“You’re not going to the airport!”she demands.
My jaw drops.“Of course I am.He lied to me.”
A burst of laughter echoes through my phone.
“Hello, Gretch?”
More laughter.
My heart sinks.“Are you really laughing right now?”
“Yes!This is the best thing I’ve ever heard.”
“What’s wrong with you?He knew who I was, Gretchen!The whole time!”
“He’s the reason you’re in Paris.Don’t you see that?Luca is the one who set you on this path to finding yourself, even if he didn’t know it.Nothing is accidental.Divine fate is always working its magic.”
“You sound a little too woo-woo for me right now.I just need you to tell me I’m not crazy.And it’s okay for me to go home.I tried.I really did.”
Muffled sounds roar into my ear as a sharp screech pulsates through the phone.I immediately recognize the familiar sounds of the subway.I should be home with Gretchen.Not here on this silly trip.
“I can’t do that,” she says sternly.
My breath gets caught in my throat.
“Jemma, I need you to take a few deep breaths and listen.Okay.”
I nod, even though she can’t see me.
She continues, “Everything that happened the day you got let go from Foster & Sons led you to Paris.And to him.Didn’t you say you ran into him at the airport?Like, literally ran into the very man that caused you to lose your job—the very gorgeous man that set this whole thing into motion.If that’s not fate, I don’t know what is.”
My mind drifts to the elf man, the seat fiasco, and the paper in my carry-on.It seems too serendipitous to be real.This kind of stuff happens in the movies.Not real life.
Gretchen clears her throat.“Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m still here,” I whimper.
“I didn’t mean to laugh, but I can’t help but think that this is exactly what was supposed to happen.I told you everything happens for a reason.This was all part of a bigger plan.He picked your faceless name from an employee list, right?
“Uh huh.”
“You can’t be mad at him for doing his job,” she says.
“But when we collided into each other at the airport, he called meJemma with a Jas he handed my ticket back to me.He knew who I was at that very moment.I thought he was being rude, but he was putting the pieces together.He recognized the name and then me.He was in the conference room, Gretchen.He was there.Then somehow, he was in my seat.On the plane.He was everywhere.”
“Fate,” she interrupts.
“Whatever it is, it was cruel.It all makes sense now.He felt bad, so he was trying to play Mr.Nice Guy.”
“And then you got scammed,” she reminds me.“And who came to your rescue?”
“I only called him because I found his phone number on a piece of paper from when we collided.He was the only person I knew here.”
“Fate!”She’s practically screaming the word at me.“Can’t you believe just for a minute that he liked you, and that’s why he offered his place to stay?I doubt he would have done that for Sally if she were the one he had run into.”
I huff, slinking further into my seat.
“Jemma, you’ve been sending me photos all week.I’ve never seen you so happy.You seemed like your old self again.”She clears her throat.“Correction, you’re better than your old self.A new Jemma.”
