Captain, I’m Marrying Someone Else

For five years, Irene loved Captain Carson like a movie heroine: memorizing his flights, booking tickets to ride his routes, waking at 2 a.m. for his landings. She quit her Seattle job and followed him to a strange city, dreaming he would propose. Carson never loved her. To him, she was just a warm body, practice for what a real woman liked. The woman he truly loved was Blair, a hooker from the red-light strip he kept on retainer between layovers. Five years of devotion, reduced to nothing.