“Oh no—” I stared at him in horror and pulled out my phone to make a note about searching for the bag on the internet.
He stopped me by touching my arm. “I’m kidding. I saved the food. Nowthat’svaluable.”
That made me smile a little. Then I remembered his jacket. “Here.” I held it out to him, secretly hoping that he’d meant to leave it there for me.Please, God,because this plane was now the temperature of Antarctica.
He pushed it away. “I don’t need it. Just put it on.”
With a grateful nod, I did and felt instant relief. It smelled clean and spicy, like guy soap or deodorant but not as nose-stinging as strong cologne. As a doctor, I noticed these things because in the hospital, we didn’t wear strong scents. No one wants to smell pungent cologne when they’re sick.
As I drank more water, my stomach rumbled loudly.
From the seat pocket in front of him, he pulled out a little plastic-wrapped triangle from his stash. “Try one.”
As I accepted it, I catalogued my diet for today. A cup of coffee over hair and makeup. Two mimosas. Half a bagel beforeI was interrupted for pictures. I didn’t even count the Bloody Marys. I bit into the triangular pie. It was wrapped in soft, homemade bread dough and stuffed with a lemony mixture of chopped spinach and pine nuts. And it was spectacular.
Wow. “How wonderful to have aunts who feed you.”
“I take it you don’t?”
“Only child, small family. No one cooks.” What I didn’t say was that we had staff for that.
“You want to talk about it?” he asked.
I snorted. “About my sad childhood?”
He smiled that nice smile again. I knew it would get to me if I were in any condition
to feel anything, which I obviously wasn’t. “Okay, fine. I didn’t really have a sad childhood. But I did stop my wedding. Literally a minute before I had to walk down the aisle. The boyfriend of one of my best friends had to go tell our two hundred and twenty guests that everything was off and to go home.” I rubbed my forehead, as if that would erase the memories. “It was horrifying.”
He was still looking straight at me, listening intently, which made me wonder what his job was. An air traffic controller, maybe, with that sharp focus? “But not as horrifying as marrying your fiancé, apparently.”
“Exactly.” The word came out in a choked whisper. “He’s not terrible. The worst thing he did was want a future completely different from the one I envisioned.” I lowered my head and sighed. “I don’t think I should have gotten on this plane. But I just…couldn’t stay. It’s all a blur.”
I’d left a mess behind—reception food that would never be eaten, gifts that would never be opened, and a man I should never have said yes to in the first place. Why had I waited so long to break things off? This was a pattern in my life. Talking myself out of the hard truths in relationships.
“Who thought it was a good idea to put you on this plane alone?” My seatmate’s tone made it clear that he thought that was the dumbest idea on the planet.
“I think—I think my parents were embarrassed. Maybe they thought it was best for me to escape all the questions, the people, themess. I don’t really know. I’m not sureIknew exactly what I was doing.”
I’d said way too much. I pondered in a raw panic what on earth I was going to do in a tropical paradise alone for seven whole days? This really had been the worst idea ever. As soon as I landed, I vowed to book the first flight back the next day.
I needed to change the subject fast, before the tears started falling again. “You’re meeting someone?” I mean, he had to be. The guy was gorgeous. He was going to a coveted, romantic destination, definitely not one you’d associate with a typical guy trip.
“My wife passed away two years ago,” he said. “Turks and Caicos was one of her favorite places, and she’d always wanted me to see it. My friends bought me a ticket because they were worried about me.” He paused, but before I could ask why, he said, “I haven’t taken any time off since it happened. Frankly, I’m not so sure this is such a great idea either.”
I suddenly felt even more awful. It was one thing to dump someone at the last second, and another to lose the love of your life. Honestly, I cared for Tyler, even loved him, but not in the absolute way I should have to marry him. Now that things had gone down this way, my predominant feeling was not sorrow. It was relief.
“I’m sorry about your wife,” I said. “My problems seem very small compared to that.”
I thought of the hassles awaiting me on my return—the roomful of unopened gifts that needed to go back and all the wasted money my parents had spent on the reception.Additionally, I’d bought an adorable house with Tyler that I would now never live in and would have to put back on the market.
My bigger problem involved wondering if I’d made the right choice moving home to Oak Bluff. Now that my parents were back, I’d have to confront the issues my mom and I had that we both tended to sweep under the rug. I’d signed with a local pediatric practice to fulfill my dream of practicing in my hometown, where I could truly know and care for my patients. But my partners and I couldn’t have been more different.
All I’d wanted was to settle in, and yet everything I’d done recently had been veryunsettling. Except my worst disasters were nothing compared to Adam’s.
He shook his head. “No. I mean, either case is—well, it’s giving up something that you thought would be forever.”
“Now that I’m actually thinking about it, I always panicked at theforeverpart. But I kept telling myself that it was just normal nerves.”
