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That scent. She leaves a heavenly scent trail. I remember that fragrance. She smells like the back seat of the cab that night I found the journal. Thatwasher. That intoxicating scent that I hadn’t encountered since and haven’t been able to forget. Seriously, who is this person?

She slows her pace as she reaches a seating area. The gate is for a flight to Los Angeles. Different plane from mine. Looks like her flight’s leaving in almost an hour, but mine’s supposed to board in…less than ten minutes.

Fuck.

I’m about to reach out to tap her on the shoulder and blow her beautiful mind when there’s an announcement over the PA system. “Virgin Atlantic is paging Flight 4727 passenger Piper Puckett to the desk at Gate B31. Piper Puckett to the desk for a seat upgrade, thank you.”

Piper Puckett.

“Oh my God,” she says under her breath as she goes over to the desk to talk to the gentleman. I take a few steps closer, looking down at my phone, as I overhear the gate agent telling her that someone called in a request to have her bumped up to first class. A guy he knows. “Let me guess,” she says happily. “A guy in Boston?”

“I’m not at liberty to say, Miss Puckett,” he replies, winking at her and handing her a new boarding pass.

Who the fuck is this guy in Boston who’s buying her plane tickets?

“He’s my uncle, sort of,” she explains to the gate agent.

Ah. A sort-of uncle. That’s good, I guess.

I step behind a family of four when she turns to look for a seat in the lounge area.

Piper Puckett.

She settles into a chair that faces the windows onto the runway, and I take a seat behind her. Out of the corner of my eye I clock a couple of teenage girls who are staring at me and whispering to each other. If I get up to talk to Piper now, they’ll be watching all of it. Does it matter? Only if they film it and post it on their social media.

Is there a better way and time and place for me to tell Piper I’m the guy she’s been emailing? Yeah. If she’s headed to LA, then I can find a way to meet her there.

I look down at my phone again, contemplating what to say in a Google message to her, when I see a notification from ShayAnything.83 on Backroom.

Dammit.

What to do about Shay?

I like her when we text, but she wasnotdoing it for me when we talked the other day.

ShayAnything.83: Hey. You still in NYC?

I type out a text telling her I’m about to head back to LA and ask if she’s in Sedona. A second later, I hear the familiarpingof a notification from Piper’s phone behind me.

ShayAnything.83: Yep. Still got a few tension knots left to work through.

I type back an LOL, and one second later I hear thatpingbehind me again.

The timing is…an uncanny coincidence. I get up from the seat and wander over to lean against a nearby pillar so I have a view of Piper’s back. What is going on?

There’s a boarding announcement on the PA system for first-class passengers on my flight.

Shit.

My gate’s at the other end of the terminal.

I decide to ask Shay something only Piper would understand.

HoldUp.76: Your little brother still going around squawking like a chicken?

I watch her read the message, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

ShayAnything.83: No, but he’s probably farting in the back seat of my dad’s car right now.