I kept walking.
“You’re not going anywhere!”
Valerie opened the trunk.
I loaded my bags.
We drove away before he realized I had never planned on using my own car.
At exactly 8:00 that morning, while Valerie and I ate breakfast near the airport, my phone exploded with notifications.
Cook Catering’s dissolution filing had gone through.
Accounts froze instantly.
Vendor payments failed.
Insurance policies lapsed.
Delivery trucks demanded cash.
Harper’s baby shower descended into chaos.
Videos flooded family group chats.
Harper screaming beside empty buffet tables.
Brenda crying into her phone.
Richard yelling at seafood suppliers in the parking lot.
One guest loudly asking, “Where’s the food?”
Valerie watched silently beside me.
“That’s brutal,” she murmured.
“No,” I replied calmly. “Brutal was stealing my passport.”
By eleven o’clock, we entered the airport.
Replacement passport secure.
