Chapter 58
DANNY
I’m sweatingby the time I make it to the departures terminal at Portland International Airport. I floored it all the way here and somehow managed to avoid getting pulled over and found a parking spot in the long-term lot. I halt and scan the screens, chest heaving as I gasp for air.
I frown when I don’t see Eden’s flight number on the screen. I run to the other end of the airport, where there’s another cluster of screens detailing the departures. Still nothing.
I scan the ticket counters for the airline that she’s flying, but all of the agents are busy helping people. And all the lines are at least a dozen people long.
Fuck.
I twist around in search of someone, anyone who works at this airport to help me. A woman wearing a navy blue skirt suit and a practiced smile zeros in on me. “Do you need help with something, sir?”
“Um, yes. Flight 676 to Lisbon, Portugal. I can’t seem to find any info on it.”
She makes a face. “That flight has already taken off.”
“What?”
She jerks back at my abrupt tone.
“I’m sorry,” I say in a softer voice. “I just—based on the flight info I was given, I didn’t think that flight was leaving for an hour.”
She grimaces. “I understand. And I do apologize. But there was a glitch in our computer system earlier that scrambled some of the information for our flights. That flight left thirty minutes ago.”
Her softly spoken words are a punch to my gut. That’s it. Eden is gone.
She starts to speak, but I can’t make out her words. I can’t make out any sounds around me. All I can I do is fixate the fact that she isn’t here anymore. She’s headed out of the country and I have no idea when she’s coming back—if she’s coming back. I can’t tell her how I feel. I can’t ask her to forgive me. I can’t tell her I love her.
She’s just…gone.
I don’t know how long I stay standing in that spot. The helpful airport employee deserted me long ago. People step around me as they maneuver themselves and their luggage in every direction. I’m clearly in the way, but I don’t care. I’m numb to all of it.
When a guy in a security guard outfit approaches me, I snap out of it. I walk back to my car and drive home in a daze.
As I drive along the freeway, I spot a sea of brake lights. Traffic comes to a standstill, and I ease to a crawl. It’s stop-and-go for a few minutes. I grit my teeth and grip the steering wheel. Fuck, I don’t need this. Not after losing Eden. The longer the thought lingers in my head, the more amped up I start to feel.
Losing Eden
I make a noise that sounds like a cross between a laugh and a scoff.
Losing Eden? Jesus, way to be dramatic. It’s not like she’s dead. She’s still here.
“She’s not here. She’s on her way to Portugal,” I mutter to that annoying inner voice in my head.
And?
“And what?”
I roll my eyes at myself and let out another scoff-laugh. I notice the guy in the car next to me look over before frowning. I flash him a thumbs-up and what I’m sure looks like a saddest deadpan expression ever, because I don’t have the energy to make any other face. Yeah, I look completely insane, talking and laughing by myself in my car. But I don’t really care.
So go after her, you dumbass. You’re really gonna give up on your dream girl because of timing? Come on.
My brain skids at the thought.
What’s stopping you?
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Inner me raises an excellent point.
Nothing. Literally nothing is stopping you from going after her. Don’t give up so easily. She’s just a plane ride away.
The thought bounces around in my head. My heartbeat picks up, and I straighten up in my seat.
God, it really is that simple, isn’t it?
I smack my hands on the steering wheel. “Yes! So fucking simple!”
I catch the guy in the car next to me gawking at me again. This time he looks more freaked out than confused.
I hold up a hand and roll down my window. “It’s okay! I swear, I’m not deranged! You see, I raced to the airport so I could tell my girlfriend that I love her, but I missed her. But I can tell her! I just have to fly to her.”
He frowns at me. “Uh, why don’t you just wait till she gets back? Or call her on the phone and tell her?”
I shake my head. “No, you don’t understand, she’s leaving for work, for this amazing opportunity that she created herself because she’s brilliant and hardworking and incredible, and I have no idea how long she’ll be gone and I just…I just…”
I’m practically shouting. It feels like my heart is about to burst out of my chest, I’m so amped up right now.
“I can’t wait another second. She’s amazing. She’s everything to me. And I gotta make it to her and tell her that I love her, in person.”
The guy’s frown looks permanently etched in his brow. I bet he didn’t think he’d be stuck in traffic listening to a complete stranger in the car next to him shout-talk his chaotic plan to declare his feelings to the woman he’s in love with.
After a few seconds, his expression eases. He starts to nod. “Yeah, I get it.”
The traffic in his lane starts to move forward. He points ahead. “If you take the exit up here and head back through the residential neighborhoods and then merge back on a few miles down, you’ll hit the airport faster than if you try and go back on the freeway.” He motions for me to take the open spot ahead of him in his lane.
I salute him. Not sure why, it just seemed like the most appropriate gesture given this weird situation where I just poured my heart out to a stranger sitting next to me in traffic and he’s doing me a solid.
“You rock, man!” I holler to him. “Thank you. Seriously.”
“Good luck, buddy.”
I take the exit and wind my way through the nearby neighborhood. I merge back onto the freeway and head toward the airport for the second time today. The whole time, the gears in my brain are working overtime. I’ve got a plan now, but I’ve also come up with backup plans. Multiple backup plans.
I’ll get the first flight out to Lisbon. I don’t have clothes or luggage, but whatever. I’ll get what I need at the airport. And I’ll text Cruz to find out where Eden is staying. Yeah, it’s gonna be chaos. I’ve probably got a million layovers ahead of me since this is a last-minute fight. I’ll for sure be jetlagged to hell, but I don’t care.
Because all of this means I’m making my way to Eden. I’ll be that much closer to telling her I love her.
The airport comes into view, I speed to the long-term parking, and sprint to the departures terminal. I walk up to the ticket counter with the shortest line, heaving as I catch my breath. When I see the airline employee that helped me earlier, my eyes go wide. So do hers.
“Hey. Me again.” I manage a smile.
She laughs. “So I see. How can I help you this time?”
“I’d like a ticket for the next flight to Lisbon.”