Chapter 35
The airport was busy. Carrying Karim, Libby pushed through the throng and checked the monitors for the arrival time of Rick’s flight. It had landed five minutes ago. Perfect! She found a spot to wait close to the taxi line and sent him a message to tell him where they were.
Then her eyes snagged on Dan’s name in her text list.
Still no word from him.
What was he doing with Isabella? Was she crying for forgiveness in his arms?
Dan had said he’d never turn away a woman who was crying at his feet. Was that why he’d so willingly followed her into the bungalow?
And more importantly, why had Libby slunk away so quickly back to the hut? Why had she allowed herself to be pushed aside as if she wasn’t a part of Dan’s life?
If she’d stuck around, she would’ve gotten some answers. And if she hadn’t been so stubborn earlier and simply called Dan to ask what was happening, she’d have gotten some answers then too.
Why had her big mouth failed her when she’d needed it most?
Without wasting another second, Libby tapped his name on her phone. The call connected.
It rang and rang.
And so did her bag.
What the…?
“Stay close, honey.” She put Karim down, sheltered from the road by a large planter, and kneeled on the floor beside him so she could rummage in her bag. And there it was, tucked right at the bottom under a spare T-shirt—Dan’s phone. “No wonder he didn’t call!”
Should she laugh or cry?
“Oh, honey,” she sighed, sitting on her butt on the floor and slumping against the planter.
“Mommy has not been thinking straight at all today!” Karim jumped into her lap like a puppy, and she couldn’t help but smile then.
“I’ve been a coward,” she told him. Not that he was listening.
He’d found his favorite crackers in her bag and was happily munching on them, oblivious to what a scaredy cat his mother had been all afternoon.
Isabella turning up like that and fawning over Dan had been an elbow shove in Libby’s ribs. She’d stepped aside without a fight. Without questions. Thinking—assuming—the worst of Dan. That he’d tell her to leave by the end of the week.
Thanks, Elliot.
Isabella hadn’t shoved her in the ribs at all. It was Libby’s low self-esteem that had delivered the blow. Her confidence had been shattered before, but she’d be damned to let the scars of her emotional abuse—as Dan had put it—affect anything else in her life.
Her gaze caught on Dan’s name in her message list. The top line preview of the last message he’d sent her beamed at her. The link to his Part Five clips.
“Well, here goes nothing.” She clicked on the link that Dan had sent. When his face flashed up full screen, she hit Play.
“Part Five,” he said.
Karim turned to look at her screen, too. “Dan-Dan!”
“That’s right, honey. Let’s see what he has to say for himself.” She angled the phone so he could see better.
“Okay, people, let’s talk about Part Five…
” Dan rubbed his lips together. His breath hitched, like he was changing words before he’d given himself a chance to speak them.
“Part Five… So… I…” Then he exhaled and mumbled something—probably a curse word, knowing him.
“All right, here’s the thing. No one really knows what their Part Five is going to be like.
” The angle of his phone shifted to show only his feet.
He was walking. Grass and shrubs turned to white-yellow sand.
The camera angle changed again, and his profile, glazed in orange evening sunshine, filled the screen.
“So, what does Part Five look like for me?” he said, staring out to sea now.
Another long pause. His lips pursed. “No one really knows for sure how their Part Five will turn out. We make plans, dream. Hope. But life can change in the blink of an eye…good and bad.”
As the airport bustled around her and Karim munched quietly on more crackers, Libby remained glued to Dan as he revealed his hopes, plans, and dreams. Coaching athletes, sports commentating, more physio so his left leg and hip didn’t jam up.
Spending more time with his family—his mom, sisters, nieces, and nephews.
Starting a podcast where he interviewed other people who’d suffered life-changing injuries.
Working for the Get Living campaign, doing charitable work. His list went on.
Way to go, Cranky!
Just like she’d urged him to do on Atiu, he was realizing he was still alive, that he had so much more to give.
But there was no mention of relationships. Of love and romance.
