“You know, when I met my husband, I knew he was the one. You kids make things so complicated. You take time for granted.”
Sadness gripped me as she stared off into the night sky.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Here I am rambling about my problems. They’re so silly.” We sat in silence for a minute.
“He used to snore. It kept me up at night. Now that he’s gone, the funny thing is, I still can’t sleep. So I’ve given up trying.” She gestured to the laundry basket. “The only difference now is it’s so quiet.”
I sniffled. I could barely imagine being in love, let alone losing it. Her grief must be overwhelming.
“I’m sorry.” I whispered.
“Don’t be.” She shrugged. “I’m okay. Life happens, and I’m grateful for the time I had with him.”
“You’re lucky to have loved someone so much.”
She snorted. “Luck had nothing to do with it. It took work, and communication, and mutual respect. You could have it too, you know.” Her head tilted in the direction of my room, where Harrison still slept soundly.
“We’ll see.” I said, not knowing what else I could offer her.
She gave an exaggerated eye roll.
“There is no ‘we’ll see,’ there is only ‘I’ll try.’” she said, walking away. “Good night, and safe travels tomorrow.”
“Lila, that’s robbery.”Harrison looked appalled as I set a book on the counter and waited for the cashier to ring me up.
I sipped my overpriced coffee, savoring the life returning to me.
“It’s my ritual,” I insisted, swiping my card.
He cocked an eyebrow and picked up my selection to examine it.
“The Body Downstairs. A romance on the way here and a murder mystery on the way home. Should I be worried?”
“Not if you hand it over and stop questioning my purchases.” I took the book from his hands.
After barely getting any sleep last night, I didn’t have any capacity to stress about where Harrison and I stood as we made the journey home. I was far too exhausted. I had passed out on his shoulder almost immediately for the entire flight from Santorini to Munich. Now, just one long haul flight from Munich to Denver, and we’d be home. It felt natural to be here with Harrison this time, completely different from how it had felt running into him at the Denver airport before this whole debacle had even started.
It was fine that we hadn’t talked anything through. It wasn't like we were being separated, not really. We shared friends, we had each other’s numbers. We only lived ten minutes away from each other, for crying out loud. Everything would work out just fine. My stress last night had been for nothing.
When we boarded our flight, Harrison took my luggage and put it in the overhead bin. He looked good in his gray sweats and black T-shirt, and it felt freeing to no longer have to pretend thatI was immune to his good looks. I started to climb into my seat, but bumped into Harrison who had started to do the same.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, jumping back.
“It’s fine.” I smiled. “Do you want the window?”
“No, no. I don't know what I was thinking.” He shook his head. “Go for it.”
My eyebrows pulled together, but I stepped into the window seat. While he hadn’t been cold or distant yesterday or this morning, there was something different about Harrison now; something I could only describe as awkwardness.
He slid into the aisle seat. The flight attendant came by and we both asked for coffee. It would be a struggle to stay up this whole flight, plus wait until a decent time to go to sleep once we arrived back in Denver, but it was the only way to avoid jet lag. Harrison glanced over at me before looking back at his personal TV screen. He looked at me again and opened his mouth before shaking his head and turning away.
“What?” I asked, keeping my voice light.
A small pit formed in my stomach. Not panic, exactly, but it still didn’t feel great.
“Nothing,” he said, forcing the smallest of smiles. “Are you just going to read, or...”
“Probably,” I said. “Or maybe we could watch a movie? Press play at the same time, and?—”
