Page 1 of Two Tickets to Paradise

ONE

It had beenover year since Vince Lazar had a chance to get home to Maine to see his mother and grandmother. Work and life had blended together to the point where he didn't really have life beyond work, but he'd finally drawn the long straw and got leave to head home for the Thanksgiving weekend and a few days after that. That had been the plan at least.

When he'd checked in on his phone everything seemed great. He got to pick his seat, choosing an aisle seat when the exit aisle wasn't available.

It was only when he'd arrived at ORD, one of the airports in the Chicago area that he had a real distinct feeling that something was wrong. Really wrong.

The lines were long and worked their way back and forth around what he was sure was meant to be open area.

Even the energy of the room was... Off. Tense.

He moved his backpack, settling it squarely on his back and then adjusted his hold on the straps of his duffel while he pulled his phone out to check the app for Alaska Airlines.

His flight had been ON TIME just an hour before, but as he stood in an open spot on the cement floor, he read the all caps word that made his gut twist.

DELAYED

"Oookay." He moved closer to one of the big screens set up between two big pillars and scanned the list for his flight. As he was searching for the flight to Portland, Maine, he read with a sinking feeling more than half a dozen other flights listed as DELAYED.

Letting out a breath, he tried to put together the pieces and realized that all of the flights that were delayed were all toward the East.

A security guard started to walk past him and Vince called out. "Excuse me... Sorry."

The security guard turned, his jaw a tight line. "Yeah?"

"Sorry," Vince hated to bother the man, "can you tell me what all the delays are from?"

One dark eyebrow rose. "You're kidding, right?"

Vince shook his head. "Sorry. I've had my head down for the last week or so getting ready for leave. What should I know?"

"There's a big storm headed toward us from the East Coast."

Vince frowned at the words. "My mom and grandma didn't say anything." He switched to his TEXT app and didn't see anything new from them.

"Well..."

He looked up at the security guard and saw the man looking more than a little sympathetically at him.

"If they're anything like mine, they probably were hoping that it would blow off course and wouldn't interrupt your visit."

Vince nodded. "Yeah. Sounds like them. I bet my grandma is giving the TV weatherman a talking to as if he can hear her."

The security guard shook his head. "Grandmas... don't mess with them."

Vince agreed with a smile. "Well, I'll see if we get more information soon before I call them and really get them upset."

"Sounds like you have a plan." The security guard gave him a little salute. "Carry on, Soldier."

Vince bit into the inside of his cheek. "Sailor."

The security guard looked surprised for a moment. "Oh, yeah. The lakes. We have water here in Chicago."

Vince's eyes widened. "A little. The river, too."

The security guard's radio crackled and he pointed to it. "Gotta go. You need anything else, man?"

Lifting his hand in a way, Vince shook his head. "Thanks, man. I'll figure it out from here."

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