“Where is the shuttle?” my dad asked, checking his watch. “We should get to the resort. We can sort this out from there.”
“Are you serious?” I said. “We are not going to the resort. We are going back to help Rose.”
“Honey,” my mom said, “the rooms are booked. The dinner reservations…”
“I do not care about the dinner reservations!”
“Well, I do,” my dad said sharply. “We planned this trip for months. We are not going to ruin it over…”
He trailed off, but I heard what he did not say.
Over Rose.
I looked at Darius. He looked back at me, and I saw my own fury reflected in his eyes.
“We are going to the resort,” Darius said slowly, “and we are going to fix this. Right now.”
What happened next, I will never forget.
We got in the shuttle. The driver loaded our bags. My family chatted about the pool and the beach like nothing had happened. My mom was already asking the driver about the best seafood restaurants nearby. Kendra was showing my dad something on her phone. Max stared out the window.
And I sat there, on the phone with my daughter, listening to her cry, while my nephew stared out the window and my mother asked the driver about the best seafood restaurants nearby.
Halfway to the resort, I asked everyone to check their bags.
“Maybe the passport is in someone’s bag,” I said. “Max, check your backpack. Check every pocket.”
Nobody moved.
“Did you hear me?” I said. “Check your bags. Now.”
Kendra sighed and unzipped Max’s backpack. She pulled out a hoodie, a charger, a bag of chips.
No passport.
“See?” Max said. “It is not here. I told you, I left it on the plane.”
“Then call the airline,” I said. “Call them right now and tell them what you did.”
“I… I do not have the number,” he mumbled.
“I will find it,” Darius said, pulling out his phone.
We arrived at the resort. It was beautiful. Palm trees, white sand, a pool that sparkled in the sun.
I hated it on sight.
While everyone else went to check in, Darius and I stood in the lobby on the phone with the airline.
It took forty minutes, but they found the passport. A flight attendant had turned it in. They would hold it at the first airport’s lost and found.
“Can someone bring it to her?” I asked. “She is alone. She is eighteen. She can not board without it.”
The agent was kind. She said they would send someone to the information desk to help Rose, and that we could book her on the next flight once we had the passport back in her hands.
But the next flight was not until the next morning.
Which meant my daughter would spend the night alone in a city she did not know.
I hung up and felt Darius’s hand on my shoulder.
“We will get her on that morning flight,” he said. “And one of us should fly back to be with her tonight.”
“Me,” I said immediately. “I am going back tonight.”
That was when my mom walked over, all smiles.
“Good news!” she said. “They upgraded us to ocean-view rooms. Is not this place amazing?”
I stared at her.
“Mom, Rose is spending the night alone in an airport. I am flying back tonight to be with her.”
My mom’s smile faded. “Do not be silly. She is eighteen. She will be fine for one night.”
“She is scared,” I said.
“She is dramatic,” my mom said. “She has always been dramatic. Remember when she cried over that B+ in chemistry?”
“That is not…” I started, but my dad joined in.
“Your mother is right,” he said. “You are overreacting. Rose needs to learn to handle things on her own. This is good for her.”
“Good for her?” I repeated.
“She is going to college in the fall,” Kendra said, appearing with Max. “She needs to toughen up. Max did not mean anything by it. It was just a joke.”
“A joke,” I said. “He stole her passport.”
“Borrowed,” Max muttered.
I looked at him. Really looked at him.
“What did you do?” I asked quietly.
He stared at the floor.
“Max,” I said. “What did you do?”
“I already told you,” he said. “I took it as a joke.”
“No,” I said. “I mean, what did you do? Because I do not believe for one second that you just forgot to give it back.”
Silence.
“Max,” Kendra said warningly.
“Fine!” he burst out. “I did not forget. I… I was mad at her. At dinner, when she said my prank was not funny, she embarrassed me in front of everyone. So when we were on the plane and she fell asleep, I took it. I thought… I thought if she panicked a little, she would learn not to be so…”
“So what?” I asked.
“So judgmental,” he finished, barely audible.
I felt sick.
“You did this on purpose,” I said.
“I did not mean for her to miss the flight!” he said. “I was going to give it back at the gate!”
“But you did not,” I said.
He had nothing to say to that.
I turned to my family.
“I want everyone to listen to me,” I said. “Rose is my daughter. She was left alone in an unfamiliar airport because of something Max did on purpose. And every single one of you is acting like it is not a big deal.”
“We never said it was not a big deal,” my dad said.
“You said boys will be boys,” I said to my mom.
“I was trying to keep the peace,” she said.
“There is no peace,” I said. “Not until Rose is safe.”
I pulled out my phone and started making calls.
First, I canceled our rooms.
“What are you doing?” my mom gasped.
“I am canceling the rooms,” I said. “All of them. The ones I paid for.”
“You can not do that!” Kendra said.
“I can,” I said. “I paid for them. Watch me.”
Then I called the airline and canceled our return flights.
“Are you insane?” my dad shouted.
“I am done,” I said. “Darius and I are flying back tonight to be with our daughter. The rest of you can figure out your own way home.”
“You are ruining the trip!” my mom cried.
“Max ruined the trip,” I said, “when he decided to punish my daughter for having an opinion.”
I looked at Max.
“You are eighteen,” I said. “Old enough to know that actions have consequences. These are yours.”
Then I walked away.