Page 14 of Two Tickets to Paradise

Hell, if he went out there, he might never come back.

He grinned at his thoughts. There was a Navy base there in Hawaii. There were worse places to be stationed.

The screen of his phone flashed and he picked it up from where he'd set it when they'd sat down to talk.

MOM: Vinnie? Are you okay? Mom and I are watching the Weather Channel and they're saying that a lot of flights are getting cancelled.

He blew out a breath as he stared at the screen. He really didn't want to tell his mother that he wasn't going to be home for Thanksgiving.

Still, he had to tell her what was going on.

Opening up the texting app he typed out a message.

VIN: Mom, hey. I was just told that they're cancelling my flight and all the other flights heading in that direction.

He looked up at the nearby DEPARTURES board just in case there had been a change, but no. There beside the Flight Number and his destination, the board left no question about the status of his flight.

CANCELLED

"Sorry, Mom."

Vince hit SEND and the message shifted on the screen from the little window where he typed it to the screen across and under his mother's message to him.

His phone vibrated in his hand a second later and a notification popped up.

INCOMING CALL

He didn't even have to look to see who it was. He just swiped the screen to answer the call. "Hey, mom."

"Vinnie! Are you okay?"

"Okay? Mom, I'm still in the airport."

"It's not raining there, is it?"

"Raining?" He looked over at one of the window walls at a nearby gate. The weather was grey but dry. "Nope. It's dry here, but you folks are on the other side of the storm. Are you and Grandma going to be okay with the storm front?"

His mother's laugh made him smile. "Of course, honey. We're not likely to get much of the storm here, but even if we did, your grandmother and I have enough food and fixings here to feed a high school football team."

His stomach growled on cue. "I'm sorry I'm going to miss it."

"You just stay safe, Vinnie. And don't you worry about us." He saw his mother's dismissive hand wave in his imagination. She was always trying to downplay her worries or disappointments. "We're going to make our way through this turkey and the score or so of side dishes one by one."

He closed his eyes and imagined the awesome spread that his mother and grandmother would have put out for the Thanksgiving meal.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I-"

"Don't you dare, Vinnie. Don't you apologize for something that isn't your fault."

"I know you wanted me to get a job closer to home-"

"You know that was more for me and your grandmother than anything else, Vinnie. Of course I want you closer to home, honey, but you're doing what you dreamed about doing. You're in the Navy, sweetie. And you know that your grandpa would have been so damn... I mean, darn proud of you."

He smiled because she meant that. His grandfather had been in the Navy and so had his dad before him. Vince hadn't really known a lot about his father, but he'd wanted to take up the family 'tradition' again and serve in the military.

"Thanks, mom."

"Now, there might be days when I wish you'd picked a different kind of job or in a different place, but that's my issue."

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