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The cabin steward returned with Bea’s champagne and instructed them to buckle their seatbelts.
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gabriella said. Had Bea had a few cocktails before they’d even left the house?
Bea stared at her. “I didn’t know you when you and Logan were together before, when you were kids, but I’ve seen enough since then to wonder if this makes you feel safe.”
“This? What isthis?” Gabriella asked.
“Running,” Bea said. “Things get scary, someone gets too close, you have to make compromises, you have to deal with feelings. It’s all so messy. So you just move on.”
Gabriella wanted to be angry. Technically, Bea was her employee. But the other woman’s words were plucking at a forgotten chord in Gabriella’s psyche, something she’d stashed away in the recesses of her mind because she hadn’t wanted to examine it too closely.
“And you think that’s why I’m leaving?” Gabriella asked. “Because I’m scared?”
Bea fixed her with a steady gaze. “Isn’t it?”
“No… I mean, maybe I’m a little scared of losing myself… of not being in control, but…”
“If you want to live in fear, that's your business.” Bea took a long drink of her champagne and smiled.
No one cared that you went your own way, Ella. We just didn’t expect you to be a coward about it.
Logan’s words the night of their fight slammed into her with the force of a freight train. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, like she couldn’t pull in a breath.
She’d been lying. To Logan. To herself.
A roar sounded from outside the plane as the pilot fired up the engines, and the cabin steward started moving toward the door, preparing for takeoff.
“Wait!” Gabriella said. Leo looked up at her as she stood, and the cabin steward glanced back in surprise. “I need to get off the plane.”
“But… we’re about to takeoff,” the steward said.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but… I really have to get off this plane.”
“Mommy?”
She turned toward Leo, catching the note of worry in his voice. “It’s okay, honey. I… I forgot to tell Logan something. We have to go back.”
The cabin steward was standing in the door of the cockpit, saying something to the pilot.
Gabriella grabbed her bag and looked at Bea. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re a wonder?”
Bea grinned. “I’m not going to lie: I’ve heard it a time or two.”
Gabriella bent down and kissed the woman’s cheek. “I’m sure you have. Can you get Leo?”
“On it.” She got to her feet and started gathering their things while Gabriella moved toward the exit. She was suddenly in a hurry, all the things she hadn’t said, all the things she should have said, on the tip of her tongue instead of buried under a mountain of fear and shame.
She didn’t want to live in fear anymore. Didn’t want to waste another twenty years being brave everywhere except where it counted most.
She started down the steps and stopped in her tracks when she saw Logan’s car screech to a stop on the tarmac. He got out and hurried toward the plane, then slowed his steps when he saw her at the top of the stairs.
He looked up at her, his expression unreadable. Maybe they’d forgotten something. Maybe that’s why he was here. Not to stop her. Not because he still wanted to be with her after everything she’d done, after all the times she’d run.
Could she be that lucky?
It didn’t matter. She loved him. Had loved him her whole life. For once, she had to say it. Maybe she would lose herself in him. Maybe she would find herself. She didn’t know, but whatever happened, she wanted him by her side.
She drew in a deep breath and started down the stairs.
