“You don’t want to shop with her?” Sharon asked.
“Nah. I’ll let her surprise me. Where’s Debra?”
“She said she’d be right behind me. I’ll go check on her. See you at dinner.”
Sharon left the toys in the pile on the desk and walked back down the hall. Their bedroom door was open a crack, and when she heard Debra talking, she stopped, thinking maybe Debra was on the phone with work, telling them she would not be in the office this week.
“I’ll see you at the cemetery when I get back, but I just wanted to tell you now,” Debra said.
Sharon covered her mouth with her hand but remained still otherwise for fear of being heard or interrupting Debra.
“I never thought I’d find someone, but I did,” Debra continued. “I don’t know if she’ll want to meet you one day.Actually, Idoknow – I’m sure she’ll want to come visit you with me. She’s just that good of a person. I don’t know if I’ll be able to visit every week anymore, though. I’ll be staying with her from time to time, and I don’t think it’s right for me to visit you as much if I’m with Sharon. Not that she would have a problem with it. I honestly don’t think she will, but I want to start over with her, and to do that, I have to at least, in part, say goodbye to you and give her my whole heart. I’ll always love you, I willalwaysmiss you, and I hope I see you again one day, but I don’t want to be alone anymore.” Debra chuckled a little. “I’m talking to the window, technically, but I hope you can hear me. I’m happy. I’m not alone anymore. I found someone, like you told me to, and I think she’s the one for me. I’ll still talk to you, but I’ll need to talk to her more and be there for her. I’m already in love with her, which is crazy to me because it took me a while to fall for you, and you were–”
Sharon lowered her hand from her mouth and turned on her heels. She didn’t need to listen to Debra’s private conversation with her wife. That was between the two of them. Still, she smiled as she walked down the hallway. She was in love with Debra, and Debra was in love with her.
A few minutes later, when dinner began outside, Debra joined her, kissed her on the cheek, and placed a hand on her thigh.
“Everything okay?” Sharon checked.
“Everything’s great. Did you go shopping?”
“I did. I have everything in a pile in the den if you want to check it out after dinner, before I pack it all.”
“I trust you,” Debra stated.
“I trust you, too.” Sharon winked at her.
“Last dinner and last couples standing, huh? Or sitting, I guess,” Gage said.
“A toast?” Debra asked.
“Let’s wait for Nia,” Sharon suggested. “Where is she?”
“Right here,” Nia said and walked outside. “Sorry. What did I miss?”
“Nothing. We just wanted to have a toast before our final dinner here,” Debra said.
“To Nia?” Carrie suggested.
“To Nia.”
Everyone held up their glasses in Nia’s direction.
“To all of you.” Nia returned the toast. “And to love, the most important thing in the world.”
“Agreed,” Sharon replied, looking at Debra, and Debra smiled at her, looking like she’d just realized what she meant by saying that.
CHAPTER 59
Nia
Normally, when Nia got to the airport, she checked her bag, if she’d brought a large one, and proceeded through security and to the bar closest to her gate, choosing only to use the first-class lounge if she had a longer time to wait. In the morning, she’d have a mimosa or a Bloody Mary, and if it was late afternoon or evening, she’d have wine or a Manhattan, depending on her mood. Today, though, she watched.
Carrie and Gage rolled their bags and held hands as they walked down the long corridor to Carrie’s gate since her flight boarded twenty minutes before Gage’s, and when they found chairs to sit next to each other, they didn’t talk much. It was as if it had just hit them that they wouldn’t see one another for a while after this. Nia didn’t know what they had worked out, but she knew they’d plannedsomethingbecause Gage’s mood had improved at dinner. As she watched them hold on to one another at the gate as if they really didn’t want Carrie to get on that plane, Nia knew they would be all right. Yes, it would be hard, but they were right for one another, so if they were both willing to put the work in, she could see them together for the long haul.
Then, there were Sharon and Debra, whom she found standing in line at one of the shops in the airport. They were staring at bottles of water, trying to make a decision, and Sharon was laughing. Debra had her hand on her back, and they seemedat ease with themselves, likely because they were getting on the same flight and would have more time together this week before Debra would fly home and they would plan another trip to see each other.
With over an hour remaining until her own boarding, Nia decided to go into the first-class lounge after all. There, she checked in, sat down in a comfortable chair, and leaned back, sighing, choosing to forego the drink for now.
