Chapter 4
FOUR
Cora bit into her bottom lip as she read the screen on her phone.
Vince let out a near-silent breath as her eyes moved over the screen a couple of times. "Is something wrong?"
She turned slightly on the bench and gave him a look full of sorrow.
Not for herself.
It took him a minute to see it, but once he did, it was plain to see on her face. "What is it?"
She cast a look down at his phone where it sat between them on the bench before she lifted her gaze to meet his. "You'll get a message on your phone in a few minutes, but I think you should know now." Her brow furrowed over her nose and Vince had to make a conscious effort to keep his hand where it was when his instinct was to lift his hand and smooth it away.
Cora tilted her head and leaned forward. "They're cancelling all of the flights heading east due to the weather. You're not going to be able to get back to Maine this weekend."
His stomach dropped at her words.
He'd been expecting that result but hearing it, along with the sadness in Cora's eyes hurt even more.
He sighed and picked up his phone to stare at the screen. "I guess I can go back to the base and call my mom. I bet my CO would let me get back on the schedule."
He looked up at her and smiled. "And I know you're headed to Hawaii to see your brother, so I can't exactly ask you to dinner tonight."
Her cheeks flushed with color and her eyes sparkled.
Damn, he was probably starting to lose a little bit of his mind. Sparkling. He'd never described a woman's eyes like that.
Then again, he'd never met a woman like Cora.
"Maybe," he wet his lips with his tongue hating how dry the AC in the airport made his lips, "when you get back from your vacation, you'd let me take you out for-"
"Wait..." She got up from the bench and gave him a curious look. "Just wait a second before you finish that question, okay?"
"Uh... okay?"
With a nod, she moved off down the walkway back toward the ticketing office.
As soon as she was out of sight, Vince looked down at his hands. Shaking his head, he grumbled under his breath. "Smooth, Vince. Smooth."
He was fairly sure that she'd be okay with dinner, at least he was hoping she would.
He didn't even know how long she'd be in Hawaii.
Hell, if he went out there, he might never come back.
He grinned at his thoughts. There was a Navy base there in Hawaii. There were worse places to be stationed.
The screen of his phone flashed and he picked it up from where he'd set it when they'd sat down to talk.
MOM: Vinnie? Are you okay? Mom and I are watching the Weather Channel and they're saying that a lot of flights are getting cancelled.
He blew out a breath as he stared at the screen. He really didn't want to tell his mother that he wasn't going to be home for Thanksgiving.
Still, he had to tell her what was going on.
Opening up the texting app he typed out a message.
VIN: Mom, hey. I was just told that they're cancelling my flight and all the other flights heading in that direction.
He looked up at the nearby DEPARTURES board just in case there had been a change, but no. There beside the Flight Number and his destination, the board left no question about the status of his flight.
CANCELLED
"Sorry, Mom."
Vince hit SEND and the message shifted on the screen from the little window where he typed it to the screen across and under his mother's message to him.
His phone vibrated in his hand a second later and a notification popped up.
INCOMING CALL
He didn't even have to look to see who it was. He just swiped the screen to answer the call. "Hey, mom."
"Vinnie! Are you okay?"
"Okay? Mom, I'm still in the airport."
"It's not raining there, is it?"
"Raining?" He looked over at one of the window walls at a nearby gate. The weather was grey but dry. "Nope. It's dry here, but you folks are on the other side of the storm. Are you and Grandma going to be okay with the storm front?"
His mother's laugh made him smile. "Of course, honey. We're not likely to get much of the storm here, but even if we did, your grandmother and I have enough food and fixings here to feed a high school football team."
His stomach growled on cue. "I'm sorry I'm going to miss it."
"You just stay safe, Vinnie. And don't you worry about us." He saw his mother's dismissive hand wave in his imagination. She was always trying to downplay her worries or disappointments. "We're going to make our way through this turkey and the score or so of side dishes one by one."
He closed his eyes and imagined the awesome spread that his mother and grandmother would have put out for the Thanksgiving meal.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I-"
"Don't you dare, Vinnie. Don't you apologize for something that isn't your fault."
"I know you wanted me to get a job closer to home-"
"You know that was more for me and your grandmother than anything else, Vinnie. Of course I want you closer to home, honey, but you're doing what you dreamed about doing. You're in the Navy, sweetie. And you know that your grandpa would have been so damn... I mean, darn proud of you."
He smiled because she meant that. His grandfather had been in the Navy and so had his dad before him. Vince hadn't really known a lot about his father, but he'd wanted to take up the family 'tradition' again and serve in the military.
"Thanks, mom."
"Now, there might be days when I wish you'd picked a different kind of job or in a different place, but that's my issue."
He laughed and it felt good to feel it shaking his shoulders. "What kind of job would you pick for me today?"
"Ohhh," she dragged out the word, but he knew that she already had the answer in her head before he even got the question out, "I'd go with the postman."
"Oh?" That was the first time he'd heard that one. "Because of the cool uniforms?"
"Ha ha, Vinnie. Very funny. You know I have that picture of you in your dress uniform on the wall."
Yes, she did. And she pointed it out to every guest that came over.
