For his part, though, Eli appeared distracted at times while in New York. He’d won the fight, decidedly, but there was something amiss about his demeanor. I pulled out my phone and set a reminder to go back and rewatch his previous fights. There was something about his two losses in his amateur career that bothered me.
“What’re you thinking about?” Lena asked, pulling my attention away from my phone.
“You,” I answered.
She smiled. “Liar.”
I chuckled.
“It looked serious,” she said. “Whatever is going on in that mind of yours.” She reached up and played with the hairs of my beard.
“Doing that will get you fucked in this plane’s bathroom,” I growled in her ear, grabbing her hand.
Her eyes widened. There was also a bit of intrigue in their cinnamon depths.
“Is that one of your new songs?” I asked, referring to the song she’d been humming moments earlier.
She gave me a curious look. “I need to catch you up to speed on music.” She laughed. “It’s ‘Diary’ by Alicia Keys featuring Jermaine Paul.”
“Sing it to me,” I told her.
She blinked, and I stared right back. Shaking her head, she smiled before she began humming the melody. Seconds later, she started singing.
I listened as she sang about keeping secrets for her lover. When she came to the chorus, it mentioned thinking of her as the pages in a diary. My heart muscles tightened, and I wondered if that was the case.
I waited until she finished the song.
“Alicia’s version is so much better than that. Jermaine is phenomenal on the song. I'll have to play it for you once we land. I don’t have it on my phone, but I just started singing it.”
“Are the words true?” I asked.
She cocked her head sideways. “What do you mean?”
I leaned down farther, making sure our faces were only inches apart. “I mean, will you keep my secrets, Lena?”
Her gaze searched mine.
I waited for her answer, needing her to give me a solid response. I needed her to respond for reasons far beyond my understanding at that moment. Still, I waited.
Slowly, she nodded. “Yes, Gabe. I’ll keep them.”
I placed a kiss on her forehead, something inside of me easing open with her answer. I didn’t say much after that, but I had the confirmation I needed.
For the rest of the flight, we sat in silence, Lena’s head against my chest, my arm wrapped around her shoulders.
When we landed, I spoke to Eli for a few minutes before his Uber arrived to take him home.
Lena and I retrieved our baggage and headed to my car, which I’d kept parked in the airport’s parking lot.
We stepped outside of the airport, and the oppressive weight of the Texas summer heat fell around us. It was mid-afternoon, and the sun was reaching its peak. I checked my phone to see the temperature was already in the mid-90s.
“Oh my God,” Lena groaned. “Jodi said it gets hot here in the summer. She didn’t say Satan himself sits his ass on Texas in the middle of the day.”
Letting out a laugh, I held my arms out wide. “Welcome back to Texas, Cin.”
She grimaced and slid her sunglasses down her nose to peer at me over their brim. “I’m going back to New York.” She turned around and started back for the airport.
I scooped her around the waist and hoisted her over my shoulder all in one move.
