Page 9 of Two Tickets to Paradise

He looked up at the clock on the wall and then back at her.

Before he could answer, she interjected her own guess.

“Since it’s your mom and your grandmother is involved, too. I’m going to go with the answer Yes. Really upset.”

He shrugged. “They’re looking forward to me going being home for a few days. It’s been a while since I had that.”

Cora felt absolutely crestfallen.

“Let me get you scheduled on a flight tomorrow. Not too early, but mid-day. That’s what the weather service is calling a safe estimate. Then you can at least call your mom and tell her that you’ll be home, just a day late.”

Vince nodded, but she saw worry and hesitation in his expression as well.

She ducked her head down and focused on the keys in front of her, making sure to tag his ticket reservation so that they wouldn’t boot him from the flight if the flight actually happened.

“There.” She sent the reservation to print off a boarding pass for him at the desk and with a smile she moved around to grab it off of the printer. “I’ve got you back on flights to Portland, Maine. You’ll be a little over a day late, but maybe if you sweet-talk your commanding officer, they’ll give you a day or two extra.”

He chuckled softly. “Doubt it, but that’s a nice thought.”

Cora shook her head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you.”

He shrugged it off. “I think you’ve done plenty for me. Including working after you clocked out.”

She grinned at the warmth of his smile. “I have a vested interest in helping our military flyers, so I’m happy to help.”

“Then,” he hesitated a moment before finishing his thought, “maybe you’ll consider doing me another favor?”

“Sure!” She didn’t have to think about that at all. What could he ask for that she wouldn’t do if she could to help him since he was stuck at the airport for the moment?

"Well, before your flight leaves, do you want to get something to eat?"

"Eat?" She blinked at him, unsure of exactly what he was saying. "With you?"

Vince laughed and shrugged. "My treat. You don't even have to sit with me if you'd rather not."

She shook her head, mostly at herself. "No."

"No?"

She groaned at herself. "I mean, no I don't want to sit by myself. Yes, I'd like to get something to eat... With you." She added on to clarify her answer. "But there’s no guarantee that I fixed your ticket problem. So I feel like you’d be thanking me for… nothing."

"You didn't make the weather go nuts. You didn't ground the flights. And really, you did me a favor trying to find a way around the storm so I could get home on time. As it is, you did me a big favor pushing my booking back."

"Oh," she hated that she sounded disappointed, "you don't owe me anything for that. I was happy to try. I know the airline hubs around the country really well. When I joined Alaska Airlines I had a pretty good mental image of the country and the different airlines. It reminded me of a board game that I used to play with my brother, only that game was about trains. But I got really good at seeing the big nationwide ticketing concepts, so that's why the girls thought I could help."

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me that you couldn't find me a way to get home today. I just want to spend some of my waiting time here at the airport with you." Vince looked at her in a way that she'd always wished that guys would look at her and she knew that she was going to do something really stupid.

"That's a good thing." She smiled at him and knowing that her cheeks were probably blushing bright red. "I want to spend some time with you, too."

THREE

With all ofthe people milling around the airport, Cora was shocked that they were able to find some food that didn't take hours on end. A small premade deli was the answer to their prayers. They both found something to eat in the chilled refrigerator shelves. Cora picked out a couple of packs of pepperoni and cheese slices and Vince picked out a sealed pack of premade club sandwich halves. A quick flash of a debit card and they were off to find a place to sit.

It didn't take long for them to find a bench with enough room to sit down and not be squished in like sardines.

"What?"

"Hmm?" She looked at Vince and was surprised to see how closely he was watching her.

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