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as he sat back down.
    “Well, that was … interesting,” Anna said. She and Alison had returned in the middle of the conversation, but had hung back until the two Navy men had left.
    Danny took a swig of his beer, then said, “When I started talking to them at the bar, a couple of the women came over. They were even more interested than our Navy friends.” He leaned toward Wes. “Man, if you play this right, you’re not going to have to sleep alone the whole time we’re here.”
    “Danny,” Alison and Anna chided almost in unison.
    “So not cool,” Tony said.
    Wes shook his head. “Okay, I’ve had enough.”
    He motioned for Dione and Alison to get out of his way, then scooted out of the booth.
    “I’ll see you all in the morning.” He tossed Alison the keys to the Escape and started across the room.
    “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean anything.…”
    If Danny said anything more, Wes didn’t hear it.
    He weaved through the crowd and headed for the door. As he pushed it open a voice called out, “Wes, hold up.”
    Looking over his shoulder, he spotted Tony moving around a small group of people standing just inside the entrance.
    “Mind if I tag along?” Tony asked.
    “Be my guest. But you’re missing free drinks.”
    Tony let out a halfhearted laugh. “Sorry about the thing with those guys in the bar. That was all Danny.”
    Wes smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I know how Danny is.”
    “A deadly combination of harmless and clueless.”
    Wes laughed. “Exactly right.”
    They walked in silence for a few minutes, the whole time Wes sensing that Tony had something he wanted to say. Finally the production assistant worked up the nerve and asked, “You think we’ll have time to do a little training this trip?”
    Over the past couple of assignments, Wes had been tutoring Tony on camera techniques during downtime. “I don’t see why not. That is, if you don’t drop the ball like you did today.”
    “Drop the ball?” Tony looked confused.
    “What is it I like to have in my hand when I’m drinking my coffee in the morning?”
    Tony looked momentarily baffled, then he laughed to himself. “Poppy seed muffin.”
    “And what was missing from my hand this morning?”
    “A poppy seed muffin,” Tony said. “Sorry. Completely my fault.”
    “You want to learn to be a good cameraman, then the first rule is take care of the one teaching you. I’d hate to forget some critical piece of information because I hadn’t had a proper breakfast.”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    “I know you will.”
    Once Wes was back in his room at the motel, he lay in bed unable to sleep. At just after 11 p.m., someone knocked on the door.
    “Just a minute,” he called out as he pulled on his jeans and T-shirt.
    When he opened the door, he found Anna standing outside.
    “Hey,” she said.
    “Hey,” he replied, mellowing.
    He pushed the door open wide enough so that she could slip in, then shut it behind her. A few seconds later they had their arms wrapped around each other and were in the middle of a deep, long kiss.
    “I’ve been wanting to do that all day,” Anna said when they finally pulled apart.
    “I’ve been needing that all day.”
    “What you’ve been needing is a slap upside the head,” she said. “I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you running toward the plane.”
    “Don’t get all Dione on me,” he said.
    She considered him for a moment. “Fine. But if that happens again, and I’m around, you’d better run the other way, or I will personally kill you.”
    “I bet you would, wouldn’t you?”
    At five foot four, she was a good half foot shorter than Wes. She arched her head upward and kissed him again, her long brown hair falling down her back. She then put her hand in his and led him toward the bed.
    “Danny was right about one thing.”
    “What’s that?”
    “You’re not going to sleep alone the whole time we’re here.”

COMMANDER THOMAS FORMAN WAS STILL SITTING at his desk as