Chapter Nineteen
nineteen
Lanie
■ 18-OCT ■ Trans-Continental Airways ■ Flight: 79 ■
LHR-London, Heathro w ? JFK-John F. Kennedy Int’l Airport
Seat Assignment: 24J
Lanie moved through the security checkpoint like a zombie. She was so tired and for the first time in forever she was ready to go home. Spending a long weekend running around London used to be her idea of a good time...in her twenties. She was not twenty anymore, she lamented. Yet despite being bone-tired, she didn’t realize quite how close she’d been to collapse. Not just mentally but physically—even the clothes she wore today could have spun completely around her body with her still wearing them.
Heading to the departure gate, she could feel the stress of overseeing all the little details of Gemma’s wedding was taking its toll. In recent weeks, she barely thought about anything else—the perfectionist in her, a side she struggled to keep at bay, had reared its uncompromising head. If she wasn’t careful, she would barely even take the time to feed herself. In fact, she’d forgotten to eat today, she realized as her stomach growled loudly. It would never be clearer than it was at that moment that she needed to go home. With a convenience store sandwich in hand, she arrived at her departure gate, as usual relieved to be the first one there. She was alone.
Well, not totally alone , it appeared. There was someone else there sitting right by the gate. Almost directly in front of the customer service desk.
Lanie stopped midstride, dumbstruck.
She didn’t know how long she stood on the concourse as people walked past, in absolute shock. Now that she was closer, the person was wholly visible, sitting all alone with his roller bag, casually reading a paper and sipping from a paper cup. It was Ridley.
Lanie moved toward him slowly, glancing around, astonished. He was supposed to be in New York. “Ridley?”
He rested his newspaper in his lap and looked up. Pushing his tortoiseshell frames up the thick bridge of his nose, his eyes traveled up to her face like she was the one who wasn’t supposed to be there. “Hey,” he replied. “You okay?” There was a coffee caddy on the seat next to him with one cup, which he removed then handed to her as she nodded.
She took it, puzzled, and popped off the top to examine the contents. The heavenly scent of coffee beans, hazelnut, caramel and toffee sauce filled her nose. She took a sip. “Ooooh, and it’s still kinda warm! Sorcery! Thank you.” She exhaled with relief, nearly collapsing into the seat beside him. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you I was coming in this morning.”
“Yes, but that was this morning.” She checked her phone. “It’s twelve p.m.”
“Yes, well, I realized that you can get a lot of work done in the quiet of those airline club lounges.”
“You got into the Trans-Continental lounge?” It said a lot about the airline culture she’d already begun to fall into that she was a smidgen impressed by that.
“Apparently, since I flew business class today, I was eligible.” He shrugged.
“Ridley, what are you doing here?”
“It felt like too much of a coincidence and a missed opportunity to arrive the exact same day you depart and not see you.”
Okay, that is sweet. She’d dated men who’d done less. “But three hours, Ridley?”
“What’s three hours between friends?” His face was still incongruously serious.
She hemmed while he continued.
“You said it was unfortunate we’d miss each other. You also said you hated being at the airport all alone with nothing to do, right?”
He hadn’t told a lie yet. She nodded. In all their back-and-forth texting, she may have possibly said a lot of those things.
“Seriously, Ridley, aren’t you tired? Don’t you need to get home to your daughter?”
He frowned and pulled back slightly. Lanie hadn’t realized until then that they’d slowly begun leaning toward one another, their shoulders nearly touching. She immediately regretted saying anything, wishing she could coax him and his delicious bergamot-and-vetiver scent closer again.
He shook his head. “She has athletics all afternoon.”
Lanie wasn’t sure she understood what that meant.
His eyes roamed her face. “Track and field?”
Lanie made a small O shape with her mouth.
“So, she won’t be home until six-ish,” he continued, watching her face as if it could tell him things her mouth wouldn’t. And reminding her of the last time he’d looked at her like that. Right before he kissed her.
“A-and your work?”
“Lanie.” One eyebrow rose behind his glasses. “Do you want me to go? Because just saying so would probably be faster than running down each supposed item on my daily schedule.”
Lanie was momentarily speechless. Ever so slightly magnified by the strength of his lenses, in the light cast from the giant window right next to them, she could see all the whorls and swirls of his dark brown irises. The rich cognac brown of his eyes pulled her in like a sci-fi tractor beam.
“Lanie?”
“N-no,” Lanie backtracked when she could finally speak again. “No. I’m sorry. I just assumed you’d have better things to do than sit in the airport on the off chance you’d run into me.”
“Run into you?” His eyes narrowed, examining her face again as if he was trying to decipher something. “I didn’t run into you. I waited for you.”
