"Are you sure about that?" Neil asked as he drove down the interstate, glancing at the directions one more time.
Ann shrugged in response. "I'm only going by what it said, baby. And if I'm wrong, who cares? It's not like they aren't going to let us in."
"I'm not saying that. I just don't want to draw any attention to us, that's all."
"I don't think that's going to happen, Neil. Not today. Besides, it's not really like we have a choice. We either go as we are... or we don't go."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had been a wonderful start. Great weather, light traffic, and far less hassle than either one of them expected. Part of that was having a game plan and being ready way ahead of time. There were excited to be on their way. They'd even gotten up early; so much so that they found they had enough time to fuck each other's brains out before they ever left.
Neil was amazed at how relaxed he felt as he gripped the wheel; a satisfied grin on his face as he put the car into gear. Ann was giddy as she wiggled in the passenger seat, the feeling of his fresh load of cum slowly leaking from her pussy making her content as they began their trip.
"This is going to be fun," she cooed, leaning over to kiss his cheek as they pulled out of the driveway.
But that mood had evaporated many, many hours before, their energetic morning romp after they had showered now a distant memory. What had started as an exciting adventure had become marred by the pitfalls they had hoped to avoid; one event seeming to crash into the next once the first domino toppled over, setting off a day-long chain reaction.
The trip that had been so carefully planned was falling apart fast, and things were only getting worse.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Do you think we can make it in time?" she asked, checking her watch.
"Barely... and that's if these directions are right. I'm a little nervous now because of that detour we had to take."
"So we don't know where we're going?"
"I know where we're going, Ann. I'm following the directions, and we're hitting all the landmarks now that we're back on the map. But that detour took us way out of the way."
"But you know where it is, right?"
"Yes, babe, I know where it is. I'm just saying that if we hit more construction along the way, we could be late."
"Why do they always do so much construction in the summertime," she griped.
He let out a chuckle. "They do it in the summer because it's a lot harder to fix the roads in the winter. Besides, it's the winter that tears up the roads in the first place."
"I guess that makes sense," she replied, checking her watch again, like she had been every minute for the last hour. "God... I really hope we don't miss it."
"We're not going to miss it. Worst case, we're a little late."
"I hate being late, you
know
that."
"I hate being late too, but I'm not going to break a bunch of laws just to get us there on time. If we get pulled over, we'll
really
be late, and that would be just one
more
thing to add to the list of crap we've had to deal with on this trip."
Sighing, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, her hand patting his bare leg. "You're right, baby. I'd rather be safe. We get there when we get there."
Getting there on time hadn't seemed like it would be a problem when they'd left the house. After all, they were leaving on a Friday morning, and they didn't have to be there until Saturday afternoon. It seemed like plenty of time. But that was before things started going wrong.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You have
GOT
to be kidding me," Ann snapped, looking at the big, black electronic board hanging overhead.
"No shit," Neil groaned, suddenly feeling like he'd just been kicked in the stomach.
"Well what in the world do we do now?" she asked, the color slowly draining from her face.
"We go to customer service and figure it out. Whatever we do, we're not going to panic. We're still going to get there."
"How can you say that? We don't even know when we're going to get to leave now."
"Babe, from here we can
drive
it in ten hours. If we decide we need to do that, we'd still be there by morning."
"But what will we do with the car once we get there?"
"Oh... yeah. I forgot about that."
"We're screwed, aren't we?" she said dejectedly.
"Not yet. Like I said, we're not going to panic. We just have to have some faith."
"I'm thinking at this point, it's all about fate," she sighed heavily, putting her head into his shoulder, letting him wrap his arms around her body to comfort her.
It was an interesting way to look at it. After all, fate was what brought them together in the first place. It was fate that had orchestrated the circumstances for that chance encounter on Matt's patio to even happen. Circumstances that took place almost exactly a year before, allowing Neil's heart to heal from his painful divorce. Now, according to Ann, it was up to fate if they were to be reunited with the person that helped him heal. Well, her and her fiancΓ©... and a lot of other guests that were invited to the wedding.
