in a tailspin

 Asa hated to leave. He even hated to leave Milo. But Elliot and Penelope made sure he got off to Cleveland. They'd keep an eye on the boys.

Of course, he didn't know why he was so worried. He loved flying. And the short trip was a piece of cake, compared to the long trips he'd been on before, when he did missionary work. It was all coming back to him. Or at least for the hour or so flight, he was on.

As soon as he got there, he felt lost, again. Yet, he made it to the motel where everything would be. It would be OK, he kept telling himself.

"Are you talking to yourself?" Asked someone who was already holding a cup a coffee, before the first big meeting started.

He looked at her thinking he was suppose to know her. Immediately, Asa drew a blank, as he hugged himself.

"Mae Reid?" He said off the top of his head. Her last name was different now. He read her name tag. "Mae Roux." How could he forget? She hadn't changed a bit. Actually, he met her at a wedding. He was just sixteen and she was twenty, then. Her brother married Asa's cousin. They were almost family. Of course, he'd had the biggest crush on her. Anyway, they weren't actually family. His cousin and her brother were divorced already.

"Small world." She smiled.

"Yeah. Totally." Which he hadn't a clue why he even said it, with an added hand gesture, too. Mae still had the power to make him silly, he supposed.

"How have you been?" She wanted to know.

"Better now." He nodded with a smile. The doors were opening. They needed to get to the conference as the group flooded in. "Its just funny, seeing you here."

"I had no idea, you were a young adult librarian," Mae said as they went to find a seat, together.

"I didn't know that about you, either." Of course, he learned later that perhaps her job was a lot more intense than his. She helped inner city kids in St. Louis.