Page 29 of Better Watch Out
Her gaze moved to the street, where a few people were bundled up and weathering the cold. Light traffic was moving slowly but at least there were vehicles on the road, which meant she should be able to get a cab to the airport. Though she imagined she’d need to leave a little earlier than she’d planned, just in case.
The wistfulness of the moment slipped away as Frannie went to her phone to double-check her departure time. She frowned upon seeing several text messages from the airline.
“Flight cancelled.” Frannie gasped. “What?”
She quickly scrolled through the messages that began with delays until the last one at three this morning confirmed her flight to D.C. was cancelled due to inclement weather and told her to contact the airline to reschedule.
Frannie dialed the number listed and it went straight to a busy signal. Of course. She tried for another fifteen minutes before finally reaching a message that asked her to give her name and phone number for the airline to call her back.
Staring out the window, she rubbed her arm. Well, now what? Her suitcase lay open, her clothes for the plane ride set aside. Wait. She’d already informed the hotel she was going to be checking out. Grabbing the hotel phone, she rang for the front desk.
“Good morning,” Frannie said when someone named Alicia answered the phone. She hoped this wasn’t one of the employees from yesterday morning. “I was just notified my flight was cancelled and I’d like to—”
“I’m sorry but your room has already been reserved for another guest,” Alicia cut in. “And we are currently fully booked.”
Frannie sank down on the edge of her bed. “No rooms? Where am I supposed to go?”
“I can give you some names of hotels nearby but you’ll need to call right away. LaGuardia, JFK, and Albany are shut down due to the weather.”
Suddenly the snow didn’t seem so magical. “I’d appreciate that.” Frannie grabbed the hotel pen from the desk and ended up only jotting down two out of the five recommendations. There was no way she could afford a Hyatt or Hilton or The Plaza. Leaving her with the Holiday Inn and Days Inn. “What’s the late checkout time?”
“Normally two but since we are fully booked and half of our housekeeping staff is delayed, we’re asking all guests to check out no later than twelve.”
“Twelve?” Frannie’s accent always deepened when she panicked and Alicia huffed, making Frannie believe she might be one of the women she’d spoken to the day before. If so, she wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of thinking Frannie couldn’t take care of herself. “Twelve is fine. Thank you.”
She hung up the phone quickly, not feeling fine at all. Using her cell phone, she searched for a few more hotels in her price range and called them plus the numbers she was given. All were fully booked due to the storm.
The muscles in her throat ached with emotion but she would not cry. She would figure this—
Her cell phone pinged with a message from … Frannie’s brows pinched. Dale McGill? He once was her co-worker at Way Station Café back in Walton but she hadn’t heard from him since he confessed his feelings for her, but she was—or thought she was—in a long-distance relationship with Calvin so she kindly rejected his date request.
Hey, Frannie. Just wanted to check on you. Sorry about Calvin.
Check on her? Calvin? Frannie’s eyes rounded. How did he know— “No. No. No. No.” She swiped open her Instagram account and pulled up Calvin’s profile. Her hand flew to her mouth. “No!”
Through blurry vision, Frannie stared at a photo of Calvin and a beautiful brunette, both dressed to the nines and smiling like they were models for Colgate. The woman’s left hand was extended toward the camera, showing off the perfect view of a giant solitaire diamond.
Engaged already? Frannie peeled her focus from the ring to look at the pride radiating on Calvin’s face; his eyes sparkled almost as brightly as the diamond on the woman’s finger. She read the caption and felt sick.
Couldn’t wait to ask this woman to be my bride. #engaged
The photo already had over three hundred likes and nearly as many comments congratulating the happy couple. Frannie recognized many of the names and grew more nauseated. Their friends knew. Their family knew. Dale McGill knew. It wouldn’t be long before half of Walton would know she’d been dumped in New York City.
Her cell phone rang and Frannie nearly lost it when she saw her mom’s name on the screen.
“Hey, Mom, I don’t have a lot of time to talk, I need to check out of my hotel and there was a snowstorm overnight so I need to either find a new hotel or I’ll be camping out at the airport with all of the other stranded passengers.”
“Honey.” Her mother’s soft Southern accent unlocked the dam and Frannie couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks. “Are you okay?”
Taking a minute to regain her composure, Frannie tried for casual, but not too casual, nonchalance because her mom would read right through it. “Yeah. I mean outside of my flight being cancelled.”
“Francis?”
Frannie swallowed against the emotion. “Really, I’m fine.”
“He wasn’t the right one.” Her mom’s tone was gentle but firm. “He was a nice guy but he wasn’t the one for you.”
“How do you know that?” Her voice wavered and she swiped hard against her cheek to stop the flow of tears.
