Succour

Chapter 76

Liz, July 7

I can’t stop my leg from bouncing. It’s like a jackhammer is trapped under my skin. I’m sitting in the Sky Harbor airport terminal, anxiously awaiting the imminent arrival of my favorite Brit.

The tall woman with the permanent lemon-sucking expression opens the terminal gate, and suddenly the stream of passengers begins. Flight attendants with rolling suitcases, business types in suits and ties, families herding overtired kids, men already flipping open their cell phones.

I catch a flash of blonde hair above a child’s head—but it disappears behind the mother. My heart leaps and sinks all at once.

Then, like the sea itself parts for me, I see him.

Ben.