“I was just saying that I think it’s beautiful how the universe brought us together at exactly the right time. Like, you were giving your presentation—which was very impressive, by the way; I didn’t get to tell you that earlier—and I walked in, and it was like the cosmos just... aligned. You know?”
“I know you think that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Because you believe it’s true.”
“Same thing.”
It was absolutely not the same thing.
The plane started taxiing.
Athena pressed her face to the window. My window, technically, but she was leaning over me, watching the ground move beneath us.
“This is so exciting,” she said. “I’ve never been to Connecticut. What’s it like? Is it cold? I bet it’s cold. I should probably get a warmer jacket. Do you have an extra jacket? Icould borrow one of yours. We’re married, so that’s allowed, right? Sharing clothes?”
“We’re getting an annulment.”
“The universe will decide that.”
“Thelawyerwill decide that.”
“Same thing.”
I was starting to understand why people drank on airplanes.
The plane took off.
Athena grabbed my hand.
I froze.
“Sorry,” she said, not letting go. “I get a little nervous during takeoff. The whole defying-gravity thing. It’s very unnatural. The universe didn’t design us to fly.”
“Then why are you holding my hand?”
“Because you’re my husband. And physical touch helps ground the nervous system. It’s science.”
It was absolutely not science.
But her hand was warm and her grip was tight, and I was too tired to argue, so I just sat there, staring out the window, trying not to think about the fact that I was holding hands with a woman I’d met yesterday.
A woman I’d married.
A woman who thought the universe had personally arranged our meeting.
The plane leveled off.
She let go.
“See? That wasn’t so bad.”
I didn’t respond.
I just turned back to the window and watched the clouds.
The flight was exactly as terrible as I had anticipated.
