Road to Casablanca by Leah Leonard Page B

waiting.”
    She did have a pretty smile, Erick thought, trying his best to think of something, anything , positive.  
    “So you’re Cindy…”
    Something about the way he said it, or maybe it was the look on his face he tried hard to hide, made the poor girl burst into tears.   He wanted to act compassionate toward her, but truly didn’t know how.  
    Erick remembered the breathing techniques he learned from a sexy yoga teacher he dated once and decided now would be an excellent time to employ them to give off a more compassionate look and try to calm her down.
    “I’m glad you’re here.   I’m sorry you were sick.   I’m going to take you back to the hotel so we can get you something good to eat, okay?”
    Cindy sniveled and nodded.
    “I’m so sorry about this, Erick.   I’ve never flown before, and I wasn’t feeling well.”
    “It’s okay.”
    Erick wondered if there was some side servants’ entrance he could slip her into when they got back to the hotel.   Somehow, he was going to have to get this woman transformed, and it seemed as though he would need more help that he originally thought to do it.   Sure, he wanted plain, but this was going a bit overboard.  
    It just goes to show, you can’t tell what people look like from a picture .  
    “Thanks.   I appreciate your understanding.”
    “The agency said you were a world traveler, so I was just a bit surprised you got sick, that’s all.”
    “I’m so sorry about that.   When I filled out my questionnaire I said I would like exotic world travel, but I’d never been out of Iowa until two years ago.”
    Could this nightmare get any worse?
    As Erick stood and pondered whose head should roll when he got back to the States, he realized this was not Cindy’s fault at all, but the Lovemore Agency’s.   They were the ones who should have screened her better, asked her questions, made sure she could handle it.
    Erick smiled through clenched teeth as he looked her over.   The truth was that at this point and regardless of the circumstances, she was better than nothing.
    He’d already scanned the hotel crowd today for possible replacements just in case she didn’t make it, and realized nearly every single girl he saw was far too glamorous for his purpose.   Surely with a little work, Cindy would do just fine.   In fact, the more that he looked at her, he realized she conjured up such a wholesome and pure image, it might work to his advantage to tell his partners she was ill.   It would make him look like a doting husband and her like a part of his family.
    “That’s fine; I got your suitcase already.”
    Cindy seemed surprised.
    “How did you find it?”
    Erick didn’t want to say because it was the only one with her name on it that was emblazoned with Hello Kitty emblems.   It seemed she hadn’t purchased a new piece of luggage since she was five.  
    “Oh, I just figured it out.”
    “Thanks.”
    Cindy reached out to take her bag from him.
    “No, I’ll get it, or he’ll get it, I should say.”
    Erick handed the porter some money and they began to head toward the doors.
    “You will notice that the women here don’t carry anything.   You leave it to the man, and when you’re with me, we leave everything to these people.   It’s good for the local economy, puts food on their table, and it is custom for women in this part of the world.”
    Cindy nodded and seemed to understand what he was saying.   She didn’t touch her door when the car pulled up and allowed the men to help her get in the car, which pleased him.  
    He was also pleased to notice that underneath all those clothes it looked like she had an incredible figure.
    Erick and Cindy sat side by side in the back seat of the car. He smiled at her and did his best to make her feel comfortable.  
    “I do appreciate you coming so far to be here.”
    He meant it.   Regardless of how she looked or what she was like, he needed her more than she could know right now.