‘Did the bloodshot eyes and the obvious dehydration caused by a three-day celebration give it away?’
‘I couldn’t possibly confirm or deny,’ Kara teased him, thinking this was the first time all day she’d smiled and meant it.
‘Guilty as charged. I come here every year with my mum. She’s originally from Glasgow and visits her family every New Year. She’s staying a few more days, but I have to get back to work.’
‘Demanding job?’ She tried to work out his age and guessed he was somewhere around the same age as her, about twenty-four.
‘Lawyer. Almost. Still training but I’ll be fully qualified this year.’
That got her attention. ‘Serial killers and horrible Netflix crimes that would make me hide behind the couch?’
‘Worse. Family law. This is the busiest month of the year for divorces. Sorry – I know that makes me sound cynical, but I promise I’m not. Divorce is a last resort – we try to mediate and solve the problems before anyone signs on the dotted line. I’m Zac. Pleased to meet you.’ That made her smile. So he did have something in common with Mr Efron after all.
‘Kara. Same.’
At least the gods of pissed-off boyfriends were now giving her something to take her mind off the pissed-off boyfriend at home,the inevitably pissed-off best friend in New York and her pissed-off self. And then they snatched it away again with an abrupt announcement.
‘Attention, all passengers travelling on Flight 2342 to Dublin. Please contact the nearest passenger services desk.’
Kara’s shoulders slumped. ‘That doesn’t sound good.’
‘Nope, it doesn’t.’
‘There’s a passenger services desk just across the waiting area there. We should probably…’ Kara began, then her words drifted away as a nod out to the main departures area made the point for her. She briefly wondered when they’d become a ‘we’. Two and a bit glasses of wine and she was already thinking too deeply about every little thing. That usually happened after at least four.
‘Yeah, we should,’ he agreed.
They made small talk about the weather, their New Year activities and the inconvenience of the delay while they made their way to the passenger services desk. It wasn’t hard to spot. A queue of dissatisfied customers was already forming in front of it.
They slotted in behind two bespectacled blokes who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Proclaimers, which immediately set off a chorus of ‘I Would Walk 500 Miles’ in Kara’s head. Which might be the only journey she was taking tonight, because by the looks of things, she clearly wouldn’t be flying.
A groan broke out at the front of the queue and reverberated back towards them, in a relay of passed-on information. The gents in front of them got the info, then turned to them to repeat it. ‘Apparently the flight has been cancelled and they’re putting us all on another flight tomorrow morning,’ one of the almost-Proclaimers told them.
Her first thought? Well, that made the decision for her. There was no way she’d make the wedding now. Bugger. Damn. She’d be as well just giving up on the whole trip.
‘So the airline is putting us all up in an airport hotel for the night,’ said his look-alike companion.
Her second thought? That wouldn’t be necessary for her. She had a perfectly good home to go to only twenty minutes away.
‘Just one of those things, I guess,’ Zac said, with a shrug. ‘Only thing we can do is make the best of it.’
Her third thought? Josh was at home. And he’d be so smug if the gods of pissed-off boyfriends sent her back there tonight. She honestly didn’t think she could give him the satisfaction of the win.
‘What are you going to do, Kara?’ Zac asked.
Her next thought? She liked the way he said her name.
‘I guess I’ll stay over at the hotel and decide in the morning.’
SIX YEARS LATER…
3 JANUARY 2025
8 A.M. – 10 A.M.
1
KARA MCINTYRE
