Quinn pushed her way through the crowded airport terminal. Her flight, which had originally been scheduled to leave at three in the afternoon, was listed as delayed until eight.
She had stopped in Chicago on her way home from Los Angeles to meet with a representative from her publishing company. The meeting had gone well, but while they ate lunch, a storm had rolled in and slowed operations at the airport to a crawl. The continuously worsening weather had pushed her flight back several times. If it had left on time, she would be in a taxi on her way home, and not pushing her way through a packed airport. As it was, she would be lucky to get home by midnight.
That hope was dashed a few seconds later. She glanced at one of the large screens hanging on the wall just in time to see all of the flights listed roll over from a yellow 'delayed' to a red 'cancelled'. She groaned in frustration, and resumed her search for store that sold prepaid cell phones.
Her own phone had met an untimely end earlier in the day, when she dropped and the screen shattered. She had then tried to use her laptop to contact her wife, only to find it was dead, and that the charger was still in Los Angeles.
She finally found a wireless company's kiosk that sold prepaid phones. She purchased the cheapest one they had, and tore into the packaging as soon as the money had changed hands.
After several minutes of frantic searching, she found an unoccupied row of seats tucked away in a corner next to an electrical outlet. She was so anxious to talk to her family that it took her three tries to punch in the number.
"Hello?"
"Rachel, it's me."
"Quinn? Were are you—is that a Chicago area code?" Rachel said.
"Yeah, I had to buy a phone. I dropped mine and it broke. Then my flight got delayed and cancelled and my laptop died and I forgot the charger so couldn't Skype you, or call you, and I promised you and Em that you would see me tonight and I let you down." Quinn's voice had grow steadily more frantic as she spoke. Rachel decided to cut her off.
"Quinn. Quinn! Luce." That got her attention. "It's okay. Calm down. It wasn't your fault."
"I just really wanted to get home and see you guys tonight," Quinn said tearfully.
"I know. You said your flight was canceled?"
"Yeah. The storm shut down everything. I won't get home 'till noon at the earliest. Is Em in bed?"
"She is, but she isn't sleeping. She wants her mommy to read her bedtime story."
Quinn could here the smile in Rachel's voice and she laughed a bit.
"Put it on speaker." There was some rustling then a young child's voice.
"Is that mommy?"
"Hi, Little Star," Quinn said.
"Mommy! Why aren't you here?" Quinn could just hear Rachel telling Emily 'That pout won't work over the phone.'
"There was a big snowstorm, so my plane couldn't fly," Quinn explained.
"It snowed here too! Mama took me to the park, and we made a snowman." Quinn smiled, and responded when she was prompted, while Emily recounted her day, with the occasional interjection from Rachel.
"So, did you pick out which story you want to read?" Quinn asked when Emily was finished.
"Yep!"
"Well, what did you pick?"
"What do you think?" Rachel said.
"I want mommy to read it," Emily demanded.
"Quinn, do you want me to—?"
"Rach, I wrote the book, and I think I've read it to her about a thousand times. I think I can remember it. And don't stick your tongue out at me, you'll teach Em to do it." A loud laugh from Emily told Quinn she was correct about Rachel sticking her tongue out. She waited a moment for Rachel to get the book ready.
"Okay, you can start," Rachel said. Quinn took a deep breath and stated to recite the story.
"Once there was a baby star, she lived up near the sun." She went slowly, and paused at the end of the sentences so Emily could look at the illustrations and turn the pages. "And every night at bedtime the baby star wanted to have some fun. She would shine and shine, and fall and shoot and twinkle oh so bright. And she said, 'Mommy I'll run away if you make me say good night!'
"And then her mommy kissed her sparkly nose and said, 'No matter where you go, no matter where you are, no matter how big you grow, and even if you stray far, I'll love you forever, 'cause you'll always be my little baby star'"
When she finished, Quinn could hear Rachel set the book aside and tuck in Emily.
"Did you kiss Mama goodnight for me, Em?"
"Yep. Goodnight, mommy."
"'Night, Little Star."