And so I didn’t.

Meanwhile, two thousand miles south, the anniversary trip was reaching its natural end.

Without my card to anchor the stay, the Grand Azure enforced its policies to the letter.

Harrison had to liquidate a short-term CD on his phone, at a brutal loss, to cover the fourteen thousand two hundred and eighty dollars for their single night of luxury.

The remaining four nights of their dream vacation evaporated.

And the respectable Vance family spent that afternoon standing in the wet Miami heat, waiting for a shuttle to a two-star airport motel, where they sat three days waiting on standby economy seats home.