In the heart.
In the soul.
I pulled away slightly. “I have a surprise for you.” I bit my lip, glancing way because I suddenly felt shy. I had been toying with the idea and now, I just knew it was right.
“Oh?” Kirby asked, his gaze fixed on mine.
“Check your e-mail after my plane leaves, okay?”
He tilted his head slightly. “The moment your plane leaves, I’ll check.” He nodded. “Do I get a clue?”
“Nope.”
He grinned and pulled me in playfully. “I bet I could get a clue out of you if I wanted…” He tickled my neck with his nose.
Squealing softly, I pulled away, only to be held tightly in his arms. “Fine, okay! One.”
“So easy.”
“Bite me.”
“I did.”
“And we’re so done.” I rolled my eyes.
“My clue?” He wagged his eyebrows.
“I’ll text it to you, when I’m through security.” I bit my lip again.
“Playing hard to get?” He ran his fingers down my back slowly, making me hum in all the right places.
I leaned forward. “With you?” I kissed him, tickling his lower lip with my tongue. “Always.”
“Good.” He kissed me back then pulled away slowly, reluctantly. “Hurry and go so I can hurry up and wait, so I can hurry up and hold you again.” He sighed.
“Okay.” I took a shaky breath.
I reached for my handle and gave him a quick hug, then I walked away to the line.
Tears stung my eyes, and I called myself ten kinds of fool for being so emotional, but it just… sucked.
“Merry?” Kirby called my name and I spun.
And just like in the movies, he pulled me into a massive kiss, his arms banding around me and holding me tight.
People clapped around us, the sound slowly pulling me from the haze of romance he had woven.
He slowly withdrew. “I love you.”
Before I could answer, he gave me a quick kiss and was gone, leaving me breathless and happier than I could ever remember being.
A few people finished their clapping and a warmth flooded my cheeks.
I pulled out my phone and texted Kirby, making a mental note to change his name from Satan to something more appropriate.
Me: I love you too.
I couldn’t wipe the grin from my face as I walked to the line. I was pretty sure I was glowing. An elderly lady in front of me winked as my phone dinged with a new message.
Kirby: Don’t forget my surprise.
I bit my lip and giggled.
Me: It’s something for just…us.
I sent him the clue and tucked my phone in my pocket. The line moved quickly and soon I was getting my passport examined and moving through the metal detectors.
The sound of airplanes taking off and landing drowned out the canned music, but rather than being anxious, I was actually okay.
Strange how words have so much power.
The gate came into view, and I picked an isolated spot to wait. Traffic had been busier than we anticipated, and I only had thirty minutes till we boarded. I slid my finger along the seam of my laptop then released it. Thirty minutes wasn’t much time, and I had a very, very long flight ahead. I blew out a sigh and stood up again, heading for a shop to pick out a few magazines and buy some snacks.
Twenty minutes later, I glanced from the bathroom to the waiting line outside the gate. Did I dare? They weren’t exactly boarding…
I ducked into the restroom and left in record time, thankful that the line had shrunk, but was at least still there. Within minutes, I was handing over my boarding pass and rolling my carry-on over the sky-bridge to the aircraft.
Dear lord let me have a good seat partner. I scanned the plane as I searched for my seat. Twenty-seven A was an aisle seat, and no one was sitting in the row yet.
Let this fit! I opened the cabinet above my seat and shoved the suitcase in, hoping it didn’t send another wheel flying into the woman with blue hair behind me.
Thankfully, no senior citizens were harmed in the stowing of my carry-on, and I sat before something else could happen.
History repeating itself and all.
I pulled out my laptop and checked the time. The plane had its own Wi-Fi so I scanned the networks and tried to sign on, but the signal was weak. Finally, I crossed my fingers and tried the Edinburgh Airport Wi-Fi. Thankfully, it was strong enough, and I signed into my e-mail.
Roxi had e-mailed me a few times, but I ignored those and opened a new message.
With slightly shaking hands, I typed in Kirby’s email, making the subject line, Surprise!
The curser blinked in the blank e-mail, and my fingers hovered over the keyboard. After a few deep breaths, I began.
Hey you. Yes, I miss you already. Yes, I know you already know that. And no, I’m not saying ‘you’re right’ again anytime soon.
I bit back a laugh.
“Pardon me, miss.” An elderly man smiled kindly at me and pointed to the seat near the window.
“Oh, sorry! Here.” I lifted my laptop, stowed my tray table and stood, allowing him by.
“Thank you.” He smiled and settled by the window.
After sitting back down and setting my laptop back up, I started again.
This is something I wrote… something that maybe we can share later. Something that is only ours. I hope you like it.
“Pardon, miss?” A stewardess wore a bright smile and pointed to my laptop. “We’re getting close to take off, please stow your electronic devices and return your tray table to its upright position.”
