Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I haven’t even told my mother and father I’m coming home.
They’ll be happy I’m home, though. I’ll most likely be able to go back to school. At this point, I’ve only missed a couple of weeks.
But then I’ll be in Grand Junction, and Dave will be on his ranch outside Snow Creek.
On the other hand, whatever’s going on with his family may not give him a lot of time to spend with me.
Something I hadn’t considered before, but I consider it now.
He’s not sitting with me. He’s sitting with Brock.
I jerk as a voice comes over the intercom. “We are now boarding flight nine forty-seven nonstop from Paris to Denver. Boarding group one, you may board.”
We all rise and gather our carry-ons. I force my feet to work as I grip my passport and my phone. I scan my boarding pass and follow Brock and Dave onto the aircraft. Brianna follows behind us.
We get onto the plane, and I check my seat assignment, expecting it to be next to Brianna.
It’s not.
It’s with Dave, and Brianna and Brock are together with lie-back seats.
“Oh,” I say, when I see my seat.
He smiles at me. “I thought it might be nice if we enjoyed the flight together. Is that okay?”
I take a deep breath in. “As long as you don’t mind me gripping on to you for dear life.”
“If it comes to that, I don’t mind if you’re on my lap.” He smiles.
Some of his joviality has returned. But he’s not back to the Dave who met us in Europe before the fiasco on the chartered plane.
“How’d you get through this?” I ask. “You seemed so calm when it was all happening, but then afterward, you were as shaken up as anyone. But now…”
He closes his eyes and breathes in. “I’m trying to focus on gratitude, Maddie. On the second chance we were given. And honestly, going to the Louvre helped me a lot.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that at dinner. But you didn’t say much more.”
He frowns. “I’m not sure it’s anything I can put into words really. Just seeing the works of the great masters, learning about them, thinking about how much more there is to life than any singular incident. Plus, like I said, we’re pre-disastered now.”
I laugh. Sort of. It sounds more like a joke.
“I’ll feel better once the plane is in the air,” he says.
“You sure about that?”
“Not really.” He lets out a short laugh. “But I’ll get a cocktail.”
I smile at him, reach over, and squeeze his hand. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being here with me. For the necklace. For the last couple of days together. I just want you to know that whatever happens, I appreciate everything. This meant something to me.”
“It meant something to me too, Maddie,” he says. “And it means something to me. Present tense. This isn’t over. Not by a longshot.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that it was.”
He cups my cheek. “Then stop talking in past tense. I’ll probably be busy when we get home, dealing with family stuff. But I will make time for you. We’ll see how this goes.”
I nod.
And then we wait. Being in the first boarding group isn’t all it’s cracked up to be because we get to sit here and ruminate while everyone else gets on the plane. And it’s a really big plane.
Once everyone has boarded, a flight attendant shuts the door.
The plane begins to taxi.
My heartbeat races, and sweat beads on my forehead. I try to take a breath in, but it’s shaky. I hold on to Dave’s hand for dear life and bury the other one deep into my armrest, my knuckles white.
The flight attendants’ voices, first in French and then in English, are garbled. Jumbled noise coming at me yet going through me.
Taxi, taxi, taxi…
And then I brace myself as the plane accelerates…
“Everything’s okay,” Dave says above the roar of the engines.
Still, I’m freaked, and when the plane first lifts from the ground, I have to force down nausea.
Then Dave, jovial Dave, leans over to me. “We can always join the mile high club.”
And I feel better. So much better.
Not that I want to join the mile high club. Airplane bathrooms are so small and kind of gross.
I close my eyes then. Try to still the beating of my heart as I swallow down the queasiness.
To my surprise, the nausea stays down, and within a few moments we’re airborne and leveling out.
I don’t dare look out my window. In fact, I wish Dave and I had traded seats so he was by the window.
I close the shade.
I close my eyes again.
Send out good vibes to the universe or God or whomever that the plane will safely bring us home to Colorado.
Half an hour later, Dave nudges me. “They’re coming around with cocktail orders. Do you want something?”