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I glance over at him. “Caleb⁠—”

He lifts one finger without looking at me, silencing me.

“First thing in the morning if possible,” he continues. “One passenger. Stansted or Farnborough. Whatever works.”

I hear the faint sound of typing through the car speaker.

“You do remember it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow?” Lara says.

“Yes. Use that as a selling point. Whoever is on the crew gets to spend Christmas in New York on my dime. Generous expenses, time off in lieu of working.”

“Delightful.” She clears her throat. “You do remember you have an entire operations team to deal with this?”

He says nothing. She continues to type.

“Give me ten minutes.” She sighs. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Cheers, Lara.”

The phone goes dead and for a moment I wonder what the history is to that relationship. But then it sinks in that he’s chartering a plane for me, and all other thoughts go out of my head.

“You really don’t need to do this,” I tell him. “I’ll never be able to pay you back.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make Theo pay for it,” he tells me cheerfully.

The mention of his name makes my body ache. I look away, through the window, the moon turning blurry with tears.

“I still owe you,” I tell him. “If you ever need anything…” I trail off, because what the hell could I give him in return? Tips on the best electronic bidet? It’s laughable.

“It’s all good. I got to annoy Lara. She’s a pain in the ass, so that’s a win.” There’s the softest of smiles in his voice. “We’ll go get your things. Then you can stay at whichever airport we’ll be flying you out of. I have standing bookings at most of them for the crew.”

I nod, though my throat feels tight again. “I really appreciate that.” It seems too little, but it’s all I have.

Neither of us speaks for a while. The car glides along the dark ribbon of road, the trees and shrubs sliding past in long shadows. I focus on the movement outside the window and try to slow my breathing. I’m starting to feel sleepy right as my phone lights up.

Theo’s name appears on the screen. I swallow hard, staring at the black letters, letting the phone buzz.

“You going to answer that?” Caleb asks. From the tone in his voice I can tell he saw who’s calling.

“No.” I turn the phone face down on my knee, because I have no idea how to tell him I’m leaving without looking like I’m overreacting.

The ringing stops.

Caleb doesn’t say anything. He only glances at me briefly before returning his eyes to the road.

A moment later the phone buzzes again.

This time I turn it off, leaning my brow against the cold window.

Then Caleb’s phone lights up in the center console, the ringing breaking the silence in the car. A photo of Theo looking moody fills the screen. Any other time I’d laugh, because Caleb’s captured him perfectly.

But right now, it makes everything feel worse.

Caleb sighs, looking at me. “I’m going to take this,” he tells me. “Otherwise he’s going to keep on ringing. And I need to keep my phone free for Lara to call back.”

I nod. “Okay.”

He accepts the call. “Theo, you’re on speaker,” he says. Then he glances at me again, like he doesn’t want to make things worse. “Georgia’s asleep. I don’t want to wake her up.”