At those words, Lanie’s heart took off like one of those out-of-control hansom cabs that circled Central Park, galloping wildly like a spooked horse.
He didn’t mean it like that, he didn’t mean it like that. He did not mean it like that, Melanie!
“You gave me your flight info, remember?” His delivery was deadpan as usual. But then he sat up straighter. “Wait, I just heard myself say that. Was that creepy? It sounded creepy. Oh my God.” Ridley put a hand to his face, like this was really just dawning on him.
She barked out an awkward laugh, and sniffled, nodding. “I mean...”
“I just thought it would be nice. You know? I know how much I hate waiting in the airport too. I miss the days when you could sit at the gate with people to see them off. Are you too young to remember back then? Anyway, I thought since I was coming and you were going—”
“Ridley.” Lanie chuckled, putting a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I appreciate it. This was a really cool thing to do.”
He appeared barely placated by her reassurance. His eyes closed and his face pinched together. “This is really weird, isn’t it? Or inappropriate?”
“For real.” She sighed. “This was a very nice stalker-y thing to do.” She glanced over at Ridley and from his very somber face she could tell he was taking her very seriously. She laughed to lighten his mood.
“Ridley.” She sighed again, realizing this wasn’t the time to toy with him. It was important. “Maybe once upon a time you might have been doing the most, but nowadays, no. I have good friends I met on Discord and on online MPGs that I’ve never even seen in person before. So, we’re cool.”
“Once upon a time? Is that a dig at my age? I am a millennial too, you know.”
Lanie nearly choked with laughter. “You thought I was too young to have waited at the gate with other well-wishers! But I suppose I should expect that from an elder millennial. ”
“Watch it now.” Ridley chuckled. Lanie paused to appreciate this rare sign of amusement from him.
His laughter petered out quickly and Lanie already missed it. His voice was a deep baritone and his laughter was like a slide into a silken bath of warmth.
“So, what’s wrong?” He frowned.
Lanie shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Don’t be difficult. What’s wrong?”
She panicked. “It would take too long to explain.”
Ridley checked his watch. “We have time.”
“You don’t want to hear this.”
“As you just mentioned, I stayed a whole three extra hours in this airport like a weirdo just to say what’s up.” He wrinkled his nose. “So, I think I do.”
Lanie launched in. “Okay...um, I guess it’s this wedding. And Gemma’s demands. They’re getting ridiculous now. And , she’s changed the wedding date to Valentine’s Day but won’t explain why.”
“Not romance?”
“Do you know how much ‘romance’ costs on Valentine’s Day? It’s like they see the suckers coming.”
Ridley snorted.
“So, I’m wrangling the details of this new development, plus I’m securing hotel rooms, as well as finding hairstylists and makeup artists for everyone—because naturally we’re gonna need two since there’s the morning mass and then the evening reception. With outfit changes. Oh, and did I mention there’s a luncheon in between? At a venue I have to find? Because apparently Gemma’s too stressed with her night classes and Jonah’s always working, so neither of them can plan their own wedding!”
Ridley clicked his teeth. “Sucks. And that’s why my wife and I eloped. Just me, her and the group of friends that could find a cheap ticket for the weekend to Mallorca.”
“That’s a destination wedding, not an elopement.”
Ridley opened his mouth to retort as his phone buzzed. Lanie was disappointed when it looked like he was going to pick it up, but instead Ridley returned the phone to his pocket.
“Po-ta-to, po-tat-o.” He shrugged. “Point is, it was done on a week’s notice and a shoestring budget and our plane tickets and accommodations were the most expensive part.” He shook his head. “A big thing is masochistic. Or in your case, sadistic...no matter how much I benefit from it.”
“My status as my cousin’s beck-and-call girl pleases you?”
“Anything that keeps you coming back pleases me.”
Lanie paused. Quite possibly the planet Earth paused, Lanie wasn’t sure.
He cleared his throat, as if he’d just heard what he’d said. “I mean, it’s been fun to keep crossing paths...right?”
She dared herself to touch him, grabbing his hand that rested on his thigh and squeezing it. “Yes. This was very cool, Ridley. You don’t understand how much it means to me that you waited.” She released her grip just as his thumb glided over her fingers. Startled by the realization that his wedding ring was again gone, she slipped her hand away. Lanie glanced at the time on her cell phone and then up into his eyes. “Look at that: an hour gone. That flew by.”
“Not bad. See, waiting is better with company.”
“Lots of things are better with company.” Suddenly shy, Lanie cast her eyes down. But when she brought them back to him after a noticeable silence, Ridley was just smiling at her.
A real honest-to-God smile. An amazingly warm, ear-to-ear smile from a mouth full of beautifully straight, Colgate-white teeth.
Lanie winced internally at the sight as her heart sank. She had a crush on Ridley.