TOW the Honeymoon
Five Minutes Too Late
Emily ran into the terminal at Heathrow. She just hoped she had it right this time. She shook herself. Of course she had it right. She was just very very agitated - even more so after she had lost precious time running around the wrong one.
Her father had been unwilling to pass on the message that Ross would be waiting for her at the airport. He had said some veryharsh things aboutRoss but none of that had really helped. She had agonised over whether or not to meet him. He'd said Rachel's name. The ex girlfriend's name. She would never forget her wedding as long as she lived - the pain, the humiliation. How could he have done that to her? It was far far worse than calling out the wrong name in bed - in bed, there was often a loss of self control. But he had stood there and said...
But the first question, lying awake at a friend's house overnight, was what was she going to do about it? In shock, she'd gone ahead with the wedding. That's what you do at weddings, you get married. Once it was over, the horror of it all had hit her, she had hit Ross and she had fled. She had had to go, to think it over.
He had pleaded with her - but it was one thing for people to say things to you because they wanted to make you fell better - it was another for them to be telling the truth. Did that mean that she thought Ross was a liar? Well that wasn't right either. She thought of a liar as being someone who told something that wasn't true, knowing that it was untrue. But she didn't believe that Ross would do such a thing. He might be telling her something that wasn't true without knowing that it wasn't true.
What would his friends be saying? Rachel was Monica's best friend - she would prefer it if her brother was marrying her rather than some stranger. His friends would think so too. Nevertheless, he asked her to be there. She still didn't know what she was going to do, but if she didn't go, it would mean letting go.
Letting go meant giving up and she wasn't ready to do that.
So at the very last moment, mind made up, she had made the dash for the airport, and heard the final boarding call being given as she entered the terminal. Why were there so many people? Why on earth did all these people want to take planes all round the world? And why were all these other people there to see them off? In her rush she tripped over someone's bag and nearly took her own flight into the land of unconsciousness. She was helped to her feet by someone.
'Are you all right?' several people wanted to know. She had been shaken up all over and she felt a little dizzy - but she had to go and she took a step and stumbled.
'Here,' said someone else. 'It can wait.' She felt impatient but allowed herself to be moved to a seat to reorient herself. She looked up at the signs.
Gate closed.
Left alone at last, she got up to look around. If Ross had intended to be on the honeymoon flight then he hadn't missed it for her. Just five minutes earlier and she might have seen him.
She found a seat put her head in her hands. He would think that she didn't want to try. But getting upset at missing him wasn't going to help and she turned her mind to the problem of what to do next.
Of course she could organise to follow on the next flight. She hadn't made up her mind that she was going on the honeymoon after all but she supposed she should. But she had no ticket and she did not know where the honeymoon was. Oh, she knew the flight was to Athens on one of the islands, but which island? It was something Ross had organised on his own and any paperwork he had on that was either with him or at his apartment in New York.
And who was to say that he hadn't decided to go to New York? He might have bought a ticket to New York and might have boarded that flight. Looking at the departures board she could see that a flight to New York was departing ten minutes after the one to Athens. So if he'd waited in vain for her, he might have boarded that flight instead.
So she should go to New York. She did have keys to Ross's apartment - their apartment. She could see if he was there, and if he wasn't then she could find out where he was and then join him.