The Artist

Chapter 9

'Flight 219: Cancelled'

Mia's heart dropped as she read the words that flashed on the board and as if to add insult to injury, a woman came over the loudspeaker and confirmed, "Due to inclement weather here, flight 219 to Arizona has been cancelled."

Perfect... just perfect.

Things hadn't really been the best between Mia and Daniel lately. He constantly was busy, turning Mia's invitations to dinner or to come over down and seemingly listening less and less to her. But a few weeks ago when he had surprised her with a plane ticket to Arizona to spend Christmas with his entire family, most of which she hadn't met yet, she thought it was a good sign and that they had turned a corner.

But now her hopes of having a special Christmas were dashed.

Daniel had left a few days before, which now left Mia sitting in the airport on Christmas Eve, cursing the snow that was falling outside. She dug her phone out of her bag, calling Daniel but it went unanswered which only made the tears stinging at her eyes to spill out onto her cheeks.

She was heartbroken and alone. This is not how she thought this day would go. Almost on instinct, she dialed another number and just at the sound of his comforting voice, Mia started crying hard.

"Mia? Mia, what's going on? Are you okay?" Chris was worried on the other end of line.

"My flight got cancelled," She lifted up a hand to wipe at her tears that were streaming down her face. "And they said that there probably wouldn't be any until after Christmas so now I'm stuck here and I can't get a hold of Daniel and I just hate the fucking snow right now."

"Oh Mia," He let out a long sigh. "I'm so sorry, I know much going meant to you."

"I just thought this would be good for us and now it's ruined and I'm stuck spending Christmas by myself again," Mia muttered but as she finished, she heard a child's voice calling out for Uncle Chris and instantly she deflated while realization dawned on her, "Oh my god Chris, I'm so sorry. I don't even know why I called you. It's Christmas Eve and you're with your family. I never should have bothered you. I'm so so sorry."

"Hey, stop it, you're not bothering me," Chris stated. "Stay right where you are. I'm going to come get you and I'm bringing you with me to my Ma's house and you're spending Christmas with us."

"Chris you do-" She began but he instantly cut her off.

Even though she couldn't see it, he was shaking his head and told her, "You know I'm not going to let you say no. I'm coming to get you and you're spending Christmas with us and that's that."

Mia stood there in the busy airport, her bags around her feet as she started crying all over again but this time from happiness. She didn't quite know what she did to deserve him as her friend, but she was so thankful for Chris.

He stayed with her on the phone the entire drive to the airport until they lost signal when he pulled into the parking lot. Mia had pulled her suitcase behind her as she went out and started looking around for him. It didn't take her long to see his hunky frame coming toward her, dressed in some straight legged jeans and warm sweatshirt, looking so cozy.

The second he got close to her, he was surprised when she practically ran to him and threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight. Chris wrapped his thick arms around her and held her while she cried into his chest. He melted into her and rubbed Mia's back, letting her feel all her emotions and let them out in the form of tears that got soaked up into his sweatshirt.

When her tears reduced to sniffles, she wiped off her red face and looked up into his blue eyes, simply saying, "Thank you, Chris."

"You don't have anything to thank me for," He simply smiled, giving her a little squeeze before picking her bags up and leading her to his car. "Besides, when I told my family you were joining us for Christmas, they all freaked out and were so excited. The kids are all working on a present for you right now, they were so happy."

For just a moment, Mia let herself imagine she truly was part of a family for the first time in her life and it made her heart feel full. Her moment of bliss got cut short though when her phone started ringing and she stopped, seeing the name on her screen.

"Hey, I'll catch up to you," Mia said to Chris.

"Okay, I'll just wait for you in the car," He motioned to the car that was just a few parking spots down. Chris knew it was Daniel and honestly, he didn't want to be around for that conversation anyway.

Mia waited until Chris was inside the car to click answer and instantly Daniel said from the other line, "Hey babe, I saw you called. Are you on the plane?"

"Daniel... I have bad news. It's snowing here and it's supposed to get worse and so they cancelled the flight and there's nothing else going out," She broke the news to him.

The line was silent for a long time until finally his sigh filled the phone and Mia told him, "I'm so sorry Daniel."

"Me too," He huffed. "Are you stuck at the airport or can you get home?"

"Chris came and picked me up and I'm going to spend Christmas with his family," Mia told him, clutching her jacket close to her to try to cut the cold.

There was that silence again.

She heard him suck in a breath and then firmly said, "I don't want you spending Christmas with him."

"What?"

"I don't trust him Mia. It's obvious he has feelings for you," Daniel's voice snapped at her.

Mia tried to assure him, "Daniel, we're just friends... don't you trust me?"

"I just don't like it."

"So you'd rather me spend christmas by myself at home than with the Evans?" The brunette figured he just was overreacting but was surprised at his response.

"Yes Mia, I would because it would mean that you're not with him!" Daniel yelled because of his emotions stirring, "I thought this Christmas was going to be good for us, to have it together with my family."

Tears were once again in Mia's eyes as her voice quivered, "I did too Daniel. You don't think I want to be there with you? But I can't do anything about it."

"Mia," He sighed and she knew he was rubbing at his forehead how he did when he was angry, "Look, I'm sorry Mia, I'm just upset. I'll call you later."

And with that, he hung up.

She stood there, completely dumbfounded and unable to believe the conversation really happened. Mia didn't even know what to feel. Anger, sadness, frustration, longing and heartbreak all swirled inside her as she walked toward Chris' car but somehow when she climbed in the passenger seat and was in Chris' presence... the only thing she felt was comfort.

"Everything okay?" His eyebrows were arched, seeing the pained expression on her face.

"Um... yeah," Mia lied. "Daniel was just upset."

Chris reached over, resting a hand on her knee while he told her, "Hey, I'm sorry things happened this way but for the record, I'm really happy you're spending Christmas with us."

For the first time that afternoon, a genuine dimpled smile spread across her lips.

"Me too."