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Ellie and I spent the rest of the week doing everything together, growing closer, enjoying each other's bodies, but today I have to get on a plane and go back to my career. Ellie insisted on taking me to the airport, and I couldn’t tell her no. Every minute I can spend with her, I want it. Is it selfish, absolutely. Is it wrong, I just don’t know.
I check in, getting my boarding pass. I have a few minutes before I need to get in the security check line, and I see Ellie sitting in a chair, looking at her phone. I walk over to her, and she looks up and smiles brightly at me.
“Hey, are you good?”
“Yeah. I’m all checked in,” I say, a little solemnly, as I sit down in the seat beside her.
“Hey, this isn’t the end,” she tells me, grabbing my face in her hands. “We will skype every night. While you are on your missions, I will still email you every night about my day. The start of it tonight will be about the author who just sent me an email about how she doesn’t like anything about her new book promotion.” She laughs, showing me her phone.
I smile at her. “I never told you why my mom wanted me to join the dating site, have I?” I ask her knowing I hadn’t.
“No. I figured you would tell me when you were ready, so I didn’t push,” she says, looking me in the eyes.
“Three years ago, I was engaged. Megan and I grew up together, we started dating in high school during our sophomore year. I thought she was my soulmate,” I whisper, and Ellie nods.
“I came home on leave to help with the wedding plans. It was six months before we were supposed to get married. She told me she couldn’t marry me, because she hated that I was gone all the time, never knowing if I was going to come home alive, she couldn’t handle my job. The kicker was she fell in love with my brother while I was gone. Six months ago, my mom called me to tell me Megan and Jeremy are getting married, and everyone wants me to come home and support them.”
She nods her head for me to continue.
“I told my mom I couldn’t promise anything because we don’t get a schedule when we go out on missions. It was then that she admitted she lied to the family, telling them I met a nice girl and was moving on. Now they all want to meet said girl. When I asked where this girl was coming from, she told me she signed me up for the dating site, I just needed to answer questions.”
Ellie is trying so hard not to laugh, but I can see the redness creeping up her face, and tears pooling in her eyes.
“Why are you laughing?” I ask.
“I’m not. Well, I’m trying not to. So, let me get this straight, your mom signed you up to find a girl to take to your brother and ex-fiancée’s wedding, so she doesn’t look like a liar. Does that about sum it up?” she asks.
“Yes,” I admit.
“Is this your way of asking me to go to a wedding with you?”
“This is me telling you, I think my mom knew what she was doing when she set me up on the dating site, and they knew what they were doing when they matched you with me. I’m just afraid you are...”
She interrupts me, “You are afraid I’m going to do what Megan did and decide you not being around isn’t enough for me,” she finishes my sentence.
I nod my head.
“Look, it’s not going to be easy, but nothing in life worth having is. We don’t have to make anything official or make promises to each other. We can continue our nightly emails and skype now that we have officially met. There doesn’t need to be any pressure for either of us, we can take this one day at a time. However, I’m going to be honest, I really like you, and I want to see where this goes. I know how much you love your military career, it’s just as much as I love my career as a publicist. I would never ask you to choose between me and your job. I just ask that you stay honest with me.”
“You would be okay doing this?” I ask skeptically.
“I mean, I didn’t get any other matches, I don’t have anyone knocking on my door,” she replies with a smile.
“Well, there is Richard.”
“Oh, you got big jokes, huh?” she says, laughing out loud, and I love that sound.
“I like you too,” I blurt out. “I would really like you to go to the wedding, meet my family. Even if I’m not able to be there, I would love it if you were. You can tell me all about it.”
“Okay. I would love to meet your mother, I think I would like her, but promise me you will try to come home and attend it with me.”
“I promise I will try my best,” I answer, leaning in and giving her a kiss.
“That’s all I ask, and that you stay safe.”
I nod as we both stand up, knowing I need to get through the security check and to my gate. She walks me to the precheck line, and I kiss her lips again, deepening it, letting her feel all the feelings and emotions I can’t convey verbally.
We break apart, and I see the unshed tears in her eyes. “I’ll let you know when I land safely.”
