“For you? To be here together for longer than just a night?” I nodded with my eyes wide. “Anytime.”
She laughed.
Both of us downed some water when we got back inside. Then we packed slowly, neither of us in much of a hurry, stretching the morning out as long as we could. Before heading to the airstrip, I drove us into the little town about fifteen minutes away.
It only had one main street, a handful of shops, and a diner that looked like it hadn’t changed since the seventies, but Kate loved it immediately. She dragged me into a cozy store full of local crafts and handmade nonsense, holding things up for my approval like my opinion mattered.
“This is cute,” she said, holding up a lopsided ceramic bowl.
I frowned. “Cute? It’s a bowl.”
“It’s artisanal.”
“It’s uneven.”
“That’s the charm.” She grinned and added it to her basket, purchasing it and a few other items before we went to get ice cream.
We sat on a bench outside the shop while the afternoon sun warmed the pavement, finishing our cones before strolling along the sidewalk. She glanced up at me when we passed a fishing-supply shop. “My dad would love to come out here sometime,but if you ever give him a hook, you’d better keep at least fifty feet away.”
I chuckled. “He likes me. I doubt he’d threaten me with a fishing hook.”
“I didn’t say he was going to do it on purpose,” she joked. “What’s your dad like when he’s not being the intimidating, negotiating Westwood patriarch?”
“I don’t know,” I said lightly, then shook my head. “Although that’s not really true anymore. Ever since he retired, he’s actually been pretty cool. He’s golfing a lot, but I don’t know that I’d trust him with a fishing hook either.”
She laughed, wrapping her arm around mine and pulling me into another store, this one selling hiking boots and other outdoor apparel. “I’d like to get to know him better. Maybe we should invite them here with us sometimes. The holidays?”
I shrugged. “Happy wife, happy life. That’s what I’ve heard. If you want to invite them, do it. Just tell me how much food we’ll need in advance so I can order it.”
“Or we could just come to town and buy it when we arrive,” she teased. “Like normal people.”
I let out a deep sigh, pretending to be offended, but honestly, I was pretty happy just holding her purchases and wandering around the store. The whole day felt suspended somehow, like it existed slightly outside the normal flow of time.
One of the things I loved most about this place was that I barely got service up here. That meant that she and I had both shut off our phones and we could just make the best of this time we had together before we flew back to our real life.
By the time we boarded the jet, we were both sun-warmed and tired but in a good way. A relaxed way. She fell asleep not long after takeoff, curled up against me. I didn’t sleep, just watching her before I eventually rested my head back against the seat and watched the clouds drift by.
The illusion that life might just be a little bit peaceful started cracking as we descended into Chicago. When the glittering lights of the city came into view, it was almost like I could feel the weight of reality settling back in.
I woke Kate up as we landed. Both of us were a little quieter than we had been the rest of the day when we settled into the car that had been waiting to pick us up.
Kate leaned her head back against the seat with a soft sigh. “That was perfect.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, pulling my phone out of my pocket on the drive back into the city.
It was still off, and I hesitated for a second before I powered it on, not really convinced I wanted to, but it started buzzing immediately. Then again. And again.
Notifications stacked on top of each other, lighting up the screen faster than I could read them. There were emails, messages, and missed calls. Beside me, Kate’s phone started going off too, a matching chorus of vibrations filling the quiet car.
I frowned, scrolling through them just to get an idea of what was going on. My stomach tightened when I realized most of them were from Alex. Alex, who was supposed to not be working.
A slow, familiar dread settled in my stomach, heavy and certain. Something was wrong. I didn’t know what yet, but I knew this feeling, and so far, it had never been wrong.
Kate glanced at me, chewing on her lower lip for a moment before she sighed. “Do we even want to know?”
“Probably not. Let’s give it until we get back to the St. Regis before we start worrying about it, though.”
The truth, however, was that I was already worried about it, the weight in my gut solid and ominous.
