An announcement for a delayed flight came over the speaker, and everyone in the airport paused to listen in case they were affected. Shay watched Rosie disappear around the corner to security and frowned when the back of her eyes began to burn. She couldn’t just let Rosie face one of the worst moments in her life alone.
Could she?
A slew of passengers parted around her like the Red Sea. She stepped to the side and pulled out her cell.
Gabe answered on the first ring. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a plane?”
“I’m at the airport, and Rosie’s already through security. I’m still in departures,” she said as if that explained everything.
“You’re not going,” Gabe said. “It’s too hard, right?”
Shay’s lips quirked. After twenty-plus years of friendship, they were practically in each other’s heads, pulling out thoughts without the need for explanation. “I’m being a coward.”
“Hey, no. No, you’re not. You’ve never been a coward, and you never will be. Pretty sure cowards don’t pull their unconscious buddies out of the line of fire.”
Shay laughed lightly. “That was a long time ago. It’s about time you forgot that.”
“I’mnevergoing to forget that you saved my life.” Gabe cleared her throat. “Anyway, Lori’s isolating because of her COVID, so I’ll be home from the garage in a half hour if you want to get dinner. Though I’d drop everything even if Lori wasn’t sick,obviously. We can shoot some pool andnottalk about everything you need to talk about.”
Nottalking sounded tempting. She looked up at the line of airport staff checking tickets and passports, half-expecting Rosie to be behind them trying to get her attention, but she was nowhere to be seen. “I need your advice, Gabe.”
“You do?” Gabe chuckled. “You never need my advice when itcomes to women. And you won’ttakemy advice when it comes to your family.”
“I want to support her through this, but it’s bringing all my own stuff a little closer to the surface than usual. Things got strained at Aaron’s birthday, and Momma was already on my mind, then Rosie told me what had happened to her mom and?—”
“You got pulled in. Your overwhelming desire to do the right thing took over, and you offered to get on a plane and go with Rosie to Mexico. I get it. But I’m going to ask you a question, and don’t jump down my throat. Just sit with it for a minute before you answer, okay?”
Shay groaned. “Okay. Do it,” she said, not quite sure what the hell Gabe was about to say.
“When I was getting my boxers in a bunch over Lori, you asked me how she’d become so special to me so quic?—”
“This isn’t the same?—”
“I said not to jump down my throat. I hadn’t finished.”
Shay huffed. “Fine. But it’s not the same.”
“Shut up and listen. You asked me how Lori had become so special to me so quickly when I didn’t let many people in. You and me get along so well because we’re the same in a lot of ways, so I can ask: is Rosie special to you?”
Shay resisted the urge to answer immediately and allowed herself some time to really think about her answer. “Yeah, she’s special to me butnotin the same way as Lori is to you, or even was at the time I asked you that question.”
“Okay. And you’re always there for the people who pierce that strong outer membrane of yours, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. My momma taught me how to treat people.” Beyond the immediate stab of loss that her momma was no longer around to keep teaching her lessons, Shay could see what Gabe was trying to say.
“The problem with that?—”
“Whoa, what? How can there be a problem with being someonepeople can rely on?” Shay had lost the point she’d thought Gabe was making.
Gabe sighed heavily. “The problem is that you don’t leave room for people to look after you. Lori’s told me that Rosie is pretty self-sufficient and doesn’t like inconveniencing people. So I’m guessing that she’s said she doesn’t need you to go with her because you’ve got your own stuff going on. Is that about right?”
“That’s exactly right.” Shay glanced at the departures screen. The flight to San Diego was already boarding, and she was still no closer to deciding what to do. “I get what you’re saying, but you know why there’s no room for people to look after me. There are only two people in the world who’ve ever really done that: one’s dead, and I’m on the phone to the other one.”
Gabe grumbled. “What was it you recently told me about opening up and letting new people into my life? Was that a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ piece of advice?”
“That’s the only way I know how to give advice.” Shay laughed, despite the situation.
“Look, buddy, all I’m saying is Rosie is obviously special to you, and she’s trying to look after you. Maybe you should let her. It sounds like she’s a tough cookie, and she’ll be fine. But?—”
