Page 142 of Keep This Promise
I force a smile and say goodbye to yet another person today.
“Be well.”
Once he’s closed back in the confines of the car, I place Eden on her feet and take her hand. It’s time to be brave and start this new life that Theo planned without telling me because we might die.
I sigh because that’s about all I can do and walk inside.
We get to the start of the line, and I look at my tickets so I can check our luggage, but the seat placement doesn’t make sense and the date is wrong.
Great, I’m going to have to go to the counter and get this fixed. Thankfully, the line isn’t very long, and within a handful of minutes, I’m stepping up to the counter.
“Hello, miss, how can I help you?” asks a beautiful woman with long brown hair.
“Hello, my daughter and I have a flight to New York, but the date is wrong on one of the tickets, and we are sitting apart. As you can see, she’s a toddler.”
I place the tickets on the counter.
She looks at them. “Yes, I see that, do you have your booking confirmation?”
“No, I’m sorry, I don’t. My husband made our arrangements.” I slide our passports to her. “Here are our names as well.”
“I see. Let me look into this.”
Suzanna, as her name tag says, types something into the computer and then blinks. “Oh, I see the issue. These flights were changed about two hours ago.”
“What?”
“Yes, it seems you’re not going to New York. I apologize that you had the old tickets. Instead, your tickets were cancelled, and they purchased a new flight this morning.”
I have no idea what that means, but I smile and nod. I don’t care where we’re going so long as I’m on the same flight as Eden.
“Let me just print your new boarding passes and get you checked in.” Suzanna goes back to typing and then hands me the new tickets. “Here you are.”
I look at my new boarding passes—plural because we have a layover in Atlanta before we board a flight to...Las Vegas.
Is he fucking with me? He must be if he is actually making me go back to Las Vegas. For what? The last time I was there, I ended up pregnant.
Every part of me that wants to fight back and take my chances staying here changes when I turn around and recognize someone. His face is nondescript, just an average man, but I remember him being at our home about a year ago. There was something in his eyes, something that bothered me.
More than that, I remember how Theo was after the man left. He was shaken, and when I asked, he said to forget I ever saw anything.
I thought it strange, but Theo never discussed it again, so it faded into the background and was forgotten.
That gnawing feeling in my stomach grows, and I turn back to the agent. “Thank you, if anyone asks, please state that we are going to New York.” I glance over my shoulder, and when I return to Suzanna, she nods.
A moment of unspoken connection between the two of us forms. “We’re all running from something, honey.”
Yes, I guess we are, only I have no idea what I’m running from or where I’m heading to.
Eden and I head toward the security lines, I don’t see the man, and I start to consider that maybe I am losing my grip on reality when someone bumps into me from the side, causing my carry-on to topple over.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine—” The pit in my stomach grows when I see it’s him, the same man I saw before.
He smiles at me and then fixes my bag. “Sophie, right?”
My heart is racing, but I hide my anxiety and nod. “Yes, have we met before?”
