Page 90 of Dear John

I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably as we waited for our flight to be called. “Not in so many words.”

When he didn’t say anything, I looked up at him. But he was looking at me in stunned silence. “You mean…after all of this, after we rescued the kitten in that grungy alley and you nearly killed a man for having an office with power tools, you haven’t told her you love her?”

“It wasn’t the right time.”

He shoved up from his seat and tried to pry me out of my own. “It’s never the right time. The time is when you feel it. The time is when the music lights your soul.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s okay. It’s not too late. We can still work this out.”

“No, we really can’t.”

“You really can’t,” Anna agreed, still not watching us.

“Of course you can. Anything can be fixed with a musical! Now, we just have to find the right one,” he said, thinking hard as he paced back and forth in front of the line of chairs. “Let’s see. It needs to be something that says you’re sorry for being an ass and professes your undying love. Obviously, you can’t use the same song I used on Anna. That one’s all for me.”

“A song won’t fix it,” Anna muttered.

I happened to agree, but Fox wasn’t listening.

“I’ve got it!” He spun toward me and grinned. “You can singSeasons Of Love!”

That made Anna look up from her phone. “The song about AIDS? I think that would send the wrong message.”

“Hmm, you might be right about that.”

Anna snorted.

“Okay, thenSomewhere Over The Rainbow.”

“Sure. Tell her that somewhere out there is something better,” I jumped in before Anna could.

“Well, if you’re going to pick apart the song,” Fox muttered.

“Fox, face it. There is nothing I can do right now to make this right. She’s pissed at me.”

“And she should be,” Anna added.

“Thanks for the commentary, but I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“No, but you did drag us out here. That gives me some say.” She set down her phone and looked up at me. “You need to tell her the truth.”

“Like Fox did with you? How did that help?”

“Well, in five years, she won’t be with you for not telling her the truth. But I’m still with Fox and have no plans of leaving him. Let that sink in.”

Maybe she was right, but going back and telling her now wouldn’t magically fix things. Besides, she needed space right now. Anything I told her at this point would seem like a desperate attempt to keep her instead of me realizing what a mistake I was making and giving her what she asked for, which was total honesty.

“Okay, so new plan,” Fox said, “We’ll kidnap her, take her to a remote cabin, and leave her there until she’s desperate for you to rescue her.”

Both Anna and I looked up at him. “Yeah, I’m gonna pass on that one.”

“You wouldn’t even leave Kavanaugh with her? What would that accomplish?”

“A desperate longing that only time apart can truly bring to light.”

“Or…” Anna said mockingly, “they could just spend some time apart and see if they still want to be together.”

Fox scrunched up his nose in distaste. “Sure, if you want to be boring.”

“What I want is to forget about this trip for five fucking minutes and get drunk.”

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