Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
ELENA
"Tickets?" Finn called from the kitchen.
"Front pocket of my bag," Elena replied, patting the compartment where she'd placed them the night before.
Finn appeared in the doorway with the pre-trip checklist he insisted on making. He looked oddly serious for someone wearing a Hawaiian shirt covered in pineapples.
"Sunscreen?" he asked, pen hovering over his color-coded list.
"Three bottles,” Elena responded quickly. Too quickly.
“You didn’t even check,” Finn said with a squint.
Elena made a show of unzipping the compartment that contained the sunscreen, then she placed each bottle on the table in a neat line for him to inspect. The display earned a nod from Finn as he checked that item off his list.
"ID's?" he continued.
"Front pocket of my carry-on," Elena answered, the exchange so familiar it felt choreographed.
"Xbox controller?" Miguel shouted from upstairs.
“I don’t think the hotel is gonna have an Xbox!” Finn shouted back as he shook his head.
“Don’t worry, I have one in my bag!”
Elena’s head fell into her hand. “There isn’t room for an Xbox in your suitcase!”
“It’s only six inches by six inches by twelve inches. It fits perfectly!”
“How do you even know—” A sigh escaped her mouth. “You’re not bringing a damn Xbox! And come down here before we all lose our voices!”
After a moment, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs. Miguel appeared in his own tropical shirt with a pair of sunglasses resting on his head. “Relax, Mom. This is supposed to be a vacation!”
Then he turned and scanned Finn, clearly judging the clipboard checklist. “How much time do we have anyway?”
"The plane is scheduled to depart in exactly five hours and twenty-two minutes," Finn replied. "Accounting for traffic patterns, security lines, and walking time to our gate, we are currently," he checked his watch, "two hours and eleven minutes ahead of schedule."
Miguel’s mouth fell open. “Two hours? What are we going to do, sit at the airport all day?”
Finn nodded. “That would be the optimal outcome. I am preparing for unforeseen delays. Traffic accidents, issues at security, gate changes. Anything could happen.”
"Right. What about an alien invasion?”
“In the event of an alien invasion, I will deliver us to the nearest underground bunker,” Finn responded quickly.
Miguel stared at Finn for a moment, trying to form a comeback. She watched him struggle. “Guess I’ll go sit and wait,” he said with a hint of irritation.
He grabbed his suitcase and went to sit in the living room.
He wasn’t irritated, not really. He and Finn were closer than ever these days. Miguel just wasn’t used to someone keeping up with him in an argument. No one could match him over an extended period. But every once in a while, Finn could counter him. And the result was always Oscar-level cinema.
The doorbell rang just as Elena was doing a final sweep of the kitchen.
“I’ll get it,” Finn called, already heading for the front door.
“Oh, Finn… oh no, no, no…”
Elena turned the corner to find Laura at the door, shaking her head at Finn’s pineapple shirt.
“For the love of God, please tell me you’re not wearing that.”
“It’s tropical!” Finn defended lamely.
“Do better, Finn. And here I thought you had impeccable taste based on your choice in women.” Laura gestured toward Elena, then breezed past them towards the kitchen.
Elena noticed the bottle of champagne that Laura was carrying. “Laura, we’re literally about to leave for the airport,” She said, but couldn’t help but smile.
“And? You’re already on vacation. There are no rules on vacation,” Laura stated as she poured a glass for all three of them.
“Right, and what’s your excuse?”
“Honey, every day is a vacation for me,” Laura said, already taking a drink.
“Pour me one. I’ve got a headache from dealing with these two all morning,” Miguel declared as he walked into the room.
“Coming right up, buddy!” Laura looked at Miguel’s tropical shirt and the sunglasses on his head. “You look dashing, young man. Take notes, Finn.”
Elena laughed, but she instantly regretted it when she found Finn glaring at her. It only took Laura thirty seconds to destroy his self-confidence. She squeezed his arm and mouthed, ‘I’m sorry.’
Laura dug into her bag and pulled out a small wrapped box. “I got you something for the trip,” she said, handing it to Elena.
Elena tore through the wrapping to find a polaroid camera.
“I can’t wait to see all the pictures when you get back. But, there’s a catch.”
Elena looked up at Laura, confused.
