Chapter 35 #2
“I’m sad Livvy’s going.” Ellie’s voice broke through his chaotic thoughts. “If she knows we’re both sad, she might change
her mind.” Again, she tugged his hand. “You could tell her, Dad. Tell her we don’t want her to go.”
“I think she knows.” But did she? he thought frantically. He’d been busy playing the martyr when maybe what he should have
been doing was fighting tooth and nail for her. “Besides, it’s probably too late.”
“Daaaaad.” Ellie let out what he could only describe as a huff of disgust. “You always tell me not to give up.”
He was being shown up by his nine-year-old daughter. He didn’t know whether to be deeply ashamed or deeply proud. “You’re
right.” He did a rough calculation in his head. Over three hours before the flight was due to leave. “When Grandma and Granddad
get here, I’ll dash to the airport. Maybe I can catch her before she checks in. I won’t be able to stop her,” he warned Ellie.
“But at least I can tell her how much we’ll miss her.”
The moment his parents knocked on the door, he kissed Ellie, asked her to wish him good luck, and leapt off the sofa to let
them in. “Change of plans,” he told them, heart thumping. “I’m going to the airport. See if I can talk to Livvy before she
gets on her flight.”
His dad gave him a piercing look. “She’s worth chasing, no doubt. But why on earth did you leave it so late to talk to her?”
There it was again. “Because I’ve not changed,” he countered tightly. “I’m chaotic, disorganized. Inadequate. Not in a million
years good enough for her, like I’ve never been good enough to be your son,” he snapped, gaze swinging between them, years
of anger, of bitterness, flying to the surface. “Like I was never good enough for Amy. But you know what? Livvy never made
me feel that way. She sees a loving dad to Ellie, a chef capable of managing the bistro. A future restaurant owner. Fuck knows
why, she also thinks I’m something special. And whatever happens between her and me, I’ll always have that.”
His parents both took a breath. Then his mum did something she’d not done for twenty years, not since he’d broken his arm
skateboarding: She put her arms around him. “Oh, Connor, I’m so sorry we made you feel like that.” When she drew back, he
saw the emotion in her eyes. “Matt was always so easy. You, on the other hand . . . you frustrated us, worried us, and, yes,
upset us.” She looked at his dad, who nodded. “But you’ve done a good job bringing up Ellie and we should have told you that.
The fact that she’s such a happy little thing is proof you’re doing something right.”
He took the words as the compliment he figured she meant them to be. “Thanks. Now, if you could keep her happy while I try
and prevent Livvy from flying out of my life, I’d be eternally grateful.”
With that, he grabbed his jacket and legged it out of the house and down to the tube station.
He didn’t have a plan—no change there. He only knew he needed to stop her before she checked in and somehow find the words
to get her to understand she was it for him. A woman he was head over heels in love with now and who he’d still be besotted
with ten years, twenty, fifty years down the line. His forever love.
When he entered the terminal, he looked up at the board. It was still well over two hours before her flight was due to leave.
She was organized, but surely not organized enough to have already checked in?
Figuring he shouldn’t leave it to chance, he fired off a message to her.
I’m at the airport. Please, please, don’t check in before you’ve talked to me. C x
Then he parked himself near the check-in desks and prepared to wait.
And wait.
The minutes ticked away. When the time before check-in went from two hours twenty minutes to one hour and fifty-five minutes,
fear that he’d missed her began to claw down his spine. Heart thumping, he messaged Jessica.
Am at the airport. You heard from her?
It was a few minutes before his phone rang.
“Please tell me you’re going to try and stop her?” Jessica sounded breathless.
“Should have tried earlier,” he muttered.
“Doesn’t matter, you’re there now. We saw her last night and she didn’t look happy, Connor. And when I phoned this morning
to tell her to change her mind, I thought . . . maybe it was wishful thinking, but I thought she was wobbling. Have you tried
phoning?”
“I’ve messaged her.” He flicked back to the message and frowned. “Hasn’t been read yet.”
“Damn, that’s our fault. She told Ash she was turning her phone off because she didn’t want us bombarding her with calls.
Said she’d made up her mind.”
His heart lurched. “What are the odds she’ll leave it to less than two hours before checking in?”
“Zero,” Jessica replied quietly. “You think you missed her?”
No. He couldn’t, wouldn’t entertain that possibility. Not while her plane was still on the ground. “Maybe she’s stuck in traffic.”
“Yes, maybe. She said she was getting in a cab.”
The desperation in Jessica’s voice nearly matched his own. Did Olivia have any clue how much she was going to be missed? Or
what she was going to miss out on?
“I’ll stay till the gate closes,” he croaked. “Just in case.”
He knew in his heart it was futile. Olivia, his brilliant, organized ex-girlfriend, would never have left it to the last minute
to check into the most important flight of her life.
By the time he reached his front door a miserable hour and a half later, all he wanted to do was curl in a ball and cry.
He didn’t know if he had it in him to slap on a smile for his daughter and pretend it didn’t matter that Olivia had gone.
Assure her they’d still be able to talk to her on video. That she’d still be part of their lives.
Just too fucking far away to play any real part.
Standing on the doorstep, he heaved in a breath, straightened his spine. Ellie needed a stable dad, a happy dad. Somehow,
he’d find a way to be that for her.
“Mum, Dad, I’m back,” he shouted as he walked into the hall.
It was their routine—he called out, they answered. But an eerie silence greeted him.
The hairs on the back of his neck started to prick as he strode through the hall. “Ellie?”
“I’m here.”
His heart settled. She didn’t sound upset; she sounded . . . giggly?
He didn’t know what to expect when he walked into the living room, but none of the scenarios that had run through his head
included this one.
Olivia sat on the sofa, her arms around his daughter.
Ellie beamed at him. “She didn’t get on the plane.”
Thunderstruck, he stared at Olivia, words barely able to squeeze from his throat. “You didn’t get on the plane.”
Eyes shining, she gave him a soft smile. “I didn’t get on the plane.”