice. "I'm sorry for my part in the debacle this evening." He apologized, and she heard the sincerity.
Caitlin shrugged, "It wasn't you who created it." She replied matter of fact. It was one of her better traits. She was fully aware that as far as her current driver was concerned, she was nothing more than nuisance value. But that did not mean that she did not know that he wasn't the person who initiated this evening's debacle. In addition in the grand scheme of life, and given what she was about to deal with, this man's arrogance was of no real importance.
"But I certainly stirred it up." He acknowledged, cast her a quick glance before returning his focus to the road. She seemed to be handling it well. Even if she seemed somewhat distant. It was as if she really couldn't care less about what happened this evening. She shrugged again. "I imagine when word gets out that I took you home, it could get interesting." He threw in with a smile in his voice.
Caitlin groaned in dismay. That was the last thing she needed, more gossip. When had life become so complicated? Usually she attended these things, on a sporadic basis, and to keep her dad happy. But it never resulted in anything interesting happening. Tonight might not be the kind of interesting she wanted, but at least the evening had not been dull. "Interesting?" Then she smiled to herself and murmured. "Oh what the hell." Life was too short to over stress, that was Caitlin's motto. It was a motto she lived by to a certain extent. She took what was dealt out and just got on with it.
Silence descended again.
Jared figured he ought to make some attempt to converse with her. Maybe use the opportunity to find out a bit more about her. Though why he was suddenly interested was in itself of interest. It wasn't that he was attracted. He figured she was not his type. Too timid. Too mundane. Too conservative. But still, no harm in making conversation, especially if it helped pass the time.
"What is it that you do exactly?" He glanced across at her again, and was surprised to see that she looked relatively relaxed.
Most of the women in his life were on high alert. They were either primping or sprucing up their appearance, or attempting to hold court and keep his attention. The woman in the passenger seat of his car appeared to be totally immune to the fact she was currently with him. It was as if he was nothing more than her taxi driver! That nearly had him snorting, until he realized that was exactly what he was at the moment. Nothing more than her chauffeur. Most of the women in his life spent much of their energy trying to get him to be at their beck and call. This woman had managed it without even trying. That had his lips kicking up at the corners. He glanced across at her before he told her what he knew about her employment.
"I thought you were a teacher." That's what he'd heard this evening.
"I am." And it surprised her to know that he knew that. Why would he know what she did? Until this evening she doubted she'd even registered on his radar. Even when she had registered on his radar he couldn't wait to erase the blip! That had her banking a smile. She figured he was probably far from pleased right at the moment. For he had gone to an awful lot of trouble to ensure she knew he was not interested in her, and now he was driving her home.
"So why head for the airport." That had puzzled him. Why would a teacher need to go urgently to the airport? At this time? He was starting to realize that what he had heard might have been just the tip of the iceberg. She might be a teacher, but it did not sound as if the job she did was a run of the mill job.
"I'm waiting for my next posting. In the meantime I help out when needed, as needed." Came the cryptic response. Caitlin wasn't particularly keen to tell him anything about her. In any case, why bother. The man had made it pretty clear that nothing about her was of interest to him. So pretending an interest now was not something she intended to buy into.
"Posting?" He indicated to pull into the outer lane in order to overtake a slower car. "You don't teach here?" This was like pulling teeth. What was the big deal? Anyone would think she was a spy, given her reluctance to share information. He ran through the bits of information he had been given over the course of the evening. Nothing he had been told suggested anything extraordinary. Yet her reluctance to expand on any information suggested what she did was far from ordinary.
"No. I work for an agency." Caitlin told him. She wondered whether to tell him any more about her job. After all, after this drive, she doubted they would be seeing each other. So why bother to share information?
"An agency? Can't find a local job? A permanent job here?"
Caitlin nearly reacted defensively, for it sounded as if he thought she was incapable of holding down a job here. He sounded rather derisive she thought. Then she figured it was probably her imagination.
She did not bother to answer his questions directly. Instead she told him, " I teach teachers abroad."
"Oh." Ok, so not a school teacher. " I thought you were a nursery school teacher."
"I was. But not now."
"So what do you do now?"
"As I said I work for an agency."
