Texts with Maria One Year Ago
Peter: Have you made it home, or are you still en route?
Maria: Two-hour layover in Copenhagen
Maria: I’m in the business lounge eating cheese
Maria: It’s airport cheese, but still quite Gouda
Peter: In kindness to you, I’m going to pretend you didn’t make that awful pun, Pippi
Peter: Any issues at LAX or during your flight? I saw you were heading into bad weather.
Maria: Some turbulence, nothing serious
Maria: As long as the oxygen masks didn’t appear, I figured we were good
Peter: ... you thought you might need an oxygen mask?
Maria: At one point, yes
Maria: An overhead compartment popped open, so a few suitcases went flying, and our section’s poor flight attendant took a header into the bathroom door and gave herself a bloody nose when she didn’t get buckled fast enough
Maria: There was no taking off our seat belts for a while
Peter: That’s
Peter: ...
Maria: That’s what?
Peter: Fuck, that’s terrifying, Maria. Are you sure you’re all right?
Maria: Yup, don’t worry
Maria: I got a bit frightened, but I had my birthday present from you in my pocket, so I was protected.
Peter: The four-leaf clover in resin?
Maria: Ja
Peter: You’re not superstitious, though
Maria: No, not like you are
Maria: But
Maria: ...
Peter: Maria?
Maria: It was a piece of you
Maria: I held it and thought of you
Maria: You were with me
Maria: And you’d never let anything happen to me
Maria: So I was fine.
Peter: Maria.
Peter: ...
Peter: ...
Maria: I need to head to my gate, sorry
Peter: You still have the clover in your pocket, right?
Maria: Always
Peter: ...
Peter: You *always* have it in your pocket?
Maria: Yes, or in my purse
Peter: ...
Maria: I really have to go now
Peter: I clipped a photo from a magazine article about you years ago
Peter: You’re laughing on a beach
Peter: You’re unspeakably beautiful
Peter: A human beam of sunlight
Peter: The photo’s in my wallet, Maria.
Peter: Always.
Maria: ...
Peter: You’ll text when you land?
Maria: Yes
Peter: You’ll think of me if you’re frightened?
Maria: Yes
Peter: Always?
Maria: Always.