Missy ended the kiss.
Raven rested his forehead against hers and panted softly. He kept his eyes closed.
She smiled. “Raven, you don’t have to worry so hard. I’m not really sure who this mysterious ‘she’ is.”
He opened his eyes.
“Or what she said about your character.” Her hands relaxed in his hair. “I mean, I’m guessing it wasn’t a compliment, considering how worried you were about whether you’re a good man or not.”
“I beg your pardon, Missy, but what?”
She laughed. “Ohh, you look so cute when you’re baffled. I hope you know that. Anyway, even if you didn’t know, now you do. So, that’s good. You were thinking very hard and very loud. It was so loud LM probably heard everything in his sleep.”
“Ah!” He blushed. “I do beg your pardon. I had not meant to project my thoughts at all.”
“Obviously. So, now that we’re talking about it, who was she and what did she say about you and why don’t you think you’re a good person and what did you do tonight that you think dad will be all down and angry at you about?”
He chuckled. “That is quite a loaded series of questions. I hardly even know how or where to start answering them.”
“Start with her. That seems to be a good starting point.”
“No. I need to start with Ambrose.” Raven shook his head. “It has been quite a night.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I shall.”
***
Barbara let the valet at the airport park the car. After all of the delays that had happened so far, she wasn’t interested in adding one more to the list. She wanted to get on that airplane so they could go on their honeymoon already. Her determination made Ambrose grin like a besotted fool.
She and Ambrose dragged their suitcases into the airport and went through all of the usual check in procedures.
Only to discover that their airplane had left a whole hour ago.
“Are…are you sure?” Ambrose asked.
The ticketing agent double-checked her computer. “Yes. I see that your flight left on time…a whole hour ago. It’s too bad you weren’t here then.”
Ambrose scoffed, but he refrained from saying whatever he was thinking.
“What can we do?” Barbara asked. “Are there any more flights to Florida tonight?”
The ticketing agent did an admirable job keeping her professional façade in place. No scowls. No eye-rolls. No “Were you born stupid? Or did something bad happen to your head while you were growing up?” looks. Not even a mild scoff. “I’m so terribly sorry, but no. That was the last Florida flight for the night.”
Barbara squeezed Ambrose’s hand. “So, now what? Can we get a refund or—“
“All tickets are nonrefundable.”
“Okay.” Ambrose took a deep breath and exhaled. “Can we do an exchange for another flight some other day?”
“I’m afraid not. Exchanges are reserved for Acts of God.”
“Acts of…what?” Ambrose frowned. “What does that even mean? Flames falling from the sky? Plagues of locusts?”
“Yes, but no. Acts of God are natural catastrophes that no one can predict. The term can include anything and everything from lightning striking the plane to a tornado tearing through the airport to a volcano erupting in the middle of the runway.”
“We’re in Ohio.” Ambrose said flatly. “We don’t do volcanoes here.”
The ticketing agent shrugged.
“So, since there weren’t any Acts of God that kept us from our flight, what can we do?” Barbara asked.
“I’m terribly sorry, but you’ll have to buy a new ticket and come back some other day.”
ambroseandelsie 