Part 581
“Carter,” he said breathlessly to the agent at the gate. “First class, please.”
“I’m sorry, sir. The only three seats I have together are in business class.”
“You misunderstood. We had seats reserved in first class. ‘Carter’,” he tried again. “Mr. And Mrs. Nickolas Carter, and infant.”
“I understand your dilemma, Mr. Carter, I really do, but for some reason the flight was overbooked.” She tapped her keyboard as she spoke, “I might be able to get you on a later flight…”
“No. It has to be this one. Damnit, everyone else from our group is already on the frickin’ plane.”
“Nick,” Becca whispered, her hand on his arm. Getting angry wasn’t going to do any good, and it might finally succeed in getting them thrown out of the airport.
“This just sucks rocks,” he muttered.
Becca agreed wholeheartedly, but hot tears filled her eyes and she knew she wouldn’t be able to speak without breaking down. They should be on their way home, not to some stupid benefit. There was nothing more she wanted in the world than to be back home, in her own bed, spending time becoming a family. She’d tried so damn hard to ignore the fact that everyone except her had known they’d not be going home right away. She’d even tried to ignore the conversation she’d overheard earlier when she was standing back stage. It seems everyone else was heading home after the benefits except her and Nick. They were heading to Virginia with Sarah and Howie. At first, she’d accepted it, but then she’d overheard Sarah talking to Mook. Not only were there several days in between the benefits and the Sesame Street taping, there was almost a week. There was more than enough time for them to get back to Florida and have some quiet time alone, but they were going to Virginia. Through her thoughts she heard Nick’s ‘discussion’ with the agent beginning to escalate, and she interrupted.
“Nick please. Just see what’s available, okay?”
Nick started to protest, but he looked at the tear that rolled down her face and his anger deflated.
“I have three seats together in row 20,” the agent said sympathetically.
“We only need two.”
“I’m sorry Mr. Carter. FAA regulations state that infants must fly in their own seat, strapped into their carriers, of course.”
“Of course,” he mumbled, rolling his eyes. “We only have two tickets.”
“I can fix that for you, if you’d like.”
“You said the flight was overbooked,” he began accusingly.
“Nick, stop,” Becca said tearfully. Looking at the gate agent she said, “We’ll take it. Just charge it to the same card as our tickets.”
“Certainly, Mrs. Carter.” She typed in Garrett’s information, printed out their boarding passes, and handed them to Nick. “You need to hurry, the flight is almost ready to depart.”
Racing down the entry ramp, they made it to the doors just as they were being closed.
“Hold up!” Nick shouted. He ushered Becca through ahead of him, and breathlessly they made their way toward the back of the plane. Of course, they passed everyone else who was seated comfortably in first class. As they maneuvered past Sarah and Howie, Sarah called out.
“I thought you would never make it. Bec, where are you going?”
Becca shot her a venomous look and smiled. “To our seats. In row 20.”
“Row 20? I thought-”
“Yeah, so did we,” Nick said. From the stiffness of Becca’s back, he knew it was only a matter of time before she either blew up or cried, and he wanted to avoid both as long as possible.
“Bec?” Sarah called out to her friend’s back as she retreated down the narrow aisle of the plane.
“Later, Sarah,” Nick replied. “We’ll see you when we land.”
Becca settled Garrett into the center seat, and dug through his bag for a bottle of water. If she could get him to calm down and take a bottle, then maybe the change in cabin pressure wouldn’t hurt his ears quite so much. She was still steaming, and when Nick asked her if there was anything he could do to help, she acted as if he wasn’t even there.