“Your phone stays in the hotel room. You can take all the pictures you need with that, and you aren’t allowed to check your work email for the whole trip.”
In the past, she would have resisted Laura’s attempt to slow her down. But Laura always had always shown up anyway, her love refusing to yield. It hit Elena surprisingly hard and she felt her eyes welling up. When Laura saw her reaction, she pulled Elena in for a tight hug.
“Okay, okay,” Laura said, pulling back and wiping at her own eyes. “Enough of that, or you’ll miss your flight. Now go have the time of your life.”
Ten minutes later, they were pulling out of the driveway as Laura waved them off. Miguel claimed the backseat, headphones in place, already in his own little bubble. Finn drove while Elena rode shotgun, her window cracked to let in the cool breeze.
She watched the buildings blur past, her mind blissfully empty.
Finn had handled everything—the flights, the hotel, even the boring-but-important details like checking that their toiletries met the airline size restrictions.
She hadn’t fully appreciated it until this moment.
For once, she didn’t need to worry about a thing.
"You okay?" Finn asked, glancing at her before returning his eyes to the road.
Elena smiled, realizing she'd been silent. "More than okay," she assured him, resting her hand on his thigh. "Just... happy."
He covered her hand with his for a moment before returning it to the steering wheel. “Good.”
In the backseat, Miguel’s head bobbed to music only he could hear, lost in whatever game glowed on his screen.
They’d been on the interstate for only twenty minutes when all hell broke loose.
"Oh no, oh no, OH NO!"
Elena twisted around so quickly she nearly dropped her phone. Beside her, Finn's hands tightened on the steering wheel, eyes darting to the rearview mirror. The panic in Miguel's voice triggered an immediate physiological response in Elena.
"What's wrong?" she demanded, already mentally cataloging the contents of their suitcases, wondering what essential item they might have forgotten.
Miguel looked up from his phone, face filled with genuine horror. "This," he said, thrusting his device forward between the front seats.
Elena took the phone, bracing for news of natural disasters or flight cancellations. Instead, her eyes landed on an article headline, which she read aloud for everybody: "Mountain Dew: Hard to Find in Maui."
She blinked at the screen, then at Miguel's distressed face, then over at Finn, whose expression was transitioning from concern to concealed amusement.
"Why is that even an article?" she asked, scanning the text below the headline. It appeared to be a blog post detailing one tourist's frustrated quest to find his preferred soda on the island, complete with a map of convenience stores he'd visited.
"It's a legitimate travel concern, Mom," Miguel insisted, leaning forward between the seats. "This guy went to seventeen different stores and couldn't find any. Not even Code Red!"
“I can’t believe they don’t sell it,” Miguel continued. “It’s an homage to island life!”
Finn glanced in the rearview mirror. “What does Mountain Dew have to do with island life?”
“I’m talking about Baja Blast, you fool!”
“Miguel Herrera!” Elena twisted in her seat. “Apologize right now.”
The realization hit Miguel’s face. He may have gone a bit too far. “I’m sorry, Finn,” he said with genuine regret.
“It’s okay,” Finn replied. “Though I should mention that Baja Blast is actually inspired by the Baja California region, not island life.”
Miguel’s hands were rubbing circles in his forehead in exaggerated stress.
Elena leaned toward Finn, lowering her voice. “Not helping.”
Finn’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. She handed the phone back to Miguel, trying to match his level of concern even as she was fighting laughter herself.
Ten minutes later, Elena noticed the comfortable quiet that had settled over the car. She glanced back to find Miguel asleep, head tilted against the window, headphones still on.
She nudged Finn’s shoulder. “Looks like he got over it.”
Finn checked the rearview mirror, a smile tugging at his lips. “There’s going to be hell to pay when he wakes up and remembers the unresolved crisis.”
Elena laughed softly. They drove in silence for a while, just the hum of the highway and the soft sound of Miguel’s breathing from the backseat. The urban scenery slipped by as she watched through her window. Then she looked over at Finn in his ridiculous pineapple shirt.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Finn looked over with a smile she wouldn’t soon forget. “I love you too.”
His hand found hers, fingers intertwining as they drove toward the airport. They had two weeks of beaches and relaxation ahead of them.
But it would be hard to top this moment right here.