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He twists out of my grip and turns.
My heart climbs into my throat. “I’m hungry. We should get a snack for the flight.”
Ignoring me, he searches the departure area and doesn’t seem to notice Delilah. Then he does a double take. “No, no, no.No fucking way.”
Face pale, Lennon whips back and drags me past a coffee shop to a different departure area. “That was Delilah.”
“Are you sure?” I rub the back of my sweaty neck. “I’m almost positive they saidEliza.”
He points a furious finger at my face. “Youcannottalk to her. You can’t breathe near her or even look at her. We can’t be here at all.”
“Ididn’t plan this. I’m as shocked as you are she’s here.”
“But you lied about it, and in case you’ve forgotten, the cartel our traitor father testified against is still alive and well. Connecting with anyone from our pasts could paint targets on all our heads.”
Like I need the reminder.
But Delilah Moon isn’t just anyone, and it’s been ten excruciating years of revisited memories, unbearable heartache, and frustration. As crazy as my story is, if I told Delilah the truth, she might even believe me. Learn to not hate me. The skeet-shooting-my-face thing might not happen. Hope thrums in my chest, hot and insistent, fogging up the rational side of my brain.
“I need to speak to her,” I blurt.
“Nope. No. No, you don’t.” He waves his hands frantically. “Absolutely no way.”
“Witness protection isn’t a jail sentence. No one’s forcing us to stay in hiding. We do this to keep each other safe, but it’s not like I’m turning up in Windfall, where someone might be staking her out.”
Lennon drops his bag between us and forcibly holds me, the veins on his corded forearms looking ready to pop. “I love you. I love our brothers and Mom. I know your relationship with Delilah was intense and special, but family comes first. You cannot speak to her. Jesus Christ,” he mumbles. “We have to switch flights.”
A few people shoot us curious glances. The loudspeaker announces a departure.
I attempt to battle Lennon’s panic with forced calm. “We checked for other flights,” I remind him, slipping out of his hold. “When I had to push back the departure date, you checked and said this was the only flight we could take, because you can’t miss more work.”
He glares at me. I scrub a hand down my face, hating that I can’t see Delilah from here. Missing a second of her when she’s this close is physically painful.
“Did you have fun in New York this week?” I ask, changing tactics. “The show we saw, checking out art galleries, eating a stupid amount of salted pretzels?”
He squints one eye at me. “I did.”
“And why did I invite you to come along?”
His nostrils flare—annoyance as he picks up the clues I’m dropping. “I was having a rough week, and you bought me the ticket and said I needed a break.”
Over the past ten years, Lennon shed his teen hippie tie-dye and bought hipster plaid and hipster skinny jeans and a collection of hipster hats, even though he claims he’s not a hipster. He grew his reddish-brown hipster beard and started an adventure camp for kids, where he’s upbeat and fun and a great leader, but he struggles to fill his programs. And some WITSEC days simply suck for the hell of it.
“I hoped the change of scenery would do you good,” I say. “We all know how rough this gig is. I didn’t need you with me to meet with my agent and publisher. I just wanted to see you happy.”
He slumps and rubs his eyes. “You’re not supposed to talk to her.”
“I know, but what are the odds of seeing her here? And it’s been ten years. If she doesn’t know my new name or where I live, there’s no link to us. There wouldn’t be a digital trace. One quick hello so I can hear her voice, finally let her know I’m not dead.” When he stays silent, I bring out the puppy dog eyes. “Come on, man. Ineedthis.”
He growls and glowers, shakes his head a bunch while mumbling, then jabs my chest. “You can’t tell her about the cartel.”
“Of course not.”
“And you have to wait until we land in Charlotte. We don’t interact with her on the plane. You talk to her quickly when we arrive, then we bolt to our connection. You don’t see or speak with her again after that.”
“No interaction on the plane, then we bolt,” I agree, not mentioning the possibility of never speaking with her again. I can’t offer that promise. Seeing Delilah feels like kismet. Like that asshole Life is finally shining a ray of hope on my face.
“I need to get my head checked,” Lennon grumbles and pokes my chest again. “Not a word of this to the family. If they learn what’s going down, they’ll string us both up by our balls.”
