But at the security line, I paused and twisted around.
Through the glass, he still stood there, hands in his pockets, watching.When our eyes met, he lifted his hand in a small wave.
Something loosened in my chest.Something settled too.
I waved as my shoulders rolled inward.One step at a time, I pushed forward.
As I reached the gate, my phone buzzed.Two messages from Tristan.
Safe travels.
Don’t forget calm isn’t the same as happy.
I smiled, tucking the phone into my bag as I found my seat.
When the plane lifted off and the city shrank beneath the clouds, I stared out the window, heart full yet aching and somehow oddly hopeful.
My life was waiting for me.
But now, I knewthatlife wasn’t the only thing that was real.
And that changed everything.
Chapter Sixteen
Home came back to mein pieces.
The familiar creak in the front step.The smell of laundry detergent.Yeast from another loaf of bread Allie had baking in the oven.The quiet hum of the fridge working harder than it should.It was all exactly as I’d left it and yet, I wasn’t.
Days unfolded softly after that.In text messages sent between shifts.In phone calls made once the house went quiet for the night.Tristan checked in every morning.We talked every evening; sometimes about nothing at all, sometimes about everything we didn’t quite know how to say yet.
Time didn’t rush.It layered itself.Until a couple of weeks had passed without my noticing.
One night, a fortnight after returning home, Allie breezed through the kitchen planting a kiss on my cheek.“I’ll be late, love you.”
“Where are you off to?”