And that was fine. Dan had always said that his love life was his private business. Simply knowing that he’d begun to make plans for his future made her happy.
“So that’s it, folks. My Part Five…” Dan wrapped the video up.
Libby’s finger hovered to press Stop.
“Except there’s more, a lot more…” Dan said, and she pulled her finger back.
“I don’t want my future to be defined by what I do, but rather by who I do it with.
Life isn’t about who we fall in love with, but who we keep being in love with.
And without taking chances, there’s no way of knowing if a relationship will work.
We need to stick around for a few laps to find out if we’re strong enough to run the full course.
We need to keep hanging out, keep having adventures, big and small.
Keep being friends. Companions. Lovers. Partners.
” He looked straight into his camera now.
“And yes, I’m talking about you, Libby. Take a chance with me, because it’s who we live our lives with that matters.
In other words… What I’m saying, Libby, is… It’s you. You’re my Part Five.”
Dan’s video stopped.
The world stopped too, becoming a bubble of silence and awe.
Libby lowered her phone.
“Um…whoa…um…wha…”
Karim stuffed another cracker into his mouth and cocked his head at her.
“Yeah, that’s right, honey… For once, Mommy’s totally…utterly…speechless.”
Dan shoved a wad of cash at the driver and burst out of the cab as fast as his stupid leg would let him.
He scanned the open front of the airport.
Above people’s heads, he could just about see the check-in desks, but where would he even start looking for Libby and Karim?
As the cab drove off, he strode forward.
Maybe he should’ve taken Isabella up on her offer to come with him?
Four eyes were better than two, but he’d told her to stay put.
Who the hell ever stopped the woman he loved from boarding a plane with his ex-fiancée in tow?
Holy shit.
The woman he loved?
Yes! Yes!
He was in love with Libby! And that blast of heat that had engulfed his soul yesterday when he’d recorded his Part Five clips was the love he had for her, mounting, building, climbing. Waiting to be acknowledged and released.
God, why hadn’t he just told her how he felt last night?
Why had he waited?
Of all people, he knew the most how life could change in a flash—seize the fucking day!—and now she was running away from him before he’d had a chance to tell her. Before he could find out if she felt the same way.
He thought she did.
He felt it and desperately wanted to believe it.
But he had to find out for sure.
He had to find her!
With his pulse thrumming in his head, he skipped through a sea of people.
Libby could be anywhere… She could be checking her bag in. She could be boarding a flight. She could be—
There!
His heart caught in his throat.
He saw her. She was on the floor, by the taxi queue, leaning against the same planter he’d sat on that dark, windy night when he’d first arrived on the island. Oh, god, was she okay?
Dan picked up his pace.
She looked dazed. Stunned. He crossed the road, dodging suitcases on wheels, people on phones, and kids holding parents’ hands. As he got closer, he saw that Libby was clutching her phone.
No!
She’d been on social media, seen those stupid posts from Isabella’s friends, and put two and two together to make six.
“Libby!”
She looked up, shifted Karim off her lap, and by the time he reached her, she was on her feet with Karim on her hip.
“I can explain!” he said. “Please don’t leave.”
She ran into his arms, and her lips smacked against his.
Stunned, Dan kissed her back. And in one hot flash, all his pleas and worries that she’d be angry were silenced.
“Oh, Dan!” Libby kissed his neck, his jaw, his ear. His mouth. Definitely not angry! But warm and soft like always, her body molding against his as he embraced her and Karim.
And that’s when two things struck him.
One, Libby loved him back—his heart, body, and soul were on fire with it—and two…
“You’ve finally seen my Part Five clips.” He kissed her nose. “It’s about time.”
“So that’s why you knew I hadn’t watched them yesterday.”
“I thought if you had, you’d either throw me out of the kitchen or jump into my arms. I was hoping for the latter.
” Grinning, he cupped her face and gazed into her beautiful eyes.
A wish come true. “I want to keep being with you and Karim. Australia, or anywhere and everywhere else. Please don’t leave.
I know Isabella turning up like that looked bad, but nothing is going on between us.
