Tired, Grace didn’t have the energy to filter the truth. It escaped her heart and stared back at her on the screen. She hit send too fast for doubt.
Grace
I can’t wait to see you.
The response came before Grace could worry about being too much.
Alix
Me too.
Grace smiled despite herself. Despite her sour mood and the unsettled feeling in her gut. There was no joke. No qualifier. Just a little unvarnished fact.
Alix
I’ll be waiting right by your gate.
Closing her eyes, Grace leaned back and let the electric buzz of syrupy sweet warmth run over her skin. Let it expand in her chest and soothe her. Let it act as a portal through time until all she could smell was Alix’s cologne.
By the time a crackling voice told them to return their seats to the upright position, Grace was ready to run off the plane. The rough air had been constant, and all she wanted to feel was solid ground. Solid ground and Alix. Although as she muscled her way to freedom, she couldn’t really see the difference.
As promised, Alix and her duffel were waiting for her near the teaming masses lined up for their turn at mobile misery.In a dark hoodie and jeans, Alix yanked off her mask the moment they made eye contact. Grace did the same, letting an embarrassingly huge grin greet Alix before her arms could.
Her thundering heart lifted like a hot-air balloon to carry the rest of her body as Grace rushed toward Alix. She stepped out of the stampede and right into a hug.
The chaotic wave of airport noise turned dull and distant. This time, she wasn’t imagining the calming scent of Alix’s skin. The comforting feel of her body pressed against hers. Her arms, strong and steady and putting an end to the month-long ache she’d left in her absence.
“Hi,” Alix breathed against her ear, and Grace’s entire body relaxed like she’d come from the spa rather than actual travel hell. “I’m sorry it was such a long flight.”
Grace squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could bottle the overwhelming relief radiating in her body. “I’m sorry I made you wait so long.”
“Not as sorry in advance as I am about my family,” she joked, face flushed when she eased out of their hug. “Where’s your stuff?”
“Baggage claim,” Grace replied, the cresting wave of discordant sounds crashing over them again. “Where’s yours?”
Alix gestured at her duffel like she was unveiling a gameshow prize.
“That’s it?” Grace’s eyes widened. “Where’s all the crap you made me get?”
“I didn’t take any winter stuff with me when I moved toSouthernCalifornia, Gator.” Alix grinned. “Plus, I come from hardy Colorado stock. Six generations descended from gold rushers with lots of grit.”
Grace laughed, following Alix and her ridiculously small bag through the Denver airport. “I can’t see you with a very unkempt beard and denim overalls.”
Standing on the escalator, body turned toward Grace, Alix laughed with the same gusto Miriam had caught in her photo. The one she’d looked at every single day, even though it paled in comparison to the real thing.
Alix ran her hand over her jaw. “I think I’d have a very nice beard, thank you.”
Grace’s skin flushed with unexpected heat. God, everything Alix did was so freaking adorable.
Talking nonstop like they hadn’t seen each other in a year and didn’t text constantly, Grace kept an eye on the moving conveyor belt. The hard-sided white suitcases with the colorful swaths of fabric tied to the handles her mother had insisted on were always easy to spot. But when the belt stopped making laps, there was only a single unclaimed box left.
Anxiety spiked hard and fast in Grace’s chest. Her bags. Her things. Christmas presents. It couldn’t be happening. After all this, her bags couldn’t be lost.
“Hey, no worries. I bet someone else picked them up and couldn’t remember the carousel number to bring them back,” Alix said like she wished very desperately for that to be true. “No reason to freak out.”
“I’m not freaking out,” Grace replied, the lie stamped on the inhuman pitch in her voice.
Alix winced. “Good,” she said, openly pretending to believe her. “No one is freaking out.”
