Cover

Praise for Baggage Claim

“Deftly written, with some of the best phrases in the business,Baggage Claim will make you feel like you’re spending time with old friends. Bravo to Talbert for this entertaining, well crafted first novel.”

—Quarterly Black Review

“Enormously entertaining.”

—GospelCity.com

“[L]oaded with humor and fun. An endearing and lighthearted read filled with charming characters, engaging dialogue and clever writing.”

—Jacquelin Thomas, author of The Prodigal Husband

“[A] hilarious, tell-it-like-it-is tale.”

—Upscale

“[F]un, hilarious, and deeply entertaining…. delightful!”

—Kimberla Lawson Roby, author of A Taste of Reality

“With his flair for comedy, romance and inspiration, Talbert is sure to carve for himself a formidable niche in fiction. I never would have guessed he knows so much about women!”

—Suzanne de Passe

Also by David E. Talbert

Love on the Dotted Line

The People’s Playwright,Volume 1

Copyright

TOUCHSTONE

Rockefeller Center

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2003 by Uncle Dave, Inc.

First Touchstone Edition 2005

TOUCHSTONEand colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Designed by Paul Dippolito

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Talbert, David E.

Baggage claim: a novel/David E. Talbert

p. cm.

1. Flight attendants—Fiction. 2. Women travelers—Fiction. 3. Mate selection—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3620.A53B34 2003

813’.6—dc21                                 2003054217

ISBN-10: 0-7432-5361-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-5361-1

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife, Lyn.

I will love you till there are no more words to say

no more notes to play

no more love to give

and no more life to live.

—David

Epigraph

One day all them bags gone get in your way.

—ERYKAHBADU

Prologue

Being a flight attendant for the last thirteen years, and looking for Mr. Right for almost as long, there are two things I know a lot about: men and baggage. Given the amount of time and travel spent with both, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are five kinds of men, like there are five kinds of baggage.

First, there’s the overnight bag kind of man. Great for the pickup-and-go kind of girl. Spontaneous. Alive. Convenient. Never makes a plan because he never has a plan and expects you to drop whatever your plans are at a moment’s notice. Most of the time you do, because you can always count on having a good time (or at the very least, some good sex). Problem is, Overnight Bag Man is not very practical. Eventually you’re going to need more room for the stuff you’ve picked up along the way. You’ll want him to handle more, but he can’t—even if he wants to—because he simply doesn’t have the capacity.