Chapter 15 - The Next Flight
Two years later, the VIP lounge at JFK Airport hummed with its usual morning energy.
Grant Hale stood near the panoramic glass window, a steaming cup of black coffee in one hand while his other hand casually held the strap of a miniature blue dinosaur backpack.
Footsteps rushed across the plush carpet behind him.
"Daddy! Daddy, look! The big airplane has wings like a bird!"
Grant turned around. Five-year-old Owen was sprinting across the lounge, pointing excitedly out the window toward a Boeing 777 sitting on the tarmac, while Eli lagged behind dragging a wheeled suitcase half his size.
Behind them walked Elena, looking radiant in a chic camel trench coat, laughing as she tried to keep up with their pace.
Grant walked over, kneeling down to help Eli zip his jacket properly. "Slow down, buddy. We have plenty of time. Our flight to London isn't boarding for another twenty minutes."
"Are we going to see Big Ben?" Eli asked eagerly, his steel-gray eyes wide with anticipation.
"The biggest Ben you've ever seen," Grant promised with a warm smile, standing up and wrapping his free arm around Elena’s waist as she stepped up beside him.
Elena rested her head against his shoulder, looking out at the aircraft waiting to take them across the Atlantic for her latest international architectural exhibition.
"You know," Elena murmured playfully, looking up at him with a knowing smile, "the last time we took Flight 218 to London, you looked like a man marching to his execution."
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Grant chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her dark hair as he pulled her closer against his side. He looked down at his two sons, who were now pressing their hands against the glass window, completely fascinated by the world outside.
"Well," Grant said softly, a deep, profound sense of contentment settling into his chest. "That was before I realized I was boarding the best flight of my life."
