“Do you—” I hiccup, “do you still love me?”
He pulls me in even tighter then turns his face down to look at me. “I’ve never stopped loving you, Brooklyn, and I never will. That’s not even a question.”
The silence between us is deafening. I reach into my pocket and pull out the plane ticket as I stand up and remove myself from him. He stays sitting on the porch and I turn to face him.
“I had planned on surprising you with this,” I look at the ticket in my hand, “the night I came back from Grand Lake. I was going to ask you to come home with me for Christmas. Anyway, the offer still stands, but I—I’ll let you get back to your evening. I need to finish packing. Early flight.”
I place the ticket next to him on the porch and walk back to my cabin.
The next morning,I’m up well before sunrise to make it to the airport in time for my flight. I leave the cabin and lock up, looking over at Tyler’s house to see if there are any lights on, but it’s still dark.
Even as I make my way through the airport, past security, and all the way to my gate, I keep glancing over my shoulder, checking my phone, and searching every stranger’s face—hoping and praying he’ll show up, but he never does.
I sleep through the flight as best I can. I’m heartbroken, but I’m excited to be home to see my family. I grab my bag from the overhead bin and make my way down to ground transportation, where I’ll take the train out to the suburbs.
I send a quick text to Mallory as I ride down the escalator.
Me:Landed. Grabbing the train. See you soon!
I put my phone in my pocket and look up just in time to see a gentleman holding a sign with my name on it. I stop and do a double take.
“Excuse me, I’m Brooklyn Dyer, but I—”
“Right this way, ma’am,” he says, reaching for my bags.
“I don’t understand. I didn’t order a car.”
The man doesn’t respond as he leads me through the double sliding glass doors toward a shiny black SUV.
“Here we are, ma’am,” he says, hitting a button that opens the back door, where he starts loading my bags.
I’m still so confused as I walk to the back passenger side door . . . just as it opens and Tyler slides out with a smirk on his face.