Page 45 of Unfinished Noise

They left the house with an Uber at one, drove straight to the airport, and checked in with barely a minute to spare. The plane would take an hour from Beverly Hills to Fresno.

He didn’t know what Spencer would say when he saw him. He didn’t know if Spencer would pull him into a hug or lecture him for leaving without a word. But he knew one thing:

He had to show up.

He had to fix this.

He had to make sure Spencer knew he wasn’t running away from him—he was trying to protect Alfie.

Alfie stepped beside him, ready. “We’ll be okay, right?”

Jamie forced a small smile. “Yeah. We will. We’re going to them.”

Jamie sat in the window seat, Alfie beside him, both buckled in.

As the plane lifted off the ground, Jamie pressed his forehead to the cool glass and whispered, “Please don’t be mad.”

He wasn’t sure if Spencer could hear him from a hundred miles away.

But he hoped he could feel it.

Chapter Seventeen

Spencer

Spencer and Nathan reached the Fresno airport long before they needed to. The arrivals gate was too quiet, the kind of quiet that made Spencer feel every heartbeat like it was echoing off the walls. He tried to sit, but the chair felt wrong—too still, too far from the doors—so he paced.

At first, the strip of tile in front of the gate felt wide enough to hold his nerves. But the longer he walked it, the smaller it seemed, like the floor was tightening around him, funneling him toward the moment Jamie appeared. His boots tapped out a rhythm that kept shifting—quick when hope rushed, uneven when fear crept in, slow when he let himself imagine Jamie’s face and felt his chest ache with wanting.

Every time the security doors slid open, a rush of cool air brushed his skin, and his heart jumped hard enough to make him stop mid‑step. He’d lift his head, breath caught, expecting Jamie—expecting that familiar walk, that familiar way Jamie’s shoulders moved when he was tired. When it wasn’t him, Spencer’s jaw clenched, and he spun, the tile suddenly too narrow to hold the disappointment.

Nathan paced too, but his steps were steadier, as if he was trying to keep Spencer from flying apart. They crossed paths again and again, orbiting the same fear, the same hope. Spencer barely noticed the other travelers until a family reunited near the far corner—someone crying, someone laughing, arms thrown around someone who’d come through the doors.

The sight hit him like a bruise blooming beneath his ribs. His steps faltered. His boots dragged for a beat before speeding up again, the tile strip shrinking even more, as if the whole airport was conspiring to make him feel how empty his arms were.

He checked the clock. Thirty‑eight minutes.

His stomach twisted, but not from nerves. It was longing—sharp and warm and impossible to ignore. He wanted Jamie to be safe. He wanted Jamie close. He wanted Jamie walking through those doors so he could finally breathe again, so he could feel that quiet click inside his chest that only happened when Jamie was near.

The pacing wasn’t anxiety anymore. It was yearning in motion.

He kept pacing. “They’re gonna be scared,” Spencer said, breaking the silence. “We need to be gentle. Loving. Forgiving.”

Nathan nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. I know. I already apologized to Alfie on the phone. I’ll do it again in person.”

“You better,” Spencer said, not bothering to soften it. “He’s important to Jamie. And Jamie’s important to me. I want both boys happy with us.”

Nathan winced. “I know, Spence. I messed up. Didn’t we have this conversation already?”

Spencer sighed, slowing his pacing. “We did. I wanted to reinforce my feelings.”

Nathan shrugged. “I get it.”

They stood side by side for a moment, watching a family reunite with their grandparents, a businessman dragging a suitcase, and a couple arguing quietly near baggage claim. Normal airport stuff. None of it helped.

Spencer checked his phone again. No new messages. No missed calls. Just the flight tracker showing the plane was on time.

“We’re not letting this happen again,” Spencer said. “They don’t get to disappear without talking to us first.”