Ace of Hearts

2

Desiree Campbell POV:

I have a lot of bad habits like overthinking, staying up late when I have an early morning or not being able to leave the house without spending money. I've been trying to work on my bad habits and I've been seeing progress.

Except for one.

Packing my luggage a day or more before my flight.

Which brings me to this current moment where I am frantically packing - stuffing would be a more accurate description - my clothes into my suitcase 5 hours before my flight.

And the cherry on the cake is that not everything fits into my suitcase despite my futile attempts to sit, stand and jump on it.

I might have gotten a bit carried away during the past week of free time in France. After my win, I decided to take a mini vacation and stay in Bordeaux before I had to leave. The nostalgia of my home town brought goosebumps on my skin despite the scorching sun. I visited my mother since she had a shift whilst I was playing. Despite the hours of working as nurse, she was beaming the entire time. My mother was truly the epitome of resilience and kindness. Every time I visit her, I always try to get her to retire because I know that I will be able to take care of her like she did for me. The closest thing I've gotten to a "Yes" was her taking on less shifts and allowing me to buy her a house closer to the hospital. It made me realize that Maman loves what she does because she has always been a nurturer and kindhearted. 

 Maman and I decided to go around town and explore the shops that had opened up whilst I was gone. Then I thought that it would be a good idea to stock up on snacks that I had growing up since they are not available in the states.

"A good strategy to combat home sickness" I thought.

Now I have a suitcase filled with snacks that could last me an entire year. The clothes that had once occupied that suitcase are now scattered across floor of the hotel room.

Finally deciding that I have no idea what to do, I call Vincent.

"I have a problem.." I say the moment he picks up the phone and explain my predicament.

All he does is sigh, "How many things won't fit into your second suitcase?"

I look at the clothes and count them, "A few tennis shirts, some socks and a few undergarments." I reply.

"There's a gift store in the hotel. Go down there and purchase a bag and put everything else into it. Try to also squeeze some things into your tennis bag." He explains immediately, as if he knew something like this would happen.

I bid him goodbye and rush downstairs to the gift shop in the hotel.

I enter the shop and browse the limited number of bags on the shelves.

"Avez-vous de gros sacs, de préférence quelque chose que je puisse emporter dans l'avion ?" I ask one of the women working in the shop. [Do you have any big bags, preferably something that I can carry on the plane?]

She smiles, "Je pense que nous pourrions en avoir quelques-uns ici." She leads me to another scetion of the shop but the bags in front of me have the most absurd texts printed on them. [I think we might have a few here.]

I look at the different bags and choose a plain tote then bring it to the till to pay.

Once I get back to my room, I start putting some shirts and a few bras and panties into the tote.

My suitcase finally closes so I quickly shower, get everything in order to get taken downstairs and go downstairs where a car takes me to the airport.

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