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Chapter Twenty-two
Silas
“Flight 93 with service to La Guardia at Gate D12 is now boarding all passengers, all rows.”
“Guess it’s time to go.” I handed Teagan her bag from the floor. Her eyes were wet and I wrapped my arms around her again. “Are you crying because you’ll miss me or because you’ll miss Julianna?”
Teagan laughed against my chest and I held her tighter, blinking back my own emotion. “You’re a better kisser, I imagine,” she said, pulling back so our eyes could meet.
“God, I both hope so and hope I never have to compete with her for your affections.” I brushed her cheek with my thumb, wiping a tear from her skin. “I love you. I just wanted to say it again.” I cupped the back of her neck and lowered my lips to hers.
When we pulled apart, she hugged me again. “She’s just a little better than you, but she’s had more experience.”
I laughed and dropped another kiss on her lips. “Let me know when you get there?”
She nodded and pulled her phone from her pocket, the mobile boarding pass visible on the screen. “Here we go,” she said with an exhale and a longing look toward the boarding door.
“You got this,” I said, dropping one more kiss on her lips.
“You, too,” she said before stepping back from me, ready to board. “I love you, Si.”
“I love you, Teag.”
***
“Hang in there, man.” James patted me on the back before leaving our customer service desk. He’d covered for me so I could see Teagan off for her flight. When she’d shown up to the airport in my old hoodie, I’d wanted to laugh and tear up and pull her into a hug, and I’d done all three. I’d questioned my plan all day, still unsure if suggesting we step back from each other was the right thing. That morning in bed with her body in my arms, it felt like a smart decision, but now with her plane on the way to France, all I could wrap my head around were worries that things might fall apart.
“So, how goes the investigation?” Martin walked toward me. “Uncovered all the hidden dalliances going on around here?”
“You know, I don’t think we scratched the surface.” I leaned forward on the counter, catching some of the early morning sunlight that flooded the gate area nearby this time of morning. “You gave good tips, though. The baristas sure looked like they were on their way to dating when we walked away, and it turns out the luggage guy is Jess’s ex-husband.”
“Well, hey. Look at that. You two were playing Cupid!” Martin smacked the surface of the counter with a good-natured thwack. “Who’d the letter belong to?”
I shrugged. “We never found out.”
“You’re giving up?”
I glanced across the hall at the stranger standing there in a pink apron. “Teagan’s flight left about an hour ago.”
“Ah,” Martin said. “And she took the fun of this with her on the plane, along with your heart?” Before I could respond, Martin laughed. “I told you, boy, it’s as clear as day.” He held up a palm. “And I know you said you’re just friends, but I’m just telling you I think you’re lying.”
“She did take my heart, but I think she’ll bring it back.”
Martin slapped his thigh. “I knew it! Told Julie the other day and now she owes me five bucks.”
I tried to imagine how the unlikely friendship between Martin and Julianna looked and I couldn’t make the pieces fit together, but it didn’t matter. “We were all out of ideas about who it could belong to, anyway.”
“Hm... maybe I can help. Can I see this letter? You have it? You didn’t actually tell me much about it the first time.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and scrolled through to a photo of the list. It had been printed from someone’s email recently, but the original information about the date and who sent it was missing. “It’s really not a love letter, more of a pros and cons list.”
I handed it over to Martin, who zoomed in and dragged his finger along the screen while he read. I glanced around the space again. I thought about the love stories we’d seen play out since beginning the investigation—young love, old love, unrequited love. Teagan teased me all the time about how little credence I gave symbols and metaphors. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand them. I just didn’t think they were signs from the universe, but when she told me there was a job open at the airport that I’d be great at, she’d tried to sell me on the beauty of so many stories coalescing in one place. At the time I’d been more interested in the health insurance, but now I saw it.
Across the hall, the stranger in the pink apron prepared to close the shop, checking things behind the lowered gate. It would take time to get used to Teagan not being there, not being within arm’s reach all the time. She’d always been there. Even when I was in France, she was still always there, on my mind and on the other end of a call.
Martin was still reading, scrolling up and then back down, a faint smile on his face. “Well,” he said finally, setting my phone down. “You should have showed me this in the first place.”
“Yeah?” I slipped my phone back in my pocket. “You saw some clues?”
“Better than that,” he said with a grin. “I know who wrote it.”
