Page 55 of Fragile Kiss (Fragile 2)
“Yes. Go, now. Talk soon.”
Dazed, Lillian pressed the end button and unsteadily rose to her feet. She was sure the room had suddenly been put on a rotating platform; every step was like trying to walk on a balance beam.
Andrew, don’t go.
I’m coming.
Stay there.
No, Lillian, not Andrew. Just the plane. Your one goal right now is to get on that damn plane.
She thought of the plane so fiercely she regained her footing enough to run around the room, shoving her few possessions into her bags. Not bothering to take a last look and make sure she got everything, she slung the bags over her shoulders and bolted down the hallway.
It was the longest elevator ride she had ever taken, but she found herself bursting through the front doors of the hotel. A suited driver stood in front of the same SUV she had ridden in yesterday.
“Miss Warren?”
She nodded.
He took her b
ags and opened the back door for her. “Let’s get you to the airport.”
Trees and buildings and cars went by unnoticed. The whole way she stared out the window, not allowing herself to think of anything except the steps she would need to take as soon as she arrived.
Thank the driver. Run inside. Go to check in. Through security. To the gate. Board the plane.
It all happened in a blur. The car stopped; she barely noticed until the driver opened the door, her bags hanging off one of his tree-trunk arms.
“Thank you,” she felt herself saying, took the bags, and suddenly was in front of endless rows of check-in counters. She showed someone her phone. They pointed; she walked, footstep after quick footstep. Waited in the dwindling line. Handed her ID to the lady. Ticket in hand she floated through security, laser-focused on the plane.
I’m almost there.
Then she was there, and people were already boarding the plane. She stood with them, steadily moving forward.
He loved me. Loves me. He’s still here. He’s not gone. Love in the present tense. Their conversation from before, when Andrew had confessed he had feelings for her, came flooding back. I should have said yes. She knew it was drastic, but at the thought of losing him when the wounds from Amelia’s death weren’t fully healed yet—it was unbearable.
I should have called him every day. I shouldn’t have waited over a year before calling him. She handed her ticket to another woman and started down to the plane. I should’ve told him everything. Why didn’t I tell him everything? He deserved to know.
She piled her bags in the overhead compartment and tensely lowered herself into her seat, every muscle braced for emotional impact. I should’ve called him yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that.
But she had been with Cayden.
Cayden. The plane was moving, but she pulled up a new message to him. He had wanted to take her to a café tonight. She needed to text him.
I had to go. Andrew was in an accident. I’m sorry. I’ll call you when I get there.
A rush of energy overcame her body at the same time her mind was shutting down. She knew she was having a full-blown panic attack right now but in survival mode—for the time being, at least. She could break when she got to the hospital with Andrew’s parents, the two people who had essentially adopted her a long time ago and loved her like they loved their own two children.
Putting her phone on airplane mode, she bounced her leg to relieve some of the adrenaline surge. Thank goodness, she was near the front. She would be one of the first to get off.
I’m coming, Andrew, she thought hard, trying to get the message through to his probably-unconscious body. I’m coming for you. Stay there. I’m on my way.
Chapter 10
Cayden popped his neck and looked at his phone. Finally, he thought. It seemed like five o’clock had taken a year to reach. Today had been an extra-long one. This morning he had a workout with another client—one of the ones he accepted purely to give him something to do a couple of times a week—and then he had a gap for several hours until a meeting with Janine. The reality of Cayden leaving—her beloved Cayden, the most amazing trainer in the universe—had separation anxiety seeming to kick in.
“I just want to double-check that everything is squared away for the new trainer,” she had said on the phone earlier. She had yet to call Cayden’s replacement by his name. Whether she had forgotten or just didn’t want to make it all real, he didn’t know. “You know, all the details, make sure there are no schedule conflicts, all that jazz.”
