Page 6 of Mr. Charming

She talks about how bathrooms don’t have specific rooms for nursing mothers and how she leaked in front of her boss this week. All things I know nothing about. I wasn’t always sure I wanted to have kids, but the older I get, the more I worry that that stage of my life is passing me by.

“Forget what I’m saying.” Her hand on my arm pulls my thoughts back to the present. “Let’s talk hockey since you’re clearly a fan.” She nods toward the tablet on my lap.

“Oh, it’s for work…” Shit, I regret opening my big fat mouth right away when her eyes light up.

“What do you do for work?”

Crap. Crap. Crap.

“I work for the national league, but I’m heading to Chicago to do some social media stuff for them.”

Her mouth gapes open. “You’re so lucky. That sounds exciting. So, you’re going to, like, meet Tweetie and the rest of the players?”

“Yeah, I can’t wait.” I smack on a smile I’m sure doesn’t reach my eyes.

“God.” She looks around and leans in closer. “Do you know Tweetie’s real name?”

I don’t say anything at first. Not that I’m surprised she’s asked. But he’s only ever used his initials, and now everywhere that mentions him only says Tweetie.

“Um…” Just lie, Tedi. You’ll never see her again. “No. Just the initials. He keeps that top secret.” I shrug.

She sighs. “My husband and I throw around ideas all the time for what we think the J stands for.” She rocks her head back on the headrest and turns to me. “I bet there’s some girl out there who knows. Someone special.”

My stomach lifts from the memory of the night he trusted me enough to tell me.

“From what I hear, he’s kind of a ladies’ man.” The words feel like shards of glass leaving my lips.

She nods. “Yeah, me too, but you just know it’s because some girl broke his heart.” She shrugs. “My husband says I’m a romantic and I conjure up these things out of nowhere.”

“It’s sweet.” I have a feeling if she heard the story of Tweetie and me, I’d be passing her tissues.

“He’s the last man standing.” Again, she leans in close to me. “I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I kind of stalk them all on social media. Did you know that Pinkie got married this past weekend? Some blonde started showing up in his socials this past fall, and then bam. Married.” Her hands rise, and her fingers are spread as if it’s the hottest gossip.

I hadn’t actually heard this rumor, and I wonder if it’s true. Whenever those dark nights come and I search Tweetie’s socials, Conor’s usually with him at some club or another.

“They say when you know, you know.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat.

The line of passengers has cleared from the aisle, and the flight attendant is pushing down the overhead bin doors.

“I’m not trying to be rude, but I have some flying anxiety.” She pulls out her AirPods.

“Oh, no problem.” I smile and put away my tablet, digging my own AirPods from my bag.

We both put our AirPods in, and I stare at the ground crew doing all the things they need to so we have a safe flight. My heart skips a beat when I think about being face-to-face with Tweetie again.

At some point during the pull back from the gate, on our way to the runway, I remember our first night together.

Four

Tedi’s Journal Entry

Thirteen years ago

Florida

To my older self,

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