“No.”
He relaxed. “Thank God.”
“It’s still my plan, though,” she warned.
He shook his head, smiling like she was the only thing he believed in. “Then take me wherever you want.”
The flight attendant announced they were getting ready for takeoff, prompting them to take their seats. Meadow passed him a half-rolled blunt that made him laugh too hard for her liking. Still, he fired it up. Rules be damned.
The plane hummed…the clouds parted…Juniper Falls shrunk beneath them.
Zaire leaned back in his seat, puffing his blunt, looking at his baby across from him, and let himself feel nothing but love. “I guess you had to have your carriage some kind of way.”
Her face lit up.
This was their version of love. Their version of Cinderella…Marai.
Raw…black…real.
The higher they climbed, the quieter the world became.
Clouds floated like soft smoke around the windows. The hum of the engine settled into a low vibration that felt almost intimate. Meadow loosened her seatbelt and slid over to the side of the jet where the small desk and window merged into a perfect little nook for two.
Zaire watched her move like she was the only thing worth watching. Her body…her calm…her intention…every ounce of what she’d put into this date.
She patted the spot beside her. “Get yo’ ass over here.”
Zaire unbuckled his belt with the slow annoyance of a man who liked pretending he wasn’t pressed. He dropped into the seat next to her, legs wide, shoulders heavy, his whole body giving that West Coast ease she’d fallen in love with in ways her Mama would’ve warned her about.
“Why you smilin’ like that?” he asked, leaning his head back to study her.
“Because you look…peaceful,” Meadow murmured, gently tugging his beard. “I don’t see that enough.”
“Shit,” he scoffed under his breath, it be hard to find.”
“Well,” she whispered, leaning closer, “look for it here.”
She tapped the glass, nodding toward the view below. The land rolled out in patchwork squares under them - fields, clusters of trees, long driveways, a glint of water cutting through somebody’s property. In the distance, a familiar spread sat like a small green jewel against the darker earth.
“That’s us,” Meadow said quietly. “Right there…Green’s…look how little it looks from up here.”
Zaire leaned in, his shoulder brushing hers as he squinted down at the speck of their world. “Crazy,” he mumbled. “All that weight on your back, and from up here it looks like a thumbnail.”
Meadow sighed. “Yeah.”
His eyes shifted to another stretch of land beside it - wider, unmanaged, trees crowding up against rough patches of dirt. “Who owns that?”
“I think the Millers still do,” she replied. “They let it sit, been like that since I was a kid.”
Zaire kept his eyes on it. “I’m gon’ buy that.”
She snapped her head toward him. “What?”
“I’m gonna buy it,” he repeated, like it was that easy…like he was talking about picking up groceries. “You want Green’s Driving Range to be bigger and better…watch me work. I told you I’d give you your dreams tenfold…let me.”
Her throat tightened. “Zaire…”
“Nah,” he shook his head, his gaze still staring through the window.
