“Sorry,” Ari whispered, feeling mortified.
“It’s fine,” Luis reassured her. “Your brother is out, at least,” he added, nodding to Sebastian, who was curled up against the window, snoring lightly. “And Reine is okay.”
Ari immediately looked to Reine next to her. The little girl was entirely preoccupied with her iPad, her fingers moving over the screen with a confidence and fluidity Ari almost envied.
“I was just thinking about Tom,” Ari admitted, looking back to Luis.
“I know,” he replied. “You didn’t see him then? Or get a chance to talk to him?”
“No.” Ari shook her head. “He wasn’t there when I got back.”
Luis sighed. “Well, speak to him in Reykjavík then. At the hotel. There’s nothing you can do here, forty thousand feet above the North Sea.” He paused, looking at her for a moment. “So, what are you going to say to him when you see him?”
Ari chewed on her lip. If Luis hadn’t still had a tight hold of her hand, she knew her fingers would have begun nervouslytapping again. Instead, she squeezed his hand, giving him a small smile.
“I don’t know. I figured that when I saw him again, I would just... know.”
Luis nodded, looking thoughtful — his eyes, though still sleep-worn and tired, were kind as they gazed upon her face. Ari chewed on her lip again.
“It’s times like this I wish I still had my queen of spades card,” she told him, abruptly sad. “Whenever I felt uncertain, I would get her out.” She squeezed his hand again, missing the feeling of the worn card on her fingertips. “But I tore her in half. I tore her up.”
Suddenly, Luis’s eyes flashed.
“Ari—”
“It’s okay. It was my decision.”
“Actually, um, maybe it wasn’t,” Luis replied, and he shifted uncomfortably in his airline seat.
“What do you mean?”
Luis took a deep breath, before sighing. “Don’t be mad, okay?”
He opened the bag by his feet, pulling something from within. “It’s just, I’d seen you with this so often and that day, in the diner, when you tore it in half... Well, I didn’t want you to regret it later, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pick it up, and then I figured it wouldn’t hurt to repair it—and let me tell you something, stitching eighteenth-century card back together was hard work, I had to use a really strong silk thread to get the effect I wanted and—”
“Luis.” Ari’s eyes grew wide as she took in what he held in his hand. “Luis, is that...” her voice broke “. . . is that my queen of spades?”
Luis nodded. “Yes. I took it from the table after you ripped it in half, brought it home with me and repaired it. Look, see,” hehanded Ari the card, “I did the best I could. She’ll always have a scar, you’ll always be able to see she was damaged at one point. But overall, I’m happy. I used linen coloured silk to match the colour of the original card, and used one of my lightest steam presses to take out the, uh, what’s the word—um, crumples? Can you say that for paper as well as fabric?” He looked at Ari curiously, who nodded wordlessly. “Right, to take the crumples out. Don’t worry, I put her between linen before I applied the press, so that her paint wasn’t damaged. I’m a designer, not an art restorer, but even I know she’s an old lady who needs some TLC. You should take better care of her, you know, she’s worn away on one side where you’ve stroked her, and she—”
Shaking her head, Ari reached over and embraced Luis as tightly as her FAA approved seat belt would allow.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
When she pulled away, Luis gave an embarrassed half-shrug. “It was no problem. I know you love her,” he added, before giving Ari a pointed look. “Just like I know you love him.”
Ari nodded mutely, still clutching the card in her hands. The queen was just as stately as Ari remembered her, even with the new line of delicate stitches holding her together. The blue of her dress and eyes were still faded, her crown still dark, and Ari remembered the first time she’d seen her, cool and crisp in her hand against the background of a darkened airport terminal. Tom had been on the floor, his long legs spread out in front of him as he’d looked up at her curiously. She’d told him then and there she was keeping this queen, and she had, for years and years afterwards, guarding her with as much jealousy and secrecy as she guarded her memories of Tom and their time together.
“I didn’t know how much I missed her until now, when I’ve got her back,” Ari said, running her finger over the familiar lines and folds.
“Like Tom,” Luis suggested, but Ari shook her head.
“No. He’s different. I missed him, but the Tom I have now...” Ari trailed off, before giving a gentle smile. “He’s better.”
“You need to talk to him,” Luis reminded her, before he gave a yawn. “I’m tired. How long until we land?”
Ari checked her phone. “Another seventy minutes.”
“I’m going to close my eyes.” Luis yawned again. “Are you going to be okay?”
