The Wedding Song by Lucy Kevin Page B

because they ran with different crowds. Tyce had advised him not to worry about their differences and just ask her out to see if they clicked.
    After all, he and Whitney had seemed so different on the surface. But they’d been perfect together anyway.
    “Hey, Sebastian, are you looking forward to the show?”
    Whitney’s brother nodded, crouching to pet Milo. “It’s going to be great.”
    “You aren’t nervous?” Tyce asked, with a smile.
    “Of course not,” Sebastian said, right on cue. “You?”
    Tyce dutifully shook his head. Then they both laughed. “We are such bad liars.” He had to know, “Who do you have coming?”
    “Well, there’s my parents, and Aunt Marge—”
    “Tell her we’re not playing anything from Gone With the Wind,” Tyce interrupted.
    “I already did. Oh, and Michelle said she would come too.”
    “This is the girl you were going to ask out? The one from your math class?”
    Sebastian nodded. “She didn’t seem as impressed by the whole guitar thing as I thought she’d be, but she said yes anyway.”
    “That’s good,” Tyce said.
    “I guess.”
    “It means she’s actually into you, not just excited that you’re in a band. And, trust me, sometimes having a little patience is the best way to go with things.”
    Or a lot of patience, in his case.
    “Oh, and I also sent a copy of the CD over to Whitney,” Sebastian said with a careful look at Tyce, “but I doubt she’ll be able to come all the way from Colorado.”
     
    * * *
     
    Trying to take a cat on an airplane at short notice was anything but straightforward.
    “As I’m sure you know, ma’am,” Steve, the manager at the check in desk, said, “animals often get quite distressed in flight and—”
    “Does Clementine look distressed to you?” Whitney said, cutting him off as she held up the travel bag, where her cat was currently fast asleep. She needed to get to San Francisco, she wasn’t about to leave Clementine in the middle of an airport, and she would do whatever it took to get both of them on a plane in time.
    “Actually,” Steve said, “because we didn’t receive notification that there would be an animal on board, the hold isn’t pressurized, so—”
    “So Clementine can’t go down there unless you’re expecting her to hold her breath for upwards of a thousand miles,” Whitney said in a voice that vibrated with her attempt at remaining patient. “I have copies of the paperwork where I notified the airline right here.”
    She fished out printouts of the relevant screens from inside her jacket. If running the family business had taught her one thing, it was to always have copies of everything. She put them down in front of the check-in desk manager, who looked at them dismissively.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, sounding anything but sorry, “but I will have to abide by what I see in our system. And there is definitely nothing here about a cat.”
    Ordinarily, Whitney wouldn’t have done what she was about to do, but she couldn’t afford to miss this flight. She just couldn’t.
    It wouldn’t be fair to Sebastian.
    Sure, a small voice in the back of her head said. He’s the only person you’re thinking about.
    She took out her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts list until she found the number for her secretary. Technically, Olivia was Annette’s secretary now, and Whitney still got occasional emails from each of them complaining about the other, but she hoped that Olivia would still feel enough loyalty towards her to help her out. After all, aside from leaving her with her cousin, she thought she’d been a pretty good boss.
    “Olivia, hi, it’s me. Sorry to call you up out of the blue like this. Are you at the office? Annette has you doing what ? Look, could I ask a favor? We did business with a small airline a while back. I need the private number for Guy Jupp. You have it? That’s great. Thanks.”
    Whitney punched in the number while watching Steve-the-manager’s face.