Page 75 of Fresh Start
I turned to her. "I know you wouldn't have enjoyed it. But I thought I was ready to do it. You see, what Leo and I had all those years ago, it wasn't ever erased like I thought it had been. It was just put to sleep. Hibernating, waiting for the right moment to reawaken. Meeting here, all of a sudden, reunited after all these years, it was like a blessing.
"I was ready to finally be happy. I've always had my personal life take a backseat, and now? I was ready to be with him. Openly. Not only because he's out, but because I don't think I'd be able to hold him a secret. He wouldn't deserve that. Now… well, now, you don't have to worry about me coming out, I guess," I said and felt a streak of fresh tears roll down my cheeks.
“Oh, honey," Tracy said and reached out for the hand that Karen was holding. "We never thought coming out of the closet was going to be an issue.”
I wiped his eyes and looked at my publicist. "What are you talking about? You always tried to bury any headlines or articles."
She shook her head. "I was only doing that because that's what you wanted. Honey, we live in the twenty-first century. If anything, coming out of the closet would make you even more popular. But I thought that's what you wanted. You weren't ready to be out, so I helped you keep the secret in. We never wanted you to not be true to yourself."
"I thought—" I started but stopped. I couldn't find the words to continue. Yeah, Tracy was probably right. I’d wanted to be in the closet, and she had been doing her job.
But somewhere along the way, loneliness, depression, and all the fears must have crept in and made me put all the responsibility on her.
"I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that you had to stay in the closet. That was never my intention," Tracy said.
“You need to find him. Explain to him,” Karen said.
“He won’t talk to me,” I said.
“Then they can talk to him,” she said and pointed at Alice and Tracy.
"What are we going to say?" Alice asked.
"The truth. Tell him what you've done so that Dawson can have the love of his life back," Karen replied.
I could have kissed her if it wasn't completely inappropriate. Her words brought me back to myself. There was still hope. Even if the ship had sailed on a romantic relationship between us, perhaps we could still save our friendship.
"I agree," I said. "You broke this, you need to fix it too. I can't have him think I've betrayed him twice."
Tracy nodded, and she was the first to stand up. A publicist always ready to save her client, whatever the cost. She stared at Alice and waited for her to do the same.
"Come on, Alice. Let's get Dawson the love of his life back," she said.
They all left their laptops and notebooks where they were, and we ran out and into my rental. Melody was back behind reception eating her own plate of breakfast, and I told her what was happening while the girls got into the car.
“Oh, I just got a call from my grandma. Leo is flying to LA for a meeting. My brother is taking him to the airport in Newport News,” she said.
“What? No. He can’t leave yet. Not before we get a chance to explain,” I said.
“Come on. We’ll go after him. I’ll ask Andy to stall him,” she said and ran out the door before me, but then stopped on her tracks. “Crap, I can’t leave the desk unmanned.”
“It won’t be hard to find it, I’m sure,” I said.
“It’s not. But I’m not missing this,” she said.
“I think I have an idea,” I said and went to Karen who was in the backseat and explained the situation.
She wasn’t too happy to be missing this, either, but she agreed to stay at the reception and deal with the guests while Melody drove us to the airport.
Karen was a PA. She could do this in her sleep. And besides, most people were out in town for the afternoon festival activities.
Melody got into the driver’s seat and sped out of town, way too excited to be driving.
“I can’t believe I’m in a car with Dawson Eldred and going after the love of his life, my brother. This is like the books I read when I’m bored at reception,” she said halfway there.
Mel broke the speed limit too many times to keep count, and I dreaded to think how many tickets it had warranted me, but I didn’t care. I had to get to Leo before he flew off. Because what if he never came back? What if he moved on again without me?
We got to the airport a little after midday and drove to the Fixed Base Operator where all the non-commercial flights took off from.