I blinked. “Right, sorry.” I held up one finger. “Just a sec.”
The stewardess gave me a patient smile and walked away.
I clicked the attachment icon and scanned the files, clicking on Kirby.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are finishing final checkpoints and would appreciate if you would—”
The rest of his speech, I ignored as I finished the e-mail.
Love you,
Merry
I grinned at the nickname, then pushed send — exhaling a sigh of relief when the message was finally sent. Wasting no time, I closed my laptop, stowed my tray table, and leaned back in the chair, noticing that I had no one directly beside me.
Sweet!
Today was a good day! Maybe I’d even be able to sleep!
I shot a quick text to Kirby.
Me: Taking off. I’ll let you know when I land.
He responded immediately.
Kirby: One week… and counting down.
I answered.
Me: See you soon.
I set my phone on airplane mode, and waited.
Only a few minutes later we were taxing down the runway, lifting off and heading home… only it didn’t feel like home anymore.
Huh. I guess it was true.
Home really is where your heart is.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AFTER WE REACHED cruising altitude, I pulled out my laptop and tried to find the Wi-Fi signal.
There was none.
Odd.
I scanned the networks again… nothing.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I breathed quietly, trying not to disturb the older gentleman slumped in the window seat, snoring.
A flight attendant started down the aisle with the drink cart. “Pardon me.” I raised my hand slightly.
She paused and waited. “I can’t find the Wi-Fi.”
Her expression turned apologetic. “I’m sorry, but the Wi-Fi is only for the premium class members.” And she continued on.
“No…” I whined, glaring at the computer.
I clicked on my mail, grumbling but thankful that at least I had downloaded most of the messages. I sighed as I opened Roxi’s first email.
I know I already said it was great, but I really have to just tell you that you went above and beyond on the last blog post! I published it
late last night and already we are having more traffic on that particular post than on any other…
Roxi
I re-read the message. The blog post I wrote for Kirby was good but not that good. Maybe it was the headshot we posted of him? My chest tightened with jealousy.
Mine.
Shaking my head slightly, I opened her next e-mail.
GIRL I’m not texting you because I don’t want to interrupt… anything… but girl… you’re a trending topic on twitter.
You’ve hit it.
We’ve hit it.
Holy CRAP BALLS! Tell Kirby thanks for being such a great sport.
#helloscotland #kirbylove #givemeabrogue #rox #roxrox
Check them all out… The one that’s biggest is the first.
HUGS!
Roxi
Okay. My hands started to sweat. What the hell was going on? I scanned my sent messages, finding the one I sent to Roxi about Kirby, needing to re-read the post. I mean, I said the romance would bleed through but did I overdo it?
As I opened the attachment, nausea hit me like a ton of bricks.
Oh, shit.
No, no, no, no, no.
I took in a shaky breath, then re-read it, just to make sure.
Of all the horrific things to happen, I had sent Roxi the wrong post.
Which meant that the story I wrote for Kirby and me… was now plastered across twitter and every other social media for all to see.
Everything he didn’t want.
Everything he asked me not to do.
Everything that looked like I went behind his back and betrayed him.
I couldn’t move.
And what was worse? I couldn’t do anything about it. No Internet, no phone, no texting. I was thirty-five thousand feet in the air over the Atlantic Ocean.
For the next nine and a half damn hours.
My heart pounded painfully in my chest.
Maybe Kirby wouldn’t find out, and I could call him when I landed and explain…
I pulled up the final e-mail from Roxi. “Oh please, for once keep your mouth shut…”
Meredith,
An Associated Press station of the UK contacted me and wants to do a small interview with Kirby. They’ll use the interview in association with the one you’re doing tonight with ABC. I didn’t know how you’d feel about this… or Kirby so I wanted to give you a heads up. If you don’t give me a response to this in a few hours, I’m going to assume it’s okay for me to call Kirby. Can’t wait to see you.
Roxi
There it was. The nail in the coffin, the ticking time bomb for my life. I stared at the screen, hating it more and more as my tears welled up and washed warm streaks down my cheeks.
I had no way to tell her no.
And Kirby would know before I could even explain.
And if he tried to e-mail me, assuming I had Wi-Fi, he’d think I was ignoring him…
Basically using him to get ahead.
Could this day get any worse?
“Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that we are going to be experiencing some turbulence. Please stow your tray tables and fasten your seatbelts.
As a flight attendant walked by, I tapped her sleeve. She turned impatiently.
“I know this is a really bad time, but I have an emergency situation with my business and I need to use the premier Wi-Fi. I’ll pay, I’ll do whatever.” Desperation was evident in my tone, and her expression softened slightly.
