The Cruise 20

"I'm going to miss you a lot Hun," he typed and hit the send button.

Carter was about to go on a cruise with his wife's family. He was looking forward to the trip, but not to being away from Kallie for ten days. He had half jokingly invited her and her husband along, but she hadn't ever committed to either way. He had even come up with a way to keep their spouses from wondering how it had all been arranged.

"I'll miss you too," was her simple reply. "It won't be so long until we can talk again," she quickly followed.

"Yeah, but ten days is going to seem like a long time," he replied adding a little frown smiley to the text before sending it.

She was glad he couldn't see the look on her face or the stack of luggage sitting behind her as she read his reply. "We'll manage somehow," she quickly typed.

"But hun, I need to go. I have some things to do before Alex gets home. You have a wonderful trip and we'll talk soon," she added along with their usual sign off, almost typing that she needed to finish packing.

"I guess ... if I must let you go ... I'll talk to you later babe," Carter typed and he too added the usuals for the end of their day together.

****

Carter logged off and started shutting his computer down. He was leaving work early to get an early start on the vacation and they had a three hour drive to the airport ahead of them. He drove home as quickly as he could through the light snow that was falling "Great, just what we need with a flight to Florida tonight," he mumbled to himself.

When he got home, he realized Jess wasn't even there yet, let alone finished with her packing. He cursed under his breath at her lack of sense of time. Carter knew he was going to have to break a few traffic laws to get to the airport on time. The worst part was they were taking her car so he couldn't even start loading what was ready.

By the time she got home and finished packing, they had about 4 hours to make their flight. With a three hour drive and the security delays, he was definitely going to have to do his best NASCAR impersonation to make it in time.

Once things were loaded and they were on the road, Jess started talking about her day at work, which just frustrated Carter even more. The reasons she had run late were things that could have waited until they got back. That was typical though of the way things had been lately.

That was a big part of the reason he enjoyed his time on-line with Kallie as much as he did. She was so much more laid back. She had the take life as it comes at you attitude, versus everything having to be planned to the last detail.

****

Kallie wasn't about to tell Carter, but she had convinced Alex to actually take a cruise. She had wanted to go for years and the invitation from Carter was the perfect opportunity to go. Of course, Alex didn't know the reasons behind her picking that particular itinerary, but he didn't need to either.

She finished packing their clothes and set the last bag on the stack just as he walked in the door. "Let me change clothes quick and then we're out of here," he said, barely acknowledging her, before heading up the steps.

She looked at the pile of bags and started to move them closer to the door when she heard Alex yelling something about not being able to find his other shoe. She turned and was about halfway up the steps when he said he had found it, which just made her shake her head.

She took a couple of the lighter bags and brought them out to the car. Kallie probably could have brought some of the others out too, but decided to let him take them instead. She looked up and saw some clouds starting to build and hoped that the forecasted weather would hold off long enough for their plane to get off the ground.

She knew Carter and his families schedule for their trip and had planned their flight and hotel accordingly so there was little chance of them running into each other before she could put her plan into action. Actually it had been his plan, but he never thought she'd go through with it so that would just add to the surprise.

****

After calming down from getting a late start, Carter and Jess had a fairly enjoyable drive. They made it to the airport with a little time to spare which made Carter realize he needed to learn to relax more about the little things.

The flight was pretty uneventful and they had a perfect landing in Fort Lauderdale. They caught a taxi to the hotel, unloaded their bags and went down to the lounge to meet up with the rest of the group as they had planned.

After a couple of drinks, Carter walked to the front desk to arrange for shuttles for everyone and a wake up call in the morning. As he neared the desk, he saw a couple getting into the elevator with their bags. He tried to look closer thinking they looked familiar, but the doors closed too quickly.

"One other thing," he said with a smile to the clerk after making his arrangements "That couple that checked in just before I got to the desk, can you tell me who they are?" he said hoping to recognize the name.

"I'm sorry sir, for the privacy of our guests I can't give you that information. I'm sure you understand," she said with a smile.

"No problem, I just thought I might have recognized them is all," Carter said and returned to the lounge.

"You look deep in thought" Jess said as he sat down.

"Oh it's nothing, just thinking a little about some shore excursions to try," Carter said trying to hide his thought that he wished Kallie was going to be on the boat.

After another drink and with everyone accounted for, they all decided to call it a night. They knew the next day would be a long one and that with the week ahead, they'd need as much rest as they could possibly get.

****

Kallie and Alex boarded the plane. She looked out the window just in time to see the snow start to fall. "Damn it, it's snowing," she said softly, hoping it wouldn't delay their flight, but knowing it probably would. At least they had a direct flight and wouldn't have to worry about missing a connection.

They landed in Fort Lauderdale forty-five minutes late and both were slightly irritable. Alex, being his usual frugal self, wanted to wait the half hour until the next shuttle was there, but Kallie wanted to just get to the hotel and relax. She hailed a cab and said to Alex "Wait if you want, I'm going to the hotel." His only reply was to start loading their bags into the taxi.

Kallie checked in as Alex put their luggage onto a cart and started to wheel it to the elevator. She could hear some people in the lounge laughing and thought it might be fun to go in and have a drink, which was until she heard a voice she recognized.

She finished making her morning arrangements and headed to the elevator where Alex was holding the door, the cart already inside. She turned and looked up, what she saw caught her breath for a moment. It was Carter walking to the desk. She then realized how close she had come to blowing her whole plan.

Kallie smiled lightly but didn't want to seem too excited or it might draw Alex's attention. She wasn't sure how she would react if she they had actually bumped into each other let alone how Carter would react since he didn't know she was there at all.

"What's with the grin?" Alex asked her drawing her back to reality.

"Just thinking about how wonderful this vacation is going to be," she said and kissed him softly on the cheek. "I just hope it's that wonderful," she thought to herself as the elevator began moving.