Too Close

Chapter Twenty Three

Miles looked out of the airplane's window at New York's nighttime skyline. Each building was unique in shape and illuminated the famous city with its bright lights. Gianna was sleeping heavily on his shoulder. Due to the many problems with the plane, their flight was delayed a few times and they even had to catch a layover flight to make it to the city.

He gently stroked her face and whispered her name so she wasn't startled out of her sleep.  The captain announced that they'd officially arrived in New York City and were close to JFK's terminal. Gianna slowly got her things together since they'd be the first ones let off of the plane.

Once they were on land, she turned on her phone to see if she'd missed any important notifications. As they waited for their bags to come around, she scrolled through them all. Her heart felt like it fell to her feet as she saw an hours old reminder.

"Oh my God." She whispered, looking at the time again to make sure she read it correctly. "Oh my God."

Miles heard her clearly that time, immediately going to her side as she looked distressed. "What's wrong mama?"

"The contest. I missed the deadline." Her hands started to shake as she typed in the website, anxiously waiting as it loaded slowly due to the airport traffic. Miles grabbed their bags and pulled her to the side.

"Let me see."

"It says submissions open at 3 and close at 5:30. It's almost 6, Miles." Gianna put her hands over her face after passing her phone to him. The urge to cry was clouding over her but she tried her hardest to suppress it.

This was so important to her and was one of the mini goals she had leading up to the largest one. She worked so hard and would have been satisfied with being a finalist even if she didn't win, but now she didn't have the chance to be either.

"Calm down Gia. Do you have it with you?"

"How am I supposed to be calm?" She wiped the still tears that were brimming her waterline. "It's on my laptop." That was all he needed to hear, so he passed her phone back to her and grabbed their things to walk to the car.

"I'll get it in for you. Just send it to me when we get in the car."

His word wasn't good enough for something like this, something this important. So, she needed to know exactly how he would do what felt like the impossible. "By doing what?"

"I know Fred."

"Who is Fred?"

"He's one of the judges."

"And you're sure he'll make sure it gets in?"

"Of course. You only missed it by a couple of hours and when you know the right people, it's not that big of a deal." His assurance made her heart beat slower. She'd forgotten how famous Miles was in the book world, so him having pull wasn't that shocking.

"So he's the surprise judge?" Gianna pushed, trying to see if she could get the identity of the person since the SSAs wouldn't announce it until months later.

"No he's not and I don't know who is, so don't ask." He said and Gianna narrowed her eyes, her intuition telling her he was lying.

And he was, but the surprise was far too special to spoil it this early.

_____________________

"What's the dress code like again?" Gianna looked at her suitcase and the clothes spread around her in defeat.

"There isn't one but it's not formal. And knowing you, you won't be underdressed." Miles clasped his watch around his wrist before looking her way. He could see it written all over her face along with the bright powder under her eyes. "Don't say it."