Page 31 of Where There's A Will
Hugo shifted in his seat. “They’re in my bag in the trunk.”
“Are you trying to hide the fact we’re going First Class?” Excitement bubbled up in me; I’d never gotten to turn left on a flight in my life.
“Don’t be silly, Montana. I couldn’t afford First Class. The trip is wiping me out as it is.”
Hurt by his insinuation, I shrank back into the seat. I thought he wanted to take me away to make up for being a dick. Hearing it was an expensive inconvenience instead stung.
By the time we reached the Newark Airport, I felt like I was in daze. Automatically, I let Hugo take charge, as he checked our luggage, and missed the details of our flight entirely. He led the way as we waited in line before going through security and the body scan. I was always convinced they were going to find something wrong and dreaded the alarm going off as I went through. I’d even been caught out before by an underwired bra. That had been really embarrassing as the female security officer and I tried to work out what the issue was.
“We’ve got a little while before they call our flight; let’s get a coffee,” Hugo said.
He whisked me past the departure boards to a Starbucks, telling me what he wanted.
“You’ve got this, babe?” he asked. “After all, I am paying for the trip.”
As I waited in line, I frowned. I’d forgotten that side of him. Despite him earning way more than me, he always insisted on splitting every bill. Or making sure we’d paid for what we’d had. No wonder he’d gone ballistic after the restaurant episode.
I took the coffees back to the table he’d found and spotted him on his phone, frantically messaging someone. When I got closer, he quickly stuffed it into his pocket before I could see the screen. Another wave of uncertainty passed over me.
We chatted for a while, the boredom of hanging around an airport already getting to me. I couldn’t wait to get on the flight, pull on an eye mask and get some sleep before arriving in London. I kept trying to check the departure boards, but every time I did Hugo distracted me with a question or a request for something. Seriously, I thought he was coming down with flu the amount of napkins and tissues he needed.
Eventually, he stood up and hustled me to the boarding gate and through onto the plane. Unsurprisingly we were in Economy. I ended up in the middle seat, sandwiched between Hugo and an elderly woman who wheezed as she breathed. It was going to be one hell of a long flight.
The captain started speaking. “Welcome aboard this Delta airlines flight to Minneapolis, flight time today will be approximately three hours and fifteen minutes…”
“Minneapolis?” I screeched.
“Yeah, that’s right. We’ve got a forty minute stopover there before we get on a flight to Montana.”
I glared at him. “To where?”
“Whitefish, Montana. Cute, right?” Hugo grinned. “Montana in Montana!” He laughed at his own cleverness.
My reaction was less than enthusiastic.
“And what exactly will be we doing in Montana?” I asked weakly.
“Hiking,” Hugo replied excitedly. “There’s Glacier National Park, there’s white-water rafting, there’s all kinds of stuff to do.”
I swallowed hard, trying to quell my anger. “Like the theatre? Sushi restaurants?” Hope flooded through me.
Hugo made a face. “No. Outdoor stuff.”
It was lucky we were about to take off, otherwise I would have unbuckled my seat belt, slapped Hugo around the head and stormed off the plane. I took a deep breath, in through my nose, out through my mouth in an attempt not to scream at him and disturb the woman next to me.
“I’m not outdoorsy. We dated for an entire year and we never once did anything that could be remotely classed as outdoorsy, so what on earth makes you think I would have packed for that? I don’t have one damn thing appropriate for this trip.”
“What, nothing? Even though you brought your entire wardrobe in those cases I had to pay extra for?” Hugo sneered. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they have stores there. You can buy whatever you need.”
“If you’d have told me where we were going in the first place, I wouldn’t need to buy anything!”
“Where did you think we were going?” He shrugged. “I never promised you anything, babe. I just said we’d go away.”
I sank back into my seat, anger and disappointment seeping through my veins. Sure, I could buy whatever I needed. The last thing I needed was to spend money on stuff I’d never use again. Like…outdoorsy wear.
I fumed the entire flight to Minneapolis. Then for the whole short stopover there before boarding the flight to Kalispell.
What I should have done was get right on the next flight back to New York. But I was stuck. The incoming plane from Newark was slightly later than planned and we didn’t have the time between flights for anything except to be escorted to the right boarding gate and hurried onto the next aircraft.
