Page 35 of Accidental Getaway

I gather my things and make my way over to the ticket counter now that a lone woman is starting up the computers and setting up the desks.

Since I can’t find anything to book online, I’m hoping she can help me find an open seat on a flight that leaves as soon as possible. I’d take anything right now. I stand at the counter for a few moments before she bothers to acknowledge me.

“We’re not open yet. You can’t check in until two hours before your flight.”

No. I need her to help me. Right now.

“I’m not actually booked on a flight. I need to buy a ticket. I’ve been trying to do it online, but nothing is coming up in the app. Can you check the flights for me? Please? I really need to get somewhere. It’s an emergency.”

She looks at her computer for a moment and I can tell she’s not looking at flights because I didn’t even tell her which airport. My hands shake as I wait for her to respond.

“Can you help?” I press, not bothering to hide the desperation in my voice .

“Nothing on my computer will be any different from your phone. If no seats are coming up, there are no seats.”

That’s what I was afraid of. “Okay, thanks anyway.”

I take a few steps back from the counter and go to pull up a search engine on my phone. There has to be a boat or an airline that doesn’t show up on my flight app. There has to be a way to get back to Mykonos and fix this.

After a few airline ads, the very first search result is a ferry. It’s a car ferry and as I read more on the website I realize it’s a slow, almost day-long trip. That will never work. I have to be back on the island by noon.

The next search result looks like a high-speed boat from what I can tell. I tap on the link and wait for the website to crawl to life. Of course, once it loads, I realize the website is in Greek.

I look around the airport, which is starting to fill up with the day’s travelers. Everyone seems in a rush. I need someone to help me, and fast. Searching the large hall, my eyes land on a woman who is sitting, feeding grapes to a young child in her lap.

“Excuse me? Do you speak English?”

She nods and sets her toddler on the bench next to her.

“Can you help me? I’m trying to book a ferry to Mykonos and the website is in Greek. It would take me forever to try to and translate. I was hoping you could help me book a ticket?”

She gives me a quizzical look. “You’re not flying?”

“Well, no. There aren’t any flights.”

Something about the way she looks at me with kindness, makes me spill everything.

“I just ran away from the most perfect man in Mykonos out of fear—and I need to go back to him. Fast. I’ve already checked flights, and nothing can get me there before tomorrow, so I think that leaves me with the ferry as my only option. ”

The woman nods, a knowing glint in her eye as if she, too, has gone to desperate measures to get to a person she loves. She grabs my phone.

After a series of tapping and typing, she smiles. “There’s a high-speed ferry in two hours. It can get you to the island around eleven in the morning. There’s also a slow boat in three hours that won’t get there until evening.”

Two hours? Can I make that?

“How far is the port from here?”

“Maybe one hour or so? You can make it if you leave straight away. Good luck!”

I thank her profusely and start running toward the exit that reads TAXI.

When I find a cab, I open the door and start to climb in. “Piraeus Port, please! I’m in a hurry!”

“Too far, sorry,” responds the driver, stopping me in my tracks.

“Too far?” Seriously? Why do the transportation gods have it out for me today?

“My shift is over soon. I just want to get home to my family,” he says with a shrug. “Look, there is a bus right there. It will go straight to the port and save you seventy euros.”

The bus is at the other end of a long curbside, and I have no idea how long it will wait.

I sling my backpack over my shoulder, grab my suitcase, and start running again, my sandals slapping against the pavement.

I’m sure I look ridiculous. But for once, I don’t care.

I know what I want and going for it feels intoxicating.

I reach the bus just as the doors are closing. No, no, no. I bang on the doors.

“Please! Wait!”

The hydraulics sound on the bus, and my heart drops. You have to be kidding me. Then doors open.

“Thank you! Thank you! I thought you were going to leave me.” I hoist my suitcase up the stairs to the driver. “You have no idea how much I needed this.”

