“How is that even possible?” Alice asked in wonderment looking in the direction of where Suzy had walked to and then back at me again. I kept my hand over Shane’s mouth, as her eyes bulged with the main unspoken question.

“I’d said I don’t tell, didn’t I?” I asked in a loud whisper.

I released my hand over Shane’s mouth, imploring them with my eyes to drop the subject. “I’m sorry,” I mouthed to Shane, who was shaking her head with a smirk.

“I bet those first-class lavatories have a lot of space and privacy, huh?” she asked rhetorically, getting the last dig in. “That’s it. Dropping the subject,” she added quickly, throwing her hands up protectively in front of her chest.

Alice was still shaking her head as I mumbled that we ought to get to customs ourselves. And change the subject, while we were at it.

Suzy and her toddler must have been processed quickly because there was no sign of them by the time we’d lined up. Meanwhile, thankfully, Shane and Alice had dropped the subject as I’d asked, and started catching me up on what had they’d been up to since we’d last met.

They walked with me to the middle island outside of the doors of the arrival area of the airport, where various buses were whizzing through, picking up people who’d rented cars or else were making their way to area hotels.

“No, thanks, Aerin. Helena will be getting us soon,” Shane answered my question of whether I could drive them to their places. “Besides, you’re heading in a different direction than we are.”

“Oh, but that would have been no …” I started to say when Shane interrupted me.

“How many women have you been with since ….” from the gist of her question, I was assuming that she was back to teasing me about my tryst with Suzy, but she looked deadly serious.

I avoided her stare, and looked away from both of them.

“How many …” she started to ask again, when I finally looked their way again.

I resisted the impulse to throw the question back at her, given her reputation.

I blew out a breath. “I’m just trying to figure things out, ok?” I responded quietly as I looked away again. “Just like anybody would, under the circumstances like the one I’m in.”