A sliver of me worried if he’d be mad to see me there, if he did want to leave me behind, the proposal just some entertainment, but that was insecurity speaking. You didn’t buy a ring like the one on my finger just for sport.
“Marie Green. Sorry I’m last minute.” I showed the air stewardess my ticket and passport.
She checked it with a smile. “You’re not the last, don’t worry. Have a nice flight!”
I set off, desperate to see Grant’s expression when he saw me walk down the plane’s aisle, my heart back to running at record speeds, my face hot, my stomach churning.
Another air stewardess met me at the plane’s entrance, checking my ticket again, offering directions to my seat.
I boarded the plane, not looking for my seat number, looking for the face I already knew I loved more than anything else in the world.
He wasn’t there.
There were two empty seats in first class. One was mine.
The other was my fiancé’s, who was absent.
Not present.
Away.
Panic started, but there wouldn’t be tears. Where was he? Had something happened – I knew he’d checked in, I knew he’d been in the airport, so where was he?
I stored my hand luggage, not entirely sure what I was going to do. Leaving the plane wasn’t an option – I was headed to London regardless, but where was Grant?
I didn’t sit down, instead finding the air stewardess and asking her if he’d boarded the plane.
She checked her list, shaking her head. “He’s the last one. Not here yet. Do you mind taking your seat?”
“I need to find where he is.” I didn’t move. “He’s my fiancé. I was surprising him by being on this flight – I need to know where he is.”
She looked at me sympathetically. “Maybe he’s had a change of mind about his flight. Men change their minds, honey.”
I pushed back the tears. This wasn’t how it was meant to go. This wasn’t what I had planned from the moment I heard him leave this morning, trying not to wake me as he left to head back home, thousands of miles away.
I stumbled backwards and sat down on my seat, thankfully an aisle one. The empty seat was opposite me in the middle section, ironically so near to my last-minute choice.
A couple of people stared at me, a woman casting me a soft smile which nearly pulled the tears out. I sat there, spine stiff and straight, frozen with disappointment.
I was almost too busy trying to get annoyed about something to distract me to notice the flurry of activity at the front. I was staring at my unpainted fingernails, hands that were always stained with ink, thinking of anything apart from what I was doing here and how who I was here for was absent.
“Is this who you’re looking for?” The man sat next to me, who was probably wondering what on earth his flight would entail given that the woman next to him was about to crumble.
“Sorry - ” I looked up into warm brown eyes that shone. “Grant!” I flew out of my seat and wrapped my arms around him, wondering if I was still in bed and this had all been a dream. “I thought you’d changed your mind.”
He held onto me just as tightly. “I had. I was ringing your phone in your apartment asking you to follow me but there was no answer. I tried until the last minute and then I had to get on the plane. But you’re here. You’re here.”
A familiar tap patted on my shoulder. “Shall I swap seats then you can sit together? I think the people want the flight to take off.”
I laughed at Grant, looking round to see eyes on us, some smiling, others getting annoyed at the possibility of a delay.
“Thank you. That’s so kind.” I said to my now ex-seat neighbour.
“Not a problem. I just want us to take off soon.” Maybe not as kind as I’d thought, but I didn’t care.
We sat down, Grant putting his hand luggage in the hold and talking off his jacket.
“You’re here.” He sat down, seat belt on, then an arm around me. “How did you get here?”
