Epilogue
“Are you ready?” Landon asks me as he slaps the boarding passes across his hands. He leans in for a quick peck that warms my insides.
“Ready,” I say as we walk away from the Skyline Airlines counter toward security. I have spent so many minutes alone in the TSA lines, watching other couples and families excited to go on vacation with their loved ones.
I am now that person who has found my person.
To say he is my everything is so small, so tiny in comparison. I do not know now where he begins and I end.
He looks for ways to touch me—a brief brush of fingertips against my side, a graze of his short nails along my arms. He kisses my neck for no reason.
The anticipation for this trip was delicious; each day was one step closer, and the excitement built.
Thankfully, my love is doing well for himself. He sold the Kindred app for a pile of money. I came home one day to see him having a Scrooge McDuck moment, rolling around on our bed in a lot of filthy cash.
“Did you start dealing drugs?” I asked.
“I sold the app.”
I ran toward him, and then we had sex on top of the money.
It sounds ridiculous and unsanitary, but it was fun.
To celebrate, he is taking me on a dream vacation, beginning in Barcelona and snaking down the Mediterranean. I am finally seeing the Santorini Islands.
A year has flown by since that fateful plane ride from New York to Waterloo, Iowa.
We got a tiny apartment together. I started working for a nonprofit that focuses on books and reading with impoverished youth. I make a sliver of my old salary, and while my bank account is meager on most days, my heart is full.
Landon jokes that he’s my sugar daddy, and I am more than okay with it.
We haven’t been on a plane ride since that day because Landon always wanted the next plane ride to be special, a milestone. He keeps saying this trip is to celebrate our meet-anniversary and selling the app, but I think he may propose to me on this trip. We picked out a ring two months ago, and I know he has it somewhere.
We weave in and out of the airport stores, collecting snacks and entertainment. I purchase a new thriller I’ve had my eye on and a Diet Coke while Landon can’t decide on a magazine. When he looks across the brightly colored airport store at me, my heart still skips a beat.
We hold hands as we wait in chairs for our flight to be called.
Landon bounces his leg nervously as we wait.
“Are you nervous?” I ask.
“Yes. You remember, taking off makes me nervous. Also, what if I have to go to the bathroom and I get stuck?”
I laugh, remembering screaming to have someone let me out—Jade, the flight attendant, coming to my rescue.
“Or a dog gets loose?”
“Or a man takes off his shoes to air out his nasty-ass feet?”
“And then you get into a fight with him.”
“Well, that plane ride was perfect—since I met you.” Landon takes my hand and kisses it, and I melt.
“Do you now believe in fate?”
“Fate. Love at first sight. All of it.”
The plane is announced, and we get in line. We board, and we have a middle and aisle seat again, but Landon lets me sit on the aisle.
“Oh fuck, I forgot something,” Landon says. “I have to get off this plane.”
“What did you forget?” I ask, so confused. He disappears, and I look for him. All the passengers are seated, ready for takeoff.
Where is Landon?
The plane intercom comes on. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a special surprise for the passenger in 34C.”
Everyone checks their seat number, even those to the front of the plane.
I look up as well, and holy shit, I’m 34C.
It’s happening now.
Then, my darling boyfriend appears with the radio to his mouth.
“I didn’t believe in fate or love at first sight. Then I met you. I fought it. I agonized over it. When you left me in Iowa, I felt a deep hole in my heart that I had never felt before—with anyone. You were what was missing. You are more than my everything. I love you, and I’ve loved you since that time you caught my fake tooth in your hand.”
Landon walks down the aisle as ladies ooh and aaw, and multiple heads turn to watch him walk toward me. My eyes are already misty as Landon takes my hand and drops to one knee.
“Erin Phyllis Campbell, I love you. Marry me. Go on a million more airplane rides with me. Anywhere I go with you is an adventure.”
Tears come to my eyes, and I’m overcome.
All I can do is nod and kiss him. Tears stream down my face.
I kiss him, my forever rowmate.
Every misstep, every broken promise led me to Landon.
I feel happy.
I feel loved.
I feel grounded enough that I can soar.
The entire plane erupts into applause as Landon kisses me deeply.
“This is your captain speaking. We are about to take off. If you are standing, including the gentleman who just proposed, please be seated.”
Landon sits down next to me, and it’s perfect.
THE END