34. Declan #2
I grabbed my phone and called her, but it went to voicemail. I pulled up our message thread to text her, but I didn’t know what to say. There’d been a connection over text, but we’d only truly connected in person. Don’t get on that plane, I wrote. Wait for me, Olivia.
She didn’t respond. I had no idea if she’d see it. I had no idea if she’d wait. But I knew I had to try.
“Catie! Get your shoes on!” I yelled, racing downstairs to grab my keys. “We’re going to the airport!”
I didn’t drive nearly as fast as I wanted to, not with Catie in the car with me.
But we still made the trip in record time.
I parked illegally, grabbed Catie, and raced into the airport.
Shannon was a small, quiet airport. One glance told me Olivia wasn’t in the departures area. She’d already gone through security.
I checked my watch. Olivia’s flight didn’t board for another half hour.
I headed to the nearest airline counter. “I need two tickets.”
“Where to?” the employee asked.
“I don’t care. Anywhere.”
“Sir, that’s highly unusual. Do you have luggage?” He looked at me suspiciously.
“Uncle Declan,” Catie said, “I don’t have my passport.”
“Are you her legal guardian?” the employee asked. “Because if not, the child needs ID.”
“She’s six,” I said. “Never mind. We aren’t going anywhere. We just need tickets so we can get through security. There’s someone I need to talk to.”
“Sir, we can’t do that,” the employee said.
“Please,” I said desperately. I opened my wallet and dropped every bill I had on the counter. “I’ll buy your most expensive ticket.”
Catie tugged on my shirt. “Why won’t they let us see Olivia?”
“They will, love,” I promised. “They will.”
“I will not,” the employee said, indignant.
I slammed my hands flat on the counter. “The woman I love is about to get on a plane and I haven’t told her…she doesn’t know… She’s not answering her phone. Please.”
The employee looked torn. “If you have a specific destination in mind, and the child has official ID, I can help you. Otherwise, there’s nothing I can do.”
I ran a hand through my hair. I wasn’t going to be able to get Catie through security. Not before Olivia’s plane took off. And I couldn’t leave her behind in the lobby while I went ahead.
“Fuck,” Catie said, like she was testing out the word. “Did I use it right?”
“You used it right,” I said. I thought through my options. “Could you get her a message? You could tell her I’m here. I’d pay you anything you want—”
“Declan?” Olivia said behind me.
I turned toward her, my heart pounding in my chest.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, like she’d been crying, and her hair was a mess. She looked like that first day on the plane when I’d met her and her oversized suitcase. But that day she’d had a spark in her, even if she was upset.
This time, it was like that spark was gone.
“Someone said a single dad was losing his mind in the lobby and throwing money at people,” Olivia said. “After reading your text, I took a gamble that it was you.”
I cracked a smile. It felt like I could breathe for the first time since she’d walked out of my bedroom this morning.
I reached for her. “Olivia, I—”
“No,” she said, holding up her hands. “I just came out to tell you to go home. We can’t keep doing this.”
“But I love you,” I said. The words sounded naked and stark in this gray airport. “I love you, Olivia. Stay with me. Please.” I held out my hand to her, desperate to touch her. To make everything right. “You wanted to stay with me once. I promise I can make you want to stay again.”
But Olivia was shaking her head. “You don’t get it, Declan. Of course you could make me want to stay. But it wouldn’t be good for us. We can’t keep hurting each other over and over, without ever resolving any of our actual issues.”
Honestly, that sounded like half the couples I knew. I didn’t see what the problem was, if we loved each other.
Maybe that’s the problem, all my doubts whispered in my ear. Maybe she doesn’t love you back.
Catie was looking back and forth between me and Olivia anxiously. I hated that she was seeing this.
“We just need time,” I said to Olivia, my eyes begging.
It was the only answer I had, and a part of me already knew it wasn’t good enough. But I couldn’t give in yet.
Olivia took a deep breath. “Would you consider getting your revenge on the O’Rourkes in a different way? Any other way, except destroying the mansion. Something that doesn’t hurt…” Her eyes dropped to Catie. “Anyone else.”
I swore. This again.
“You know I can’t,” I said. “I can give you anything else, but not that.”
Olivia picked up her suitcase. “Then I can’t do this. I’m sorry. Goodbye, Catie. Declan.” She turned, and I saw her wiping at her cheeks as she walked away.
I caught up to her and grabbed her arm. “Wait.”
“My plane is leaving. The one you bought me a ticket for, Declan.” She snatched her arm from my grasp. “Don’t follow me again. Let me go. It’s better for both of us.”
The devastating thing was, I could tell she meant it this time. She meant every word of it.
So I stood there, broken-hearted bastard that I was, and watched Olivia St. James walk away from me.
I didn’t move until Catie slipped her small hand into mine. “Let’s go home, Uncle Declan.”
I nodded, and together we turned around and walked toward something Olivia didn’t have—home.