“Miss, I’m very sorry, but the Wi-Fi is not functioning on this flight, even in premier. My sincerest apologies.” And she walked away.
With my last hope.
The plane shook then leveled out, reminding me to tuck my computer away and stow my damn tray table.
Nine hours and fifteen minutes.
In hell.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BY THE END of the flight I had chewed every nail down to the quick, braided and re-braided my hair till it was oily from my fingers constantly running through it, and drank more than one bottle of red wine.
The flight attendant cut me off two hours ago.
And I was still seeing double.
Maybe the headache would distract me from the pain my heart.
Rather the fear from the pain.
Because honestly, I didn’t know what had happened yet. I was in the worst place of all.
The unknown.
Another word for hell.
Because I didn’t know what Kirby had said, or how he’d reacted when Roxi spoke with him.
I didn’t even know for certain that Roxi had called.
All I knew was the potential. Which was enough to make me get drunk on airplane wine and think of at least a thousand ways for everything to go wrong.
Because part of me worried that maybe he’d see me as just another version of her… the wife who’d died.
She had betrayed him.
And it looked like I had too.
Because betrayal is betrayal, no matter how you try to make it better.
The airplane started its descent, and I wiped my cheeks, trying to muster some care for how I looked.
I held my breath as the plane landed, and gripped the arms of the seat as we taxied to the gate. Taking a deep breath, I took my phone out of airplane mode and waited.
In a few seconds, the screen lit up with missed texts, but only one was from Kirby.
Love you.
Tears stung my eyes as I read, then re-read the words over and over. I checked the time and he sent it just after I took off, knowing it would be the first text I’d see when I landed.
But there was nothing else.
I ignored Roxi’s texts and flipped to my e-mail.
All my new messages were either junk mail or from Roxi.
And I was not talking to her right now.
There would be no Christmas presents for her!
I opened the messager app again and went to Kirby’s name.
Me: Landed.
The curser blinked at me as I hesitated to push send. I deleted it really quick.
Me: Something went wrong, I sent the wrong blog post to Roxi and I can’t fix it. I’m so sorry. It was completely an accident… I don’t know what to do.
I love you.
I pushed send and closed my eyes.
And waited.
As the plane finally stopped taxiing, I stood and pulled out my carry-on, then took out my phone and checked again.
Nothing.
At least he knew it was an accident.
As long as he was still taking my texts…
I exited the plane, debating whether to call or not. It wasn’t exactly quiet and the last thing I wanted was for him to misunderstand something else! So I settled for checking my phone again as soon as I was in the terminal.
Still nothing.
I wheeled my bright orange bag over to a chair, sank into it and sent off a quick text.
Me: I’ll explain everything. I’m calling as soon as I can get to a place where I can actually hear your voice…
Please believe me.
I hated the desperate tone, but it was the truth. Regardless of the fact that it was unintentional, it was still a mistake.
It still hurt him.
I forced myself to get up from the chair and walked slowly to the baggage claim where Roxi would be waiting.
I wasn’t quite ready to see her.
But at the same time, she would be at least able to tell me the damage.
And knowing was better than not knowing.
I went down the escalator and took the train to the baggage claim. Soon I was walking toward the carousel, my eyes scanning for Roxi’s blonde head.
“Meredith!” Her voice called out and I paused, searching the growing crowd. Above a few men’s heads I saw a hand wave.
Taking in a shaky breath, I walked toward it. Roxi shoved around the men, glaring slightly as she marched on her high heels toward me. “What the hell were you thinking!” Her arched brows knitted toget
her as she pulled me into a hug then glared. “Don’t you always know to check when you send something? I mean was Ron in finance not the most perfect example of how you always double check?”
I blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the conversation. The effects of the wine were lingering. “Ron? The guy that hit reply all when he was really trying to just hook up with Brooke?” I shook my head. “I’m confused.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed my carry on. “And people think you’re the smart one. Okay. You sent the wrong post to me.”
“Figured that out on the plane. Please tell me you didn’t call Kirby, and if you did, for the love of all that’s holy tell me he’s not going to hate me forever.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Chill. I know you. I know him. I fixed it.” She kept moving.
My eyes flew open. “What?” I rushed to catch up with her.
“I fixed it. I figured out what happened after he started swearing at me on the phone. I took your heat, girl.” She gave me a nod then turned to the carousel, hauling off my other orange bag.
“Then what happened?” I tugged on the handle and then grabbed her hand. “Please, just… I’m dying here. I had no Wi-Fi, nothing once I figured out what had happened, I couldn’t do anything, and I… just need to know.” I released a deep breath.
Roxi’s expression softened and nodded once. “Let’s go sit for a second.” She pulled the carry-on toward a waiting area and took a seat, crossing her legs.
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