Page 104 of All the way home

That’s easier said than done. And why is he asking if she’s upset? He was the one who picked a fight this morning. She whispers, “You haven’t.”

Lucas doesn’t believe her. It’s written all over his face that he doesn’t, in that expectancy, like he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

What else is there to say? She never explains herself to Lucas, and up until right now she’s thought that was because she didn’t have to.

Now she wonders how their stories differ.

“If it’s about earlier,” Lucas starts, and Rena shakes her head.

“Don’t.”

“So it is about earlier.”

Is that even true?

Throat tight, Rena tells him, “I don’t know how to say what I’m feeling.”

“You can’t always say that,” Lucas points out.

“I don’t always say that,” Rena snaps.

“VERA! WAIT!”

And that’s most certainly not Rena’s name, but she swivels anyway. So does Lucas, and a half dozen other people at the gate, because that tone is sheer panic.

A petite woman in a pink blouse sprints through the terminal, so fast her blond curls streak behind her. “VERA!”

A woman in a brown Carhartt jacket and black Timberland boots turns on her heel, running a hand through her short, dark hair. Her mouth drops open. “Ivy?”

“Vera!” The woman—Ivy, evidently—skids to a stop in front of her.

“What are you—how did you get in here?”

“I bought a ticket,” she says, out of breath, doubling over with her hands on her knees. “Hang on, hang on.”

“You bought a—what?”

“Don’t go,” she gasps, a hand to her chest. “Please, Vera, don’t.”

“I have to go home,” Vera says bleakly. Eyes darting around at the party of onlookers who have all turned to watch the spectacle, she lowers her voice. “Ivy, what are you doing?”

“I can’t do it without you,” Ivy gasps, and then right there, in the middle of the terminal, she gets down on one knee.

Around them, everyone watching gasps, like a moment straight out of a movie.

“Oh my God,” Lucas murmurs next to Rena. He finds her hand and squeezes.

Rena turns away. It’s instinct, somehow, like this is a moment she shouldn’t be a part of. But she hears Ivy’s breathless speech anyway.

“I was wrong. Don’t go without me. I want your parents to know. I want everyone to know. I can’t do any of this without you, Vera.”

“This isn’t our business,” Rena mutters.

“It’s romantic,” Lucas protests, sounding nearly wistful.

A flash of alarm rips through her. Would Lucas propose like this, in public?

At least Vera seems to like it. Standing with both hands over her mouth, she nods along to Ivy’s speech.