Page 7 of Sunflower

Just as I’d expected, her loud complaint caught the attention of several people around us, and the chatter rose.

An alert sounded over the speakers before the same crew member I’d seen on the phone earlier announced, “Apologies everyone, the flight’s been canceled due to mechanical issues. We’re going to empty the plane now and get everyone sorted on new flights as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

Her announcement cut off to the noise of bitter complaints and cursing, none louder than Amelia.

“This never would have happened if your dad and Erin held their wedding here. I swear to God, why they decided to not just make Callum be the only one to travel is beyond me. Stupidest decision in a history of stupid decisions.”

Gritting my teeth, I let her bitch and moan while I gathered our bags from the overhead compartments. It was easier than trying to argue with her, and less inclined to make my headache worse. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to life than listening to a spoiled rich girl complain.

I was only nineteen. Had I really just wasted two whole years of my life for nothing?

It was noon the next day when we finally arrived at the hotel.

The wedding was in two hours.

“Come on, Amelia. Hurry. We don’t have much time.” I headed straight for the elevators with the room keys I’d grabbed at the front counter, praying that she was keeping up with me. We both needed to shower and get ready and be back down to the hotel’s event hall in time for the wedding. We were cutting things incredibly close.

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, pulling her oversized suitcase behind her.

Neither of us had slept much the night before. Once we’d deplaned, there was a rush on available hotel rooms. We’d been lucky in getting one but had only managed around four hours sleep before the next available flight was due to leave.

That flight had been delayed for a few hours as well, leaving us all sitting on the tarmac while we waited for clearance to leave.

I understood we were both tired and beyond cranky by this point, but we’d finally arrived, even if it did only leave us a couple of hours to get ready.

As soon as Amelia and her luggage were in the elevator, I pounded on the door close button, then the one for our floor. Impatiently, I tapped the toe of my sneaker against the metal siding, silently willing the elevator to move faster. I stared at the display above the doors, feeling like if I stared at them long enough, I could make them change quicker.

“If you have a shower first, I’ll unpack everything, so you don’t have to rummage,” I said, still staring at the climbing numbers. “That way, it’ll give you more time to get your makeup done.”

“There’s not enough time,” said Amelia, annoyance clear in her voice. “I need more than two hours to get my hair and makeup done for a wedding.”

“That’s all the time we have spare. Can’t you make it work?” I chanced a glance her way, only to see her scowling at me. “I’ve seen you speed run your makeup before. You’ll look fine.”

If I’d thought that would encourage her, I was clearly mistaken.

“I can’t justlook finefor a wedding, Joseph.” I winced at her use of my full name. Obviously, I’d pissed her off rather than thinking I’d helped. “I need to look fabulous. And two hours will not cut it.”

“Just try your best, yeah?” The elevator finally dinged to let us know we’d arrived at our floor, and I burst out as soon as the doors opened enough to let me through. I followed the signs and hurried to find our room, fumbling with the cards to open the door as quickly as I could.

I heard Amelia sigh in exasperation as she slowly trailed after me.

Dumping my suitcase on the bed, I unzipped it and started searching for the clothes I’d packed for the wedding, moving them to the top of my luggage for easy access. Amelia pushed her suitcase up against the bed next to me and huffed her way to the connected bathroom, removing her clothes and leaving them in a trail behind her as she went.

“Keep it quick, okay?” I called after her, lugging her suitcase on to the bed. Fuck, it felt like she’d packed bricks in the damn thing. “Ten minutes max.”

Other than lifting her middle finger to wave at me over her shoulder before she slammed the door to the bathroom, I didn’t get a response.

After wrenching her suitcase open, I marveled at the sheer volume of clothes she’d packed. We were only staying three days,with our flight back late on Sunday morning, but there were enough clothes here to stay a month.

Hurrying as best as I could, I pulled everything out and either hung things in the small wardrobe or laid things out across the bed or other furniture. By the time I was done, the hotel room looked like it had been hit with a clothing tornado, with colors and fabrics strewn everywhere.

I glanced at the clock sitting on the bedside table and noticed it had been fifteen minutes since Amelia had gone into the bathroom. I started to wonder if she was taking her time on purpose.

I knocked against the bathroom door. “Amelia, it’s been fifteen minutes. I need to take a shower. Are you almost done?”

There was no response other than the noise of the shower. Maybe she hadn’t heard me. I jiggled the door handle to poke my head in to ask her, only to discover that she’d locked the door.

Fuck.

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