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“You should drive to see her. You have enough time. Some things should be said face to face.”
Jackson lifted his head. His dad was right. He couldn’t let Lydia get on that airplane without telling her how he felt. Couldn’t let her go without touching her, feeling her, seeing her.
“I need my car keys,” he said, then shook his head. “How will you and mom get back?”
His dad smiled. “That’s my problem.” He pulled the keys from his pocket and passed them to Jackson. “Now go get your girl.”
29
Could there be a worse time to hit complete gridlock? Only in the L.A. area could you get gridlock like this. They were bumper to bumper. Jackson gritted his teeth and looked out of the window. There was a cop car right next to him, idling in the middle lane as Jackson strummed his hands on the steering wheel, willing the car in front of him to move.
He’d been in such a rush to leave the hospital that he hadn’t even turned the Bluetooth on his phone back on, having turned it off the previous night to save his damn battery. And though he’d sent a message to Lydia before he left, telling her he was coming to talk to her, there was no way he could pull his phone out of his pocket and start typing on it now.
Not when the cop kept looking over at him, as though he had criminal intent stamped on his forehead.
There was a chopper overhead, the blades twirling and reflecting the morning sun. It belonged to one of the local TV stations, and was no doubt giving a report to whatever news was causing the back up.
The car in front of him moved forward a yard. He gritted his teeth and did the same. The clock on the dash told him it was almost eight. Lydia would be on her way to the airport soon. There was no way for him to make it to her in time.
After ten minutes of moving forward an inch at a time, he saw a ramp ahead, and quickly tapped the details of the airport into his GPS, breathing out a mouthful of air when he saw he could make it there by ten.
It took another fifteen minutes of waiting on the ramp before he was able to join the highway and press his foot down on the gas. There wasn’t enough time to stop and call her, not if he wanted to make it to the airport before she left. He weighed the two options in his head, pressing a little harder with his sneaker. Face to face was the only way.
He wasn’t ready to tell her he loved her over the phone. Though if he had to, he would.
Since he was a kid, he’d watched people walk in and out of his life, without asking them to stay. He’d watched his dad, believing him to be weak, when all along he’d been the strong one.
Now it was his time to be strong. To fight for what he wanted.
And the only thing he wanted was her.
“Any sign?” Autumn asked, as Lydia pressed her face against the window. She shook her head, remembering the text message she’d woken up to that morning.
I really want to see you before you leave. I’m going to head to Angel Sands now. Should be at Griff’s before you head to the airport. I hope you’re doing okay. J xx
There’d been no mention of his mom, or anything else. Just a few simple words that had set her heart on fire.
But despite his promise, there was no sign of him.
“If we want to make it to the airport on time, we need to leave now,” Griff told her. Lydia’s huge suitcase was in the hall, where it had been since she’d woken at six that morning.
“I’ll call him again,” she said. But like the other two times, it rang a few times then went to voicemail. Pulling the phone from her ear, she turned to look at her sister and Griff, who was cradling Skyler in his arms as she played with his hair. “He isn’t answering,” she said softly, and Autumn winced.
“What do you want to do?” Autumn asked her. “If we don’t leave now you’ll miss your flight.”
Lydia blinked back the tears that had been threatening all morning, and took a deep breath. “I can’t miss that flight. I have obligations,” she said, ignoring the ache in her heart. “We should go,” she said, though it only made her chest hurt more. “I’ll just send Jackson a message to let him know we’re leaving.”
And pray to God he gets it before he shows up and we’re gone.
“Okay then.” Autumn stood and walked over to hug her. “It’ll work out. I know it will.”
She barely spoke on the drive to the airport. Her chest felt too full to form any coherent words. Instead, she stared out of the window, as she sat in the backseat next to Skyler, looking at the same scenery she’d seen on her way into town almost two weeks ago.
In Jackson’s car.
Skyler was kicking her legs, laughing when her sock started to work its way down her feet.
“You’re gonna lose them, you little monkey,” Lydia told her, pulling them back up so that Skyler could do it all over again.
