"Not yet. Like I said, we're not going to panic. We just have to have some faith."
"I'm thinking at this point, it's all about fate," she sighed heavily, putting her head into his shoulder, letting him wrap his arms around her body to comfort her.
It was an interesting way to look at it. After all, fate was what brought them together in the first place. It was fate that had orchestrated the circumstances for that chance encounter on Matt's patio to even happen. Circumstances that took place almost exactly a year before, allowing Neil's heart to heal from his painful divorce. Now, according to Ann, it was up to fate if they were to be reunited with the person that helped him heal. Well, her and her fiancé... and a lot of other guests that were invited to the wedding.
A wedding they suddenly might not make.
They were heading to Michigan, the two of them excited about being invited to Dawn's wedding to her beau, Jeremy. Yes, they'd been informally asked to attend during their own wedding reception, but that could have been just a courteous thing to say at the time. When they received an actual invitation in the mail in early May, they realized they were really going to get to go.
It wasn't like they hadn't discussed it. All along, they'd planned on going to the wedding if they got the invite, knowing the date of the impending nuptials. They planned to go to the wedding, and from there they would be heading off on their own honeymoon, which had been delayed.
Neil didn't have enough vacation time to both move from Indiana and take the actual honeymoon right after their wedding, so they had to wait until after the first of the year. They decided they wanted to time it with Dawn's wedding just in case, with the vague notion that the two couples might actually honeymoon together.
That final detail had never been finalized, though. With Dawn now living in Arizona, and planning a wedding that would take place in her former home town in Michigan, she had enough on her plate. And Ann had only mentioned it in passing during the reception, thinking of how much fun it might be. But it was simply a comment made in a moment of excitement, likely lost amongst the many memories of that wonderful day she married the man of her dreams. Well, it wasn't lost to Ann, who still held a glimmer of hope.
Regardless, the Thomas' made plans to head out to the wedding, and they were going to figure out what to do about their honeymoon along the way. With it being June, they weren't too worried about finding a place to go. They figured anyplace they might want to travel to would have pretty good weather. And, they loved the idea of it being a spontaneous decision. Ann said that fate would decide, and Neil readily agreed.
It seemed like a bit of a gamble to most of the people they told. After all, not having a reservation, or even a destination, could prove to be a lot more costly. Not to mention risky. But they had airline tickets that could be used for anywhere in the continental United States, a wedding gift courtesy of their friends Sonya, the air traffic controller, and Rachel, the stewardess that was part of the adventure Ann set up for Neil and Tina when they flew out for the job interview. The tickets had open ended destinations, which meant they didn't have to necessarily fly round trip. They could go to multiple places, as long as the fights were booked at the same time.
And they could be booked from anywhere, which was what they'd planned to use to their advantage. They were going to go to the wedding on their own dime, paying their own way for that part of the trip. Then, when they decided where they were going to go on their honeymoon, they'd make those arrangements in Michigan. It was an unconventional approach, but both they liked the idea of not knowing exactly where their adventure might take them.
That plan seemed a lot less attractive as they waited in line at the customer service desk at Dulles airport, trying to figure out how they were going to even get to Michigan in time for the wedding. It was surreal that the one part of the trip they
had
planned ahead of time was suddenly unraveling at the seams right in front of them. The electronic board they'd been looking at was the flight schedule, and their particular one had just changed from 'delayed' to 'canceled', the result of heavy thunderstorms that were wrecking havoc over Rocky Mountains.
The plane they were supposed to fly out on was still stuck in Denver, along with numerous others that were grounded due to the storms. There were dozens of flights either delayed or cancelled all over the country, many of them on United Airlines, which they were flying. It wasn't anyone's fault... except perhaps Mother Nature, but that didn't change the fact that they were stranded at the airport.
Well, they weren't really stranded. They had their car, and they had options. Options a lot of other travelers didn't have. But Ann was right. Driving their car to Michigan, leaving from there on their honeymoon, and then having to fly back to get their car and drive it back home was
not
part of any honeymoon scenario they'd discussed. They'd lose a day just having to drive home, and that wasn't something she was willing to give up. Neither was Neil, but they were running out of time. If they didn't drive to Michigan, then they were going to have to gamble that they could get on another flight that night, or early the next morning.
"I don't know. Maybe we
should
just drive there," Neil said as they moved up one spot in the line, nearing the counter. "At least we'll get there."
"Do you really want to sacrifice one of the days of our honeymoon?"
"Do you really want to miss the wedding?"
"No."
"I didn't think so. How about if we
rent
a car to drive there? We can just leave our car here and pick it up when we fly back."
"We've already paid for the plane tickets to Michigan. If we rent a car to drive there, we're out that money too."
"You're right. I hadn't thought of that."
"This sucks!"
"Yes, it does. Now you know why I don't care for flying; most of the time it's a more of a pain in the ass than it's worth."
They waited as patiently as they could. Well, Neil was patient. Ann was busy fidgeting, the longer they stood in line the more anxious she became. He stood by her side like a rock, holding her hand, trying to be a calming influence as he listened to the other frustrated members of their line. They moved toward the front one disgruntled traveler at a time, hoping they'd be one of the lucky ones that would be handed a miracle and be on their way. But that possibility seemed more remote as each person in line before them walked away empty handed and disappointed.
Wendy, the young woman behind the counter seemed frazzled, the cheery demeanor she was attempting to project coming off more as a defense mechanism for all of the verbal crap that had been hurled her way. It wasn't fair, really. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. It was life, and sometimes it throws you a curve when you're looking for a fastball.
Or in this case, it was a screwball, with a major emphasis on the 'screw' part.
"You've got to be kidding," Neil exclaimed, exasperation saturating his voice.
"I'm sorry Mr. Thomas. They're already loaded onto the carts waiting for the plane. Once they hit the tarmac, there's no way to get them back. We're not geared up for that," Wendy replied.
"So, no matter what, our luggage is flying to Michigan."
"Unfortunately," she nodded, bracing for the barrage of personal insults she'd become accustomed to getting to come her way.
Shrugging his shoulders, he offered a smile instead. "Okay, Wendy, I get it. So, what are our options?"
"Excuse me?"
"We need to get to Michigan for a wedding, and we don't want to drive. Is there still a way to fly out of here and get us there in time?"
"That depends. What time is the wedding?"
"It's at 3:00PM tomorrow. But it will take us an hour or so to drive there once we get to Detroit."
"Let me check," she said, looking at her monitor. "Okay, we don't have anything because our flights are all booked up due to these delays. The earliest I can get you there is around 6:00PM." She continued clicking on her keyboard as Neil and Ann groaned, only to be surprised by Wendy's smile. "However, there's a flight on another airline that should get you there in time. It leaves tomorrow morning at 10:20, and it's about a two hour flight."
"How does that help?" Ann asked. "We're already booked with you?"
