Page 57 of The Last Key
He nods, and I slip my earbuds in, pulling up one of my favorite audiobooks.
Can’t quiet your brain? Nothing like listening to a fictional character’s problems instead.
When we pullup at the drop off section of San Francisco International Airport, I’m not feeling any more confident than I was on the ride here. Instead of my audiobook distracting me, my brain kept twisting over whether writing is my dream. If I’m chasing it or running away from my own happiness.
Absolutely none of that is this driver’s problem, though, and he’s been great, so I hand him a cash tip—that way I know no one else is taking a cut of it—grab my bag, and climb out.
Standing in front of the massive building, my brain only speeds up, the sickening feeling in my stomach growing.
I don’t want to get on this plane.
But why not?
It’s the dream job,I tell myself for the thousandth time. And then I hear a tiny voice inside of me. A ghost from the past.How is it possibly the dream if you have to leave your family behind?I thought those words when we moved here from New York. Granted, that move worked for me. I found something in Brighton. Maybe I found it all over again when I came back. I found a home I didn’t know I’d been looking for. Not because of Devon—though he’s a part of it. He always has been. Something about this place, this community, it feels like home to me. And it’s where I want to be.
I love my cousins, my parents, and my friends in New York, but even if Devon came with me, I know I wouldn’t be as happy there as I am here.
That’s it. Decision made.
I’m staying.
My heart lightens the second the words move through mybrain. A weight lifts, and the feeling of freedom and peace I’ve had since I got back to Brighton returns.
Looking down at my phone, I open the app to call for another car to take me back to Brighton, but when I spin around, I see Chris, Brighton’s number one cabbie, leaning against the side of his van. He grins at me.
I tuck my phone away and hurry over to him.
“Part of me wants to question if you’re some sort of supernatural being who appears whenever someone needs you, but the rest of me just needs to know if you’re heading back to Brighton.”
“I am,” he says. “To your other question, I just dropped someone off. Then I saw you standing here and recognized you from the other day. I thought I’d wait and see if you needed a ride before I took off.”
“Thank you,” I sigh. “You are the best cab driver ever.”
He smiles proudly. “That’s the goal. Hopefully, one day, I’ll have a better van than this.”
I laugh to myself at the wood paneled blue van that screams childhood memories. Everyone either had or knew someone who had a van like this. It reminds me of every early 2000s TV show I’ve ever watched.
“The van is epic,” I tell him.
“Glad you feel that way. Shall we?”
“Absolutely. I’m ready to go home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
DEVON
Kennedy leaving putme in an immediate funk. It shouldn’t be bothering me this much. She’s coming back tomorrow. I won’t even have to go thirty-six hours without her.
“Here,” Justin says, sliding a latte in front of me. “Drink. You look like someone kicked your puppy.”
“I don’t have a puppy.”
“You know what I mean,” he says, dropping onto a nearby stool as I stare at the mug in front of me. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shrug. “It’s fine.”
“It’s obviously not. You look like you’re about to start crying into your latte. I thought you wanted her to take the interview.”