“Calm down, lady. We aren’t leaving for five minutes.” He gestures to an overhead ticker board that has our departure time listed. “Oh, sorry.” I pay for my ticket. “Do you think we’ll reach the port by eight-thirty? I’m trying to catch a ferry.”

“Everyone’s trying to catch a ferry,” he grumbles back.

Sufficiently humbled, I find an empty row halfway back. I take the window seat and pull my suitcase in from the aisle. I’m sweating and panting, but I made it.

I text Piper.

Jenni: On a bus. Headed toward the port to take a ferry to Mykonos. Can you text Amber and let her know I’m taking care of everything?

Piper: I will take care of Amber. And cool re: the ferry. You little world traveler.

Jenni: Well, let’s hope it actually gets me there on time. Wish me luck because I’m going to need it. I have to convince everyone that I deserve a second chance.

Piper: All my fingers are crossed. I’m so proud of you.

I settle in as the bus starts its journey.

What do I do now? They never show this part in movies—the waiting part.

They just show someone bolting off and then two minutes later, tracking down their loved one, panting and sweaty as if they’ve crossed all of Manhattan by foot during one Coldplay song.

But that’s not really how it happens, is it?

I have to sit here, second-guess myself, and imagine the conversation I am about to have with Niko over and over again until I drive myself crazy.

There’s a USB port in the seat back in front of me.

With my phone hovering at 8 percent battery life, I pull out my phone charger.

It’s kind of my like the rest of me. Now that I’m still, it’s all catching up to me and the hot air on the bus is making me feel sleepy.

I’m just going to close my eyes for a few minutes and try to calm myself down.

It’s all going to be okay. I’m going to make it with plenty of time to spare and everyone is going to listen to me.

A girl can dream, right?

I jolt awake after what feels like a minute.

The bus has just screeched to a stop at the port.

I yank my phone charger out of the seat back and shove everything into my backpack.

Lugging my suitcase off the bus, I nearly fall into a puddle and bump right into a man in front of me.

He turns, ready to lay into me, but I push past him. I do not have time.

“Sorry!” I call over my shoulder as I frantically search for my ferry. I find it all the way at the end of the dock, so I race to catch it.

Once onboard, I put my luggage in a rack and find my seat. I have a middle seat between two people who are already fast asleep. Instead of climbing over them, I make my way to the café. My stomach is cranky, considering I haven’t eaten since the bag of chips on the airplane last night.

I pick up a breakfast sandwich and a coffee before sitting at a small table near the window.

I slowly eat the sandwich as I wait for the coffee to cool.

They didn’t have any iced coffee, but I need the caffeine boost if I’m going to survive this day.

I watch the water ripple and flow in the morning sun.

It takes me back to the cave, behind the boat.

The moment when Niko kissed me. He saw me then.

He wanted me. I hope that is enough for him to forgive me—once I tell him everything.

I am going to tell him everything, from the way Malcolm tried to sabotage the deal to the way he used to treat me and why I was trying so desperately to run away. I can only hope he’ll understand.

When I finish my breakfast, I go back to my suitcase and scrounge up the outfit I had been planning to wear to the meeting—the beautiful suit Sarah helped me find.

It’s wrinkled and smells a bit like dirty laundry, but I take it to the restroom to change in a small stall.

At least I’m not on an airplane in a tiny bathroom where I can’t even turn around.

I emerge from the restroom looking a bit worse for the wear with frizzy hair and puffy bags under my eyes.

I’m determined to make this work. I let my hair down and head out onto the deck.

Maybe this will make my hair look intentionally windswept.

Either way, the fresh air will help clear my head, so I embrace the chill.

“You look like you are about to do something important,” a calm, gravelly British accent says from over my left shoulder. When I turn, I find an older man sitting with a cigarette and a coffee. He motions to the other chair at his table. “Care to join me? I can spare a light.”

I look over his shoulder and realize I’ve walked out into the smoking area.

I take a seat, grateful for the distraction. He hands me his pack of cigarettes. “No thanks, but I’ll take the company.”