At which point Jared did laugh. She looked over at him and scowled. "I'm not sure why you find that funny." He was still grinning as if he found the situation hilarious.
He shook his head, "I don't find that funny." But his lips twitched and she could see he did find it funny.
"So you just laugh at random moments?" She chided on a huff of irritation.
"I was laughing because you sound like you work for a secret government agency! Yet you look like a sweet little thing! Getting even the simplest information from you is like pulling teeth. I found it funny."
Sweet little thing? She nearly laughed. Perfect, now the great Adonis thought she was a cute kid. Just perfect.
"So what is it that you do for this agency?" He spelt it out for her, hoping his direct question would result in a straightforward answer. Most of his girlfriends were only too happy to talk about themselves.
"I told you I teach teachers."
"Has anyone ever told you that you can be pretty exasperating?"
Caitlin rolled her eyes.
"So where do you teach teachers? Here?"
"No. Usually countries getting back on their feet." And before he could ask her to expand on that description she decided to just provide the information. "Sometimes there are still a few issues to be resolved, but the agency I work for tends to send us in early to get things started." It was a high risk factor. But it was important to get on the ground and start getting things back to normal as quickly as possible.
"So what's with the airport tonight?" He asked. "Are you heading out to some exotic place right away?"
"No" She said quietly and on a sigh. Again to avoid being prompted for information, she told him, "Occasionally, we are seen as easy targets. If things are brewing, or still haven't quite settled down. We can become targets."
"Targets." Silence, as he made sense of some of what he'd heard earlier. He was also starting to realize that this sweet young thing was probably street hardened, if what she was telling him involved going into what sounded like war zones. "So tonight you're..."
Caitlin blew out a long slow breath as she tried to remember to stay calm. She could not afford to get emotional, or upset as she thought about the current situation. "Some of my colleagues were ambushed." She said softly, and he could hear the anxiety in her voice.
Ambushed? That had his eyes widening in consternation. Ambushed? The word kept repeating in his head. He glanced across at her. Waited. When she said nothing more he said, "And?"
"And I'm meeting their families." Came the despondent statement.
That had Jared frowning. Why was she the one having to deal with this? Surely she wouldn't be doing it on her own, would she? She looked way too young to shoulder such a responsibility. "You're meeting their families? Why you? Doesn't your organisation have people...."
She thought he almost sounded concerned for her. That was a turn up for the books. Sighing again, Caitlin interrupted him, "Yes. We do."
"So?"
"So I know the scene. That means I can give the families contextual information. And in any case it's my turn on the roster to deal with emergencies."
Some twenty minutes later they pulled up in front of her house. "Thanks for the ride home, hope it wasn't out of your way." She unclipped her seat belt, and looked over at him before she opened the car door, "Do you know your way from here?"
"Yes." Jared nodded. In the space of a few hours his opinion of this young woman had gone through a major overhaul.
She held out her hand. She wasn't sure he was going to take her hand. "Well, thanks for the ride." She prompted and kept her hand out toward him. She doubted that when he took his dates home he left after a handshake! No doubt this threw the poor man. That nearly lightened her mood, for she doubted this man would be thrown by any situation. He was pretty sure of himself. Pretty sure of his ability to handle a variety of situation.
Jared took her outstretched hand, and shook it. "Sorry about this evening." He said again. She shrugged as she disengaged her hand. "Would you like me to wait?"
"For what?" Caitlin blinked in confusion.
"To take you to the airport." He pointed out what he considered obvious.
She shook her head. Well, this evening really was turning out to be a real eye opener. When had she ever thought Jared would ever offer to wait for her? "No, thanks. I've a few things to organise first. Thanks anyway."
"If you're sure." Jared found himself taking inventory of the young woman. It looked like Doug was right. This woman was worth getting to know. Just a pit he had blown any prospect of that happening now.
She nodded and smiled. "Goodnight." She nodded again, "And thanks for the ride. Appreciated."
He replied, "No problem." Waited for her to open her door and climb out. As she left the car he said, "Goodnight."
"Night." She closed the door. He waited, parked in front of her house while she made her way to the front door. It was as he pulled away he realized he agreed with Douglas. He was an idiot!