No. There was no way.
But then the man turned, and I could confirm what my heart already knew.
“Harrison?”
He was standing alone in the center of the observation area, clutching a huge bouquet of red roses.
“Hi, Gwen.”
The noise around us quieted a few decibels, like the people realized that the show was about to begin.
“What?” I shook my head as I walked closer to Harrison. “This isn’t real. How are you here?”
Standing just a few feet away from him felt like trying to withstand hurricane-force winds. Despite everything he’d put me through, all I wanted to do was step closer and push my body up against him.
“The ‘how’ doesn’t matter,” he said. “But…is it okay that I came?”
I still refused to let myself believe this was happening. I’d been burned by him too many times. Orchestrating all of the guys and flowers couldn’t have been easy, but then again, Harrison’s wallet could make miracles happen. All he had to do was make a few phone calls—or, more likely, haveSusanmake them.
The showy stuff didn’t matter. What I needed now was his heart, the part of him that he seemed incapable of sharing.
“Of course it’s okay that you’re here,” I finally answered. “You work in aviation. Airports are your office.”
He cleared his throat and shifted his grip on the roses, looking a little frustrated that I’d apparently missed the point.
“I’m here foryou, Gwen,” he said simply.
I allowed a tiny ray of sunshiny hope to pierce the darkness that had been living inside of me.
Off to a strong start, Mr. Ashford.
“Oh. That’s nice,” I replied.
My insides went shaky but my voice, thankfully, remained strong. I’d already bared my soul to him. There was no need for me to give him anything more at this stage. The energy around us built as Harrison seemed to collect himself for what was to come.
“I have some things that I’d like to say to you.” Harrison frowned slightly. “That Ineedto say to you.”
My palms went sweaty. He wouldn’t cross the globe to deliver bad news, right?
“I’m listening,” I replied.
My heart was pounding so hard I felt like I needed to lean against something to keep from falling over. I hadn’t even allowed myself to dream up a scenario like this, yet here it was, unfolding in front of an audience that was two levels high. There were people hanging over the railing above us, phones out to film the spectacle.
“I was an idiot,” he began. “I ran from the best thing in my life.Threetimes, depending on who you ask.”
I didn’t allow the smile I was feeling to reach my lips.
“That changes today,” he continued. “I’m here to let you know that from this point on, I’ll spend my days runningtoyou, Gwen. No destination is too far if you’re there waiting for me.”
My eyes were swimming, but I needed to hear everything he had to say to me before I surrendered to them. After all, there was still a tiny chance that the next words out of his mouth would shatter the illusion that we could work this out after all.
Harrison paused, like he was waiting for me to reply. When I stayed quiet, he kept talking.
“I fucked up, Gwen, in so many ways. I let you walk out of my life, and I’ve spent every day since regretting the way I treated you. You deserve so much better.”
My father’s face flashed through my mind, and I could hear him saying, “Yeah, she absolutely does.”
“At first, I wasn’t sure that I could be the man you needed me to be,” Harrison continued. “I, uh, I had some blocks I needed to sort through. It’s probably pretty obvious that I’m not the best at dealing with or expressing my feelings.”
