218 Delicate Peace

"Flight 79 to London is now boarding! Passengers with first class tickets please come to the gate now," a flight attendant said pleasantly over the loudspeaker.

Hazel's concentration was entirely on her comic and she gave no indication she heard anything so Will gently removed one ear bud. "Hey, they're calling for us. We need to get going. Do you have to go to the bathroom or anything before we board?"

She sighed and took out the other. "Better safe than sorry. Airplane bathrooms are always weird. Watch my stuff; I'll be right back."

The bathrooms were close to the gate and he watched her speedwalk over to them. While she was gone, he gathered up her things and put them into her purse. The line at the gate was getting a bit long so he grabbed his own carryon bag and headed to the back.

Hazel didn't rejoin Will until there were only two people ahead in line. "Just in time," he said mildly.

She frantically patted her pockets. "Do you have my ticket?!"