"Then why the Postal Service?"
"You know how it goes.... Neither rain nor sleet..."
"Ah... The Post Office always delivers... I get it."
"That," she clarified, "And in the movie Miracle on 34th Street , the Post Office saves Santa Claus."
"They did." He remembered watching the movie with his mom when he was a kid. "I can see why it would be appealing today. I am sorry, Mom. I wish I could get there for the holiday. Are you and grandma really going to be okay?"
"Now don't you worry about me or your grandmother, Vinnie. You know we'll be just fine. We're two tough old birds-"
He was laughing before he could stop himself.
"Vinnie!"
"I know that the turkey won't be tough," he sighed, "you two are both amazing cooks."
"We'll do it over again when you can get home, okay?"
He smiled and felt his heart swelling in his chest. "You got it. Can I talk to grandma?"
"She's sleeping, sweetie. She was up late yesterday making pies for dinner."
Vince felt his stomach ache for the pies he wasn't going to get to eat. "Okay. I'll call back tomorrow and talk to her."
"That'll be nice, sweetie. You know she'll like that."
Movement down the hall turned his head.
He felt the ache in his stomach move back up into his chest.
Cora was coming back in his direction.
"Uh, Mom? I've got to go, the... the, uh, ticketing agent is coming my way. Probably with a receipt for my refund."
"Oh, money stuff," she laughed, "take care of that and call us tomorrow."
"Will do. Love you."
"Love you, too, honey. Bye bye."
He ended the call and stood up to look at Cora. She took a step back and looked back at him, seemingly a little out of breath.
"Vince..." Her smile faltered a little. "I... uh..."
Vince slipped his phone into his back pocket and reached out. He put his hand on her shoulder, concerned. "Are you okay?"
She looked down at his hand on her shoulder.
He lifted his hand away and lowered it back down to his side. "Did something happen?"
Cora lifted her hand and held it out to him. "It's crazy. I know, but since you're not going to get a holiday with your family. I was wondering if you'd like to have a holiday with mine."
In her outstretched hand was a boarding pass like the one he had in his back pocket.
"Is that..."
Her cheeks were flushed with color making her almost entirely irresistible. "There was a seat available on my flight, if you don't mind a change in destination, you can come with me to Hawaii and celebrate the holiday with my brother and his team."
"Team?"
She beamed at him, obviously proud of her brother. "He's a Marine, stationed at K-Bay on the Windward side of Oahu. If they don't get sent out on a mission, they'll be around for the holiday and we're going to have a bunch of fun. I think you'd get along with the guys. I'm guessing they're all a lot like Cameron and he's the best brother I could have ever asked for."
He wasn't sure if she was saying all of that to sell him on the trip, but she didn't need to. Just the thought of spending a few days with her in Hawaii was enough to make him say yes!
He just wasn't sure about her brother. "What do you think your brother is going to say about you bringing me along with you?"
She shrugged. "He told me I could bring a friend with me if I wanted. They have an extra room in the condo he shares with a few of the guys. He says it's mine while I'm there."
Vince nodded. "I'm sure he meant a girl friend. Bringing home a guy is likely going to cause a problem."
She turned her head slightly and gave him a kind of sideways look. "Are you going to do anything I don't want?"
"No." His answer was immediate. And the truth.
"If I were to tell you to 'stop' something, would you?"
He put his hand over his heart and nodded. "Absolutely."
She grinned at him. "Then I'm okay with it. And Cameron always said I had a good instinct about people. He'll be fine with it."
Vince didn't want to rain on her parade like he'd done to his mother on the phone, but he wasn't all that sure that Cora's rosy outlook was going to play out the way she thought it would.
"If it is a problem, I'm sure I can find a place to stay nearby. I don't want to cause any trouble for you or your brother."
"No trouble." She presented her hand again, the boarding pass waving a little with the motion. "You want to go?"
"Absolutely." Grinning he took the boarding pass and stared down at it. His name was printed across the spot naming the passenger and in the spot for destination it said HNL - Daniel K Inouye International Airport. "Wow." He looked back up at her, both of them smiling ear to ear. "We're going to Hawaii!"
"Yes!" She reached out and he stepped into her embrace.
Vince lifted her up and spun her around in a circle as her arms wrapped around his neck.
Laughing, she slid down a little and one of her hands grasped the back of his head where he kept his hair tight and close cut. The feeling of her skin rubbing against his short-cut hair felt electric, as if she was building up a kind of charge between them.
A charge he didn't want to fight.
When he lowered her back to the ground, she turned to look around them and leaned in to softly whisper. "I think we just gave everyone a little show."
"Hey, I've just been asked to spend my holiday in Hawaii with a beautiful woman! I think anyone would understand how awesome an offer that was! I'm a lucky man." He shrugged and draped his arm over her shoulders.
Cora didn't pull back or away at all. He would have instantly moved his arm away if she had shown the slightest hesitation.
Instead, she looked up at him with a smile of her own. "This is kind of crazy, isn't it?"
He nodded at her. "The best kind of crazy."
"Absolutely." She gestured down the long hall with all of the shops and gates along the way. "Our gate is over here."