Page 76 of Come Fly with Me

“Thank you,” I finally respond, my hand on his cheek as I turn his face to mine. “Thank you for not trying to make me something I’m not. There’s no future in that.”

“And all I want is a future with you,” Jake says, his lips softly brushing against mine in a gentle kiss that leaves me breathless.

“We gotta get moving,” I tell him as I trace circles on his hard, flat stomach.

“I know and I have to run home and pick up some things before we head back to the airport. You want to come with me?”

“Absolutely. Let’s suck every second out of this day together.”

A couple of hours later, we’ve had breakfast at my favorite local place that has the most amazing fresh Granny Smith apple juice and crepes, and we’re now in Jake’s car heading over to his house.

We pull into an alleyway; a small driveway sits in front of a quaint little cottage in the backyard of a large house.

“I live in a granny flat that I rent,” he tells me, motioning to the adorable house with pale blue shaker shingles and a tin roof; a tiny craftsman that’s nearly a tiny twin to the large main house.

“A granny flat?”

“A carriage house? A guest house?” he says, listing some synonyms that may ring a bell. “I think ‘granny flat’ is an Aussie term,” he clarifies.

“Yes, guest house or carriage house would be more of an American term. Whatever you call it, your house is so freaking cute,” I gush, loving the quaintness of it as we look at it through the windshield of the car.

“It’s no dead lady’s townhouse, but it’s pretty cool.”

We’re both laughing just as the DJ on the radio announces they’re about to do their “Left Waiting” segment.

“Oh my god, I love this,” I tell Jake, and he enthusiastically agrees, so we keep the car running as we listen to what went down on this guy’s first date as the DJ questions him. The guy is wondering why the girl he went out with hasn’t called him back because he thought their date went so well. Now it’s the DJ’s job to call the girl and find out what happened and why she’s ghosting the guy.

Perception is everything, and ninety-nine percent of the time, the person calling the DJ for help is oblivious to whatever gross or annoying thing they did. Worse is that they’ve put it out to the public, and now the greater Los Angeles area is privy to your weird quirks and dating faux pas.

Turns out the guy had at least six months’ worth of toenail clippings that he had saved. Piles and piles of them behind his couch, and when the girl went to sit down, she caught a glimpse of them. Of course, the guy tried to defend himself, but the girl had already made up her mind that he was crazy.

Jake and I are laughing hysterically and joking about the weird shit that people think is normal.

We’re still laughing as we exit the car and take the few steps to his cheerful and welcoming bright yellow front door. Pushing the key in, he unlocks it, his back to the door as he talks to me, both of us still laughing.

I scrub a hand over my face, tears pooling in my eyes as we joke back and forth, but as I move my hand, I see a woman sitting at the small island in the kitchen.

She’s tiny and blond with a scowl on her face that could rival even the evilest of villains.

“Jake,” she hisses, and he whips around, leaving me standing in the doorway. “Where the fuck have you been?”

“Maggie, what the fuck are you doing here?” Jake snaps back, his hands immediately going to his hips, his stance wide, his shoulders set back.

She cackles loudly, looking over Jake’s shoulder, her eyes trained on me, she says, “I’m your wife. That’s why I’m here.”

He throws a hand up, his palm flat and facing the woman sitting in front of us before he whips around to look at me.

I’m stunned into silence, my mouth practically hitting the floor along with all the trust I had put in him. It flies out the door along with my practical side.

I don’t give him a chance to speak. The words leave my mouth before I even know what I’m saying. “Fuck you!” I scream, hot, angry tears now replacing the ones created by our laughter. “How could I have been so stupid, so naïve!”

I turn on my heel as Jake calls out my name, and I’m practically running away from the comfort of his adorable house and the silliness we just exchanged, our quiet morning of normalcy together. All of it tainted by what has seemed to plague me my whole life.

Lies.

Everyone’s attempt to break the girl who can’t be broken.

I’m at the corner of Jake’s street as I hear him shout my name again, and without giving him the time to catch up to me, I walk in the opposite direction from where we arrived, with no real plan of where the hell I’m going.

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