And I’m…watching the door to the plane.
Hoping.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Tiff asks gently.
“About my trip?” I hedge.
She smiles softly. “About anything—though, Idolove talking about travel plans.” Her eyes go gentle. “But I also don’t mind talking about other things.”
“I...” I shake my head. “I think I’m talked out.”
Jean-Michel hangs up his call then sits next to Tiff, picking up her hand. When he presses a gentle kiss to her palm, my heart convulses, my eyes sting with unshed tears.
“Thanks for letting me hitch a ride,” I say when he looks up at me.
He shrugs. “You have my number. Text me before you book a flight and if I’m nearby, you can hitch a few more.”
“I couldn’t?—”
Tiff squeezes my knee. “Youcould.”
Jean-Michel nods. “Think of it as freeing up your travel funds for the good stuff.”
I nibble at my lip. “But you don’t think it’s dumb? To be taking this trip in the first place?”
He lifts a brow in question.
“My parents.” I shake my head. “They think it’s a waste of time, think I should settle down with a stable career. Even Rhodes—” My voice cracks. “Even he made it clear that me wanting to do this was part of the reason why he?—”
Jean-Michel sits back. “That’s not why he did what he did.”
I freeze.
“He loves you.”
My lungs seize.
“And he’s already lost one woman he loved.” A sigh. “That gutted him, so now he’s running scared, ending things before he can get in too deep. What he doesn’t understand yet is that he’s already there. That running won’t change a damned thing about his love for you.” His gaze finds Tiff’s for a heartbeat and something passes between them. “And soon enough he’ll realize that when life gives you a second chance, you fucking take it.”
“He said he needed to protect Chloe,” I whisper.
“He needed to protecthimself,” Jean-Michel says. “Chloe was just a convenient excuse.”
“I changed my plans to include him and Chloe.”
Tiff sucks in a breath. “Oh, honey.”
“Taking the trip was always my dream,” I say. “It’s what I wanted. For me. It was freedom and a chance for me to be…” My voice wavers. “Me.Then I met him and Chloe. And I fell in love and…I started to think I could bemewith them too. Rhodes was so supportive and Chloe was—” I bite my lip. “So then I started thinking my plans could shift, could morph into something that meant I kept them both.”
“And now?” Jean-Michel asks gently.
“Now,” I whisper, “I don’t know what I can have. Or even what I want.”
He nods like that makes perfect sense—and maybe to him it does. “Take the opportunities in front of you,” he says after a moment. “Even when the heart is bruised.”
Tiff laughs quietly, and I blink at her. “That sounds like something we should print put on a tote bag,” she explains.
“I’ll tell Chrissy.” Jean-Michel’s mouth kicks up. “She can sell them at the rescue.”