She’s a crying mess. My phone is still in your bag.
Her’s is flat. I couldn’t call you, and—”
“Dan, it’s okay.” Libby was laughing. “I found your phone. And I’m not leaving.”
“Thank f—fudge.” He bent to kiss her, but Karim patted his chest as if to say, Hey, I’m here too! Like Dan would ever forget. “Come here, squirt.” He lifted Karim into his arms and then finished dropping another kiss onto Libby’s lips. “I’m quite sure I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“Me too,” she said. “It’s kind of terrifying, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” He grinned and cupped her face again. “But I won’t run away from you on a moonlit beach.”
She kissed his palm. “I promise I won’t do that again either.”
“I was so scared you were running away today. When Hehu called Tia Rosa, and she said you were heading to the airport, I panicked. I thought you’d think that I’d want to get back with Isabella. But I don’t. That stuff on the internet isn’t true.”
“I know that now.” Libby wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against Karim. Two of his favorite people in his arms. Dan’s heart swelled.
“I thought the worst at first,” Libby added, “but once the shock had passed, I started thinking clearly.”
“So then…?” He glanced around Libby’s feet. No big rucksack nor Karim’s stroller. “Why are you here?”
“I’m waiting for Rick. He’s just landed. I’ve no idea what’s going on with him, but he followed Isabella to LA, and all I know is that she told him to, um…leave her alone.”
“Ah.” Dan winced. “That was Rick?”
“She told you?”
Dan nodded. But with the reminder of Isabella’s problems, his heart sank a little. The remedy was to kiss Libby again and savor having her back in his arms for a few more moments before they updated each other on the whirlwind of the afternoon.
But as it turned out, even a few moments were far too long for Karim. He slapped a hand on Dan’s cheek.
“Beach.”
Pulling back from Libby’s lips, Dan chuckled. “We’ll go soon, kid. I promise.”
“Where’s Isabella now?”
“At the bungalow.” He rested his forehead on Libby’s. “I don’t know much about what happened between her and Rick in LA, but Hunter’s bailed and left her to drown.”
“So I gathered. I’ve seen those disgusting comments about her.”
“She’s getting the blame for everything, while Hunter gets away scot-free. Those posts Isabella’s friends put out about her impending wedding were to counteract all the crap that’s been written. She asked me to marry her.”
“What did you say?”
Dan pulled back. “What do you think I said?” Pursing his lips, he stared at her guilty face. “Huh. Seriously? We’ve really got to work on your trust issues, Libby Jones.”
“All right, all right, Cranky, I’m sorry.” She went onto her tiptoes and kissed him. “It’s not every day that Olympians chase after me.”
“Then you’d better get used to this one chasing after you.
” He picked up her bag and moved to the side to let a woman in a wheelchair pass by.
“Look, Libby. I’m definitely not going to marry Isabella, but she needs my help.
I’m all she’s got right now. She knows about us, but if her stupid plan has any chance of working, she needs to find a husband immediately. ”
“We’ll think of something. Together.” She squeezed his hand. “I want to help her, too.”
Dan kissed her again. Libby’s generous spirit was just one of the many, many reasons he’d fallen in love with her so quickly.
With her sunshine and rainbows, she’d opened him up, turned him from a man who ran away and hid from everything into someone who finally knew he’d found his true self.
She’d given him the courage to step out into the world again, and he craved spending his life worshipping her.
And to prove that he was deserving of being a part of her and Karim’s world.
“I’ve had a wild idea.” Libby turned her head. “I think I might know someone who’d be willing to marry her.”
Her gaze drifted toward the arrivals hall.
“Rick?” Oh no! Isabella was going to hate this plan… “You think he’d do it?”
“If the price is right.” Libby’s mischievous, conspiring eyes met his.
Dan grinned back at her, his very own ray of sunshine. Loving Libby would be his greatest adventure, and although the future was wide open, one thing was for sure.
All those people who’d said he was a lucky man were right.
He had Libby.
Lucky, lucky man indeed.