Lauren was exhausted after spending hours and hours on a plane with her more or less precious child. She felt Alyssa tug on her sleave when the girl noticed her daddy, so she let go and let her run, while she took her time, dragging their luggage behind her.
The trip had exceeded all of her expectations. Alyssa showed a remarkable grasp of the language, and Lauren's mother and sister had been making sure that she had a place to sleep - normally they all slept on the floor. Lauren's back did not agree with this, but it gave her a sense of home that she wouldn't trade away for all the beds in the world. She'd always be a Thaiger at heart.
So the trip had been a success. Except, Lauren had found herself missing her ordinary life alot more than she'd expected. She'd missed waking Mark and Alyssa up in the morning after she'd made breakfast, and on one particularly trying day, she'd especially missed Mark's lack of interest in her sexually. She did not want to stay in Thailand and get married to somebody that hit on her because she was a Western girl now.
"Hey" she said, realizing his hug was a soft place to fall. She reached down and tucked a strand of hair out of Alyssa's face, but she kept on smiling up at him. "Pretty awesome tan she's got, huh?"