Chapter 1
Lily stared with a senseof resignation as the departure time of each flight listed on the board changed to the same word:
CANCELED.
This was not good.
“Excuse me?” The woman standing in front of her in the check-in line stepped toward the nearest member of airport staff. “My flight is canceled?”
“All of the flights are canceled, ma’am.” He looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, and Lily didn’t blame him. He was about to say the same thing a hundred times over.
“But why?”
His gaze flitted to the windows of Miami International Airport. The panes were streaked with rain, and the palm trees in the distance were bent in half. “Have you seen the weather, ma’am?”
She waved a hand. “It’s just a little rain.”
Lily snorted. She wouldn’t call a category three storm “a little rain”. The woman turned to throw Lily a haughty glare.
“I’m afraid there’s not much we can do. We have to wait for it to pass.”
Lily sighed. It had been a risk to travel to the airport—she’d been keeping a careful eye on the news for the past few days—but it wasn’t like she had much choice.
She’d given the keys of her apartment over to its new owner that morning.
Curling a hand around the handle of her suitcase, Lily stepped out of the line. There was a hotel somewhere in the central terminal, and if she was quick, she might be able to grab a room before everyone else had the same idea.
Trying to re-book a flight for later in the week would be much more fun if she could do it sprawled on a double bed with room service.
As she walked, Lily pulled out her phone and dialed her sister’s number.
“Christ, Daisy.” Lily jerked the phone away from her ear when greeted with the sound of a wailing baby. “I think I’ve gone deaf.”
“You’ve gone deaf? Try being in the same room. She has the lung capacity of an adult human.”
“What did you expect marrying someone who’s six four?”
“Don’t. She’s already doubled in size since she was born. She’s going to be a giant.” Emma’s crying lessened, and Daisy’s sigh of relief was audible. “Are you all right? Is your flight on time?”
“My flight is canceled.”
“What? Why?”
“Have you not seen the news?”
“I have a six-week-old baby, Lily. I haven’t watched anything.”
“There’s a storm. All flights are grounded until further notice.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.” Lily’s black Vans squeaked on the marble floor as she weaved her way through the people scattered throughout the terminal. “I’m going to see if I can get a room nearby to hole up for the night.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to get here tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.” Lily shot a baleful look at the black sky through a nearby window. “Right now, I doubt it. Which means I’m probably going to miss the first day of my new job, and then they’ll fire me, and I—”
“Okay. Stop.” Daisy cut her off mid-spiral. “They’re not going to fire you, even if you do miss your first day.”
