Page 53 of Arrogant Arrival

I place my phone down and put it on speaker. Then I go to my email. My heart stops in my throat when I see who the author is.

In Greece, the Night is Young by Jolene Tanner.

“What about it?” My voice is tight as I close my eyes shut. “I guess she got the job. That’s great.”

“Just read it. I know you miss her.”

“Sure. Anything else?”

“No. Have a nice flight. Thank you for delivering the plane.”

I end the call and debate if I want to even read the article. This woman destroyed my heart. Do I have the courage to read her words? I take a bite out of my cheeseburger and swipe my phone screen. I sip my chocolate milkshake as I read aboutourtrip together. I slam my phone down because I don’t understand. She writes as though she fell in love with me, but maybe that’s just to sell magazines or encourage people to book travel arrangements and get people to travel to Greece.

“Will passenger Jim Georgakopolous please come to the service desk?”

I listen again. “Will passenger Jim Georgakopolous please come to the service desk?”

I pay my bill and go to the service desk. I wait in line, and then my eyes widen and see why I was paged overhead when I see her. Jolene appears and waves. “Hi, Jimmy.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you to arrive.”

“You paged me?” She nods. “Why? How’d you know I’d be here?”

“Bianca told me. By the way, I’ve missed you.”

I shake my head. “I called you for two weeks straight. You couldn’t answer your phone? Notonce.Respond to my messages? You ignored me after everything we shared. And now you show up and tell me you miss me?”

She hurries toward me, but I step back. I’m wounded and angry. She doesn’t get to ignore me and then suddenly decide she’s ready to pick up where we left off. I shake my head and turn to leave. She calls out to me, but I give her the same courtesy she did me…I keep walking.

The overhead speakers in the sound system crack. Then, it’s not English but Greek. A woman is singing…that can’t be. I turn around and stare. Jolene holds the receiver to her mouth as she singsin Greekthe Kostas Dalaras song I sang to her. I shake my head in wonder and walk toward her. She stops and walks around the counter to me.

“When did you learn that?”

“I kept listening to it after I came back. After a few times, I was able to sing along, although I have no idea what I’m saying.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and shake my head. “What changed, Jo? Why now? Why did you run off like that and then fall off the grid?”

“I was hurting.”

“And you think I wasn’t? I still am! Jolene, nothing happened. Pamela set that whole thing up. I was trying to get her to leave when you walked in.”

“Your mother called me. She told me.”

“You’d listen to her, but not me? After everything?”

“I knew before she called that you didn’t do anything. But I needed some time to work on me, Jimmy.”

“Maybe I still need some time.”

“Jimmy, I realized that while we were in Greece, that was the only time I ever slowed down. It was the only time I ever enjoyed life. Also, I wanted to make sure you weren’t just a fling for me.”

I take a step back. Wow. Twist the knife a little more in my heart. It hurts that she couldn’t tell the difference between what we shared and a fling. “Either you care for me, or you don’t. Either you want a relationship, or you don’t.”

I turn around, but stop when I hear, “Wise men say…”

I turn around to see Jolene holding the intercom and singing one of Elvis’s greatest hits, “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

---