A wedding they suddenly might not make.
They were heading to Michigan, the two of them excited about being invited to Dawn's wedding to her beau, Jeremy. Yes, they'd been informally asked to attend during their own wedding reception, but that could have been just a courteous thing to say at the time. When they received an actual invitation in the mail in early May, they realized they were really going to get to go.
It wasn't like they hadn't discussed it. All along, they'd planned on going to the wedding if they got the invite, knowing the date of the impending nuptials. They planned to go to the wedding, and from there they would be heading off on their own honeymoon, which had been delayed.
Neil didn't have enough vacation time to both move from Indiana and take the actual honeymoon right after their wedding, so they had to wait until after the first of the year. They decided they wanted to time it with Dawn's wedding just in case, with the vague notion that the two couples might actually honeymoon together.
That final detail had never been finalized, though. With Dawn now living in Arizona, and planning a wedding that would take place in her former home town in Michigan, she had enough on her plate. And Ann had only mentioned it in passing during the reception, thinking of how much fun it might be. But it was simply a comment made in a moment of excitement, likely lost amongst the many memories of that wonderful day she married the man of her dreams. Well, it wasn't lost to Ann, who still held a glimmer of hope.
Regardless, the Thomas' made plans to head out to the wedding, and they were going to figure out what to do about their honeymoon along the way. With it being June, they weren't too worried about finding a place to go. They figured anyplace they might want to travel to would have pretty good weather. And, they loved the idea of it being a spontaneous decision. Ann said that fate would decide, and Neil readily agreed.
It seemed like a bit of a gamble to most of the people they told. After all, not having a reservation, or even a destination, could prove to be a lot more costly. Not to mention risky. But they had airline tickets that could be used for anywhere in the continental United States, a wedding gift courtesy of their friends Sonya, the air traffic controller, and Rachel, the stewardess that was part of the adventure Ann set up for Neil and Tina when they flew out for the job interview. The tickets had open ended destinations, which meant they didn't have to necessarily fly round trip. They could go to multiple places, as long as the fights were booked at the same time.
And they could be booked from anywhere, which was what they'd planned to use to their advantage. They were going to go to the wedding on their own dime, paying their own way for that part of the trip. Then, when they decided where they were going to go on their honeymoon, they'd make those arrangements in Michigan. It was an unconventional approach, but both they liked the idea of not knowing exactly where their adventure might take them.
That plan seemed a lot less attractive as they waited in line at the customer service desk at Dulles airport, trying to figure out how they were going to even get to Michigan in time for the wedding. It was surreal that the one part of the trip they
had
planned ahead of time was suddenly unraveling at the seams right in front of them. The electronic board they'd been looking at was the flight schedule, and their particular one had just changed from 'delayed' to 'canceled', the result of heavy thunderstorms that were wrecking havoc over Rocky Mountains.
The plane they were supposed to fly out on was still stuck in Denver, along with numerous others that were grounded due to the storms. There were dozens of flights either delayed or cancelled all over the country, many of them on United Airlines, which they were flying. It wasn't anyone's fault... except perhaps Mother Nature, but that didn't change the fact that they were stranded at the airport.
Well, they weren't really stranded. They had their car, and they had options. Options a lot of other travelers didn't have. But Ann was right. Driving their car to Michigan, leaving from there on their honeymoon, and then having to fly back to get their car and drive it back home was
not
part of any honeymoon scenario they'd discussed. They'd lose a day just having to drive home, and that wasn't something she was willing to give up. Neither was Neil, but they were running out of time. If they didn't drive to Michigan, then they were going to have to gamble that they could get on another flight that night, or early the next morning.
"I don't know. Maybe we
should
just drive there," Neil said as they moved up one spot in the line, nearing the counter. "At least we'll get there."
"Do you really want to sacrifice one of the days of our honeymoon?"