“What’s on your mind, love?”

“Oh, you might not want to open that can of worms.” I laugh, gazing out at the water.

“Try me. I’ve seen a lot.”

“Well, I have an important meeting in a couple of hours, and I am worried we’re going to be late. It’s … they aren’t really expecting me, but I really want to get there. I screwed up and I need to fix it.”

“Screwed up how?”

I briefly explain the situation to him .

“Well, I don’t know what sort of business you’re in, but if it were me and someone took a last-minute ferry to rush back to a meeting they were forced out of, I would think that showed quite a bit of dedication.”

I hope so. It could also further Dimitri’s impression that I’m a wreck, though.

“I’m not sure the man in charge is going to see it that way, but I appreciate it.”

“Tell me about him. Maybe I can help.”

I give this stranger the basic information about Dimitri Psomas and the history of the hotel. I leave out the part about falling in love with Niko and the fact that the competition is my vindictive ex-boyfriend.

“That’s an interesting scenario,” he comments, tapping his cigarette on the ashtray.

“As a businessman, this Dimitri is going to want to see competence and ability. If your way of doing things is different from his, you just have to show him you know what you’re doing. Hold your ground. It’s the only way.”

And how would I prove that? How can I show that, even with fewer resources and backing, Aspen Sky can deliver better service?

“Well, love, I have to get back to the missus, but good luck.”

He gets up and heads back inside. I sit for a few more minutes before deciding what I need to do.

I head back in to find my row. My aisle neighbor has woken up, so it’s easier to squeeze into the middle seat and pull out my laptop.

For the next hour, I pour over the presentation, making changes, and memorizing everything I’m going to need to convey.

When we finally pull into Mykonos Port, I check my watch.

We’re twenty minutes later than we were supposed to arrive.

I race to get to my suitcase and see there is already a large line at the gangway to exit the ferry.

My hands are shaking with anticipation by the time I finally disembark.

Once on ground, I find an even longer line to grab a taxi.

That’s when I hear someone call out.

The old man from the ferry—he’s in what looks like a private car. “You’ll be late if you wait for a cab. Come with me! We’ll drive you.”

I can’t believe my luck. This has to be some sort of sign. The universe is helping me. Things are finally going my way for once. I pick up my bags and jump in the car.

“Thank you! I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate this.”

“Where to, ma’am?” the drivers asks from the front.

“The Omorfiá Hotel.” I give him the address and then turn to the British couple. “I’m Jenni, by the way.”

“Emma and Barnaby. Pleased to meet you, love,” Barnaby’s wife says. “Thanks for keeping him company on the smoke deck. He keeps promising me he’ll quit, but the water makes him nervous.”

“Emma’s just glad she didn’t have to sit out there with me.” He laughs, which turns into a raspy cough. “Feeling any better about your presentation?”

I take a deep breath and check my phone. “I don’t think I have a choice. The meeting starts in 20 minutes. I’ll be walking in late as it is. So I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be, I think.”

We pass the rental car parking lot where Niko found me yesterday, and my heart feels like it might take flight.

How could that have been less than twenty-four hours ago and yet feel like a completely different universe?

All I can do now is try to make things right.

Because even if they decide not to go with Aspen Sky, Niko doesn’t deserve to be saddled with Malcolm, who will never understand his vision for the hotel or what makes it unique.

“If you ask me, your face looks like you’re chasing love rather than business,” Emma says .

“How did you know?”

“A nan’s intuition. I’ve seen my fair share of lovestruck young people. Tell us about him.”

“Where do I even start? He’s kind and handsome and just a good man.”

“So what happened?” Barnaby asks.

Emma slaps him on the thigh. “Barnes! That’s none of our business.”

Before I can figure out how to respond, we’re pulling into the hotel. I turn to Emma and Barnaby. “I can’t thank you enough?—”

“Go” Emma urges. “No time for this! Go!”

I smile, jump out of the car, and run into the lobby.