I meant, she put her headphones back on.
“I’m already settled,” she said.
That answer caught me off guard because it wasn’t an explanation.
It sounded more like she believed being comfortable had somehow made the seat hers.
I pulled out our boarding passes and showed them to her.
“I paid extra to reserve both of these seats,” I said.
She removed one side of her headphones and stared at me.
The irritation on her face seemed completely out of proportion to what I had asked.
“Women traveling with babies always expect everyone else to change their plans,” she said loudly. “You chose to bring two children onto this flight. That isn’t my problem.”
People nearby turned to look.
The embarrassment hit me immediately because I hadn’t asked anyone to change plans.
I was standing beside the seats printed on the boarding passes I had purchased.
Emma stood next to
me gripping both straps of her backpack.
She didn’t say anything, but I could feel her watching the woman’s face and then looking back at me.
Oliver shifted slightly against my chest.
The aisle behind us was filling up, and passengers who had nothing to do with the problem were beginning to realize that boarding had stopped.
A flight attendant came toward us.
I felt a little relief when I saw her because I assumed the issue would be settled in seconds.
I showed her our boarding passes.
She checked them carefully, then compared them with the woman’s ticket.
Her expression changed.
Somehow, Emma’s seat appeared to have been assigned twice.
That was the first moment I realized this wasn’t going to be as simple as asking the woman to move back to her correct seat.
The flight attendant looked at the crowded aisle, then leaned closer to me.
“There’s
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