Thea crammed her carry-on under the seat in front of her and turned shrewd eyes on Mabel. “So here’s the thing. I think whatever’s going on with Jake is more than a work issue. We’ve got hours and hours, so you may as well spill it.”
When Dave had tried to talk to her about Jake that morning, she’d threatened to play nothing but Kenny G when their partnership resumed, but being crammed into a metal tube preparing to hurtle through the sky must’ve weakened her resolve.
She heaved a shuddery breath and exhaled the words on a long sigh. “I panicked. He told me he was going back to Chicago, and I wasn’t prepared. So I freaked out and ripped off the Band-Aid.”
Thea cocked her head. “Explain.”
So for the next hour, Thea nodded in sympathy as Mabel poured out the whole story: Jake’s sudden return to Chicago when she’d thought they’d have more time to grow in their relationship. Her fear that another bad breakup would hurt her professionally. Her certainty that watching their love slowly dwindle would be more painful than a clean break now. The only thing she omitted was the way Jake had made love to her the night before. With each thrust, he’d whispered into her ear “I love you” with so much tenderness that she’d almost wept. She’d wanted to say it back, to tell him that she’d never loved anyone the way she loved him and couldn’t imagine the shape of her life without him. But the words had clogged in her throat, so she kept her eyes shut and turned her head away, already willing herself to forget the sweetness of his touch.
“How did you leave things?”
“I figured it would be easier for both of us if I didn’t make it some big, dramatic goodbye, so I just… left.” She blinked furiously to hold back the tears. The rest of the plane didn’t need to know how heartbroken she was, particularly since she needed to be radio babe Mae Bell this week. “And…”
Thea waited for her to keep going. When Mabel didn’t, she gently prompted, “And?”
Mabel took a deep breath and confessed what she hadn’t spoken out loud to anybody, not even Jake. “And I can’t just pack up and go be a deejay in Chicago, and he’s not going to chuck his career out the window for me. He shouldn’t! I’m so proud of what he’s accomplished. He’s been working toward that forever. Besides, wejuststarted dating. How can you be sure after a few months?”
She fiddled with the fold-down tray in front of her, not looking at Thea. “But… I think he wasitfor me. I felt like I’d finally found him.”
“And did you tell him any of this?”
Mabel shook her head. “No. I couldn’t do that to him. Everything he’s done over the past decade has been to land a partnership. How can I ask him to blow it off and stay in Beaucoeur with me? It’s better to just end it now.”
Thea furrowed her brow. “No, I don’t think so. You should call him. You should explain all this—”
Mabel pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, hard. “Nope. No more deep relationship talk for the rest of the trip. From this point on, I never want to be without a glass of rum in my hand, and I’ll only entertain fun conversations.” Then she was struck by a thought that made her shift uncomfortably in her seat. “Oh, but first, did Brandon talk to you about—”
Thea nodded. “No worries. We’re all good. I’m so glad you’re going back on the air with Dave.”
“You’re sure?” How weird that she was worried about hurting Thea’s feelings, but there it was. Joining her for yoga had become one of the highlights of her week. Okay, they usually skipped yoga to get donuts, but it was still a highlight.
“Very sure. Turns out those morning hours are notfor me. Of course, that means I was maybe alittlehasty in quitting the hotel job.” She grimaced and held up her plastic cup of white wine in a salute. “But I’ll find the next thing before long. I always do!”
She drained her cup, then said perkily, “Okay, so let’s move on to a fun conversation. Ummm… which of our traveling companions should I hook up with this week? Or should I wait until we get there to find somebody who’snotfrom my hometown?”
For the remainder of the flight, Thea kept up a mostly one-sided conversation, and if someday she’d be forced to testify under oath, Mabel couldn’t have come up with a single one of the topics Thea covered. But it didn’t matter. She was pathetically grateful for the wave of chatter that didn’t require any response on her end except a dulluh-huhevery five minutes or so.
By the time the crew of their second flight collected all their empty cups and instructed them to return their tray tables to an upright position for their descent into Montego Bay, Mabel was torn between guilt and gratitude.
“I don’t deserve this.”
Thea paused in the act of unwrapping a stick of gum. “What do you mean?”
She looked down at her chipped manicure, which she hadn’t cared enough to touch up after the heartbreak of the night before. “I mean that I wasn’t very nice to you at first. I definitely didn’tthinknice things about you. But you just made this whole flight tolerable for me. Thank you.”
Thea freed the gum and popped it into her mouth. “No worries. I’ve been told it takes a while to warm up to me. I can come on a little strong.”
Mabel’s lips pulled into a smile for the first time all day. “Maybe a little,” she said, giving Thea a nudge.
Thea held her thumb and pointer finger a fraction of an inch apart and squinted through the gap at Mabel. “That’s okay. To know me is to grudgingly tolerate me.”
Miracle of miracles, Mabel actually laughed at that, and before she knew it, she was being herded off the plane and onto a hotel shuttle with the rest of her group. She shuffled obediently through the check-in process at a hotel that was full of sunshine and ocean breezes, and when she got to her room, she walked out on a balcony overlooking the azure water and white-sand beach to find fresh-squeezed mango juice waiting in a carafe. Maybe she could find a little peace here for the week, away from the sorrow waiting for her in Beaucoeur.
Then her eyes traveled to the massive bed in the middle of the room, made up with crisp white linens, and the tears started again. She was a single in a double-occupancy room. Six months ago, it might not have bothered her much, but now? It felt like an arrow through her heart.
She turned back to the balcony and poured herself a glass of juice. She was in paradise, and the man she loved was thriving. All in all, it could be worse. She was happy for him.
She’d try to be happy for him.
