Chapter 25
Burbank Airport
Rosaline greets me at the Jetway. For the first time since I met her, which was somewhere between an hour and a lifetime ago, she looks surprised.
“I wasn’t sure I’d be seeing you again, dearie. It seems like you got quite the handle on things.”
We take our places at the usual table, but I don’t bother with the coffee this time, amazing as it is. I’m geared up enough without it. “I think I do. But I want to talk to you before all this”—I gesture to the lounge—“goes away at the stroke of midnight, so to speak.”
Rosaline looks dreamy a moment. “Cinderella was a charming lass.”
“What?” I sputter.
Her eyes focus back on me. “Never mind that now, dearie. What is it you want to talk about?”
I want to press but know I won’t get anywhere. I might as well get the information I came for. “I couldn’t change the outcome in Paris. Why was I allowed back?”
“You may not have changed the decision of your investors, but you were able to gain an understanding of the situation that helped you respond differently. Which, it seems, you did.”
I nod. “The game was rigged. There’s no sense in counting it as a loss if we never had a shot at winning.”
“Right you are. It’s a bittersweet lesson to learn, but life isn’t always fair. The best we can do in times like these is regroup and move on. And you, your young man, and Chef Durand have done just that. Which is why I’m surprised you came back to me.”
This is fair. And I’d considered just watching my life unfold.
And it’s tempting to look at my phone and see how it’s all gone, but I can’t dismiss the feeling that I have the power to fix one more thing before I go back to the regularly scheduled programming of my life.
“I do think I’ve left one thing undone, and I’d like one more hop if you’ll let me. ”
Her expression is serious. “Just remember, you’ve done some good work so far. I’d hate for you to undo it all.”
With Nikolai’s appearance in my life in Paris, I know for certain my actions during these jumps backward are indeed having an impact on my actual life, so I am worried about this too. I’ve made some serious promises to him. Promises I fully intend to honor.
“I need to go back to New Orleans.” I speak the words with reluctance. I feel like a ten-year-old going for a flu shot. Old enough to know it’s necessary. Too old for tantrums. Young enough to still be cranky about it.
“Are you sure, dearie? I would think that chapter is closed for you, what with young Nikolai waiting for you.”
I shake my head. “I’m not going because I want to reconcile with Edward. But I do think I can leave that chapter of my life in better shape than I found it.” I turn her words back on her. “Do you trust me?”
She pauses a moment. Long enough to show she’s giving me the respect of a considered response. “I do, love. You’ve got a good brain in your head and a strong beating heart in your chest. And you’ve the good sense to make use of both. Godspeed to you.”
I board the plane for one last jump backward and will myself to have the same confidence in my choice as Rosaline does.