Falling For Her Dream

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Abby…you still there?”, Ryan broke through her thoughts and she responded with, “Uhu”.  “I’ll be in Vegas just after nine in the morning.  I can come straight from the airport and pick you up, we can go somewhere, have a drink and a chat.  Does that sound alright?”.  “Okay”, was all Abby said.  “Okay, great!  I’ll message you as I leave the airport.  You’re staying at The D right?”.  “Uhu”, Abby had a swirl of unanswered questions in her head.  She felt like a twit.  She was only using one-word responses.  “Alright!  I’ll see you then.  Goodnight Abby”, “Night”.  As the call ended, Abby wanted to smack herself in the forehead!  ‘On ya!’, she thought as she put her phone on charge.  ‘He must think you’re a total airhead!’

When Alli came out from the bathroom, Abby told her she’d be meeting this ‘Ryan’ in the morning.  She mentioned he possibly had some options for her to consider if she wanted to move to California.  Alli was only mildly interested and said she’d be staying in the motel room to catch up on some sleep.  This didn’t surprise Abby.  Her daughter was generally not an early riser if she could avoid it, and the time zone differences were still taking a toll on her body clock.  Alli turned on the television in the main living space and they both got comfortable on the small couch to channel surf and relax before turning in for the night.  It had been a long time since Abby watched anything on t.v, so with a drink in hand and an old movie that just started, they sat back with the lights off and soaked up the opportunity to ‘switch off’ and do nothing for the next two hours.

Abby and Alli had discussed many times in the past about relocating from Australia to somewhere like Canada, or the United States.  It was something Abby had always wanted to do and Alli with friends scattered all over both countries, she was more than willing to leave Australia as well.  Australia had never felt like home to Abby and her family ties there were minimal.  Abby had no idea what it was like to be part of a large family.  At one time in her life, it was just her parents and her two children.  Now it was just Abby, Alli and Andrew.  She was an only child as were both her parents.  Abby had only met a small handful of relatives in England and Scotland, but she knew there were a lot more out there.  She just could never picture living in the U.K at all.  She wasn’t sure why…

True to his word, Ryan sent a message to Abby’s phone just after nine.  He told her he’d be driving a white Chrysler and as Abby began to give a brief description of herself, Ryan reminded her he’d seen the photo of her with Kristopher at the Statue of Liberty.  That was one reminder she could have done without.  With the airport not that far away, Abby had just enough time to freshen up and head down through the busy hotel to the front entry.  She’d already showered three hours ago as she had been unable to get back to sleep at five.  She’d conceded defeat and prepared for the day ahead.  There was packing to get done as well.  Abby and Alli were heading off to the Grand Canyon in the morning.

As Abby waited to spot a white Chrysler, there was a steady stream of pick up’s and drop off’s happening.  It was getting quite crowed and with two lanes thick of vehicles through the entry at the hotel it was getting difficult to spot the right car.  A man began to walk towards her, he wore casual attire with neatly trimmed brown hair that had a professional edge.  As he approached her, he extended his arm ready for a handshake and said, “Abby, right?!”.  Abby wasn’t sure what kind of person she was expecting Ryan to be, or what he’d look like, but this was not how she’d envisioned him to be.  Up top, he was all business, but his clothing told another story.  It was an odd mix that was sure.  Abby held out her hand as he took it in his and introduced himself.  “I’m Ryan, pleased to meet you Abby.  We better get going, I’m blocking the flow of traffic.  It’s very busy in here this morning”. 

Abby followed him through to the second line of cars, past a large party bus.  It was no wonder Abby couldn’t spot the car he drove.  He must have driven in at the same time as the bus which was now blocking one of the lanes.  No one could get through as Ryan had one lane blocked, the bus blocked the other.  People were starting to get frustrated and impatient.  Ryan opened the passenger door for Abby to get into his hire car and he moved swiftly around the vehicle to slip back into the driver’s seat.  “I’ll be glad to get out of this chaos.  There’s a place a few blocks down where it’s a lot quieter than this.  We better move fast before there’s an uproar.  They’re sure getting antsy out there!”.  Abby fastened her seat belt, and they were off.