“Because I can’t not stare. Why did you have to wear that shirt? You know how I like that shirt?”
“This shirt? This shirt?” She looked down at the thin maroon top with a hole in the elbow. “This shirt?”
Keith nodded. “That shirt. It makes your hair glow.”
Elly’s heart did a tiny, hopeful leap in her chest, and it was more painful than encouraging. “Thanks, but I look terrible. I was up at four a.m. this morning to process a ton of dead flowers. I haven’t showered, I was soaked through with rain, and then handled thousands of dead flower stems. You don’t have to compliment me just to make me feel better.”
He didn’t flinch. “I see your famous compliment deflector is still intact. But it doesn’t change what I said.” He settled back into his seat with a sigh. “But if it makes you uncomfortable, then I’ll stop. But I’m glad you called.”
Elly felt a shiver climb up her spine. It was almost pleasurable, sitting so close to him now, but then she remembered why she was on this plane. Dennis’s note and the foreboding drum that she was feeling in her heart. She looked out the window. “I just hope Dennis is okay.”
“I hope so, Elly. I really do. I’m worried too, but hopeful. He’s a good kid.”
Elly shook her head. “He’s not a good kid. He’s a sad kid. And we did everything wrong with him.”
“That’s not true. We did everything we could to help him.”
“Everything but truly accept him as family.”
“You don’t even know for sure that he is family.”
“Yes, which is why I let your ridiculous voice piping in my ear convince me to order that stupid DNA kit, and now he’s gone and who knows what he’s doing. What if he’s hurting himself? Dennis truly believes that the world is better off without him.”
“He’s wrong.”
“I know. But I see how I made him feel that way. God, I’m so selfish. We were selfish. We were too wrapped up in each other to see him.” She felt a sob rising in her throat. “And that’s why it’s better that we aren’t together. It was never meant to be.”
She looked straight at Keith, who looked absolutely devastated by her words. “Do you really believe that?”
Elly shook her head. “Can we please not talk about this right now? I might lose my brother and my career in the same day, and I really just need … not this. Not right now. I’m thankful that you are here with me, but … it’s better if we don’t talk. About us. Or your secrets. Or anything.”
Keith looked at her as he shook his head with disappointment. “Always the great communicator,” he murmured.
“What was that?” asked Elly, her tiredness overcoming her.
“Nothing.” They both settled back into the uncomfortable leather as the plane’s engines roared to life. Elly gripped the armrest. “Oh Jesus….” She closed her eyes and began mumbling out a frantic Lord’s Prayer. The plane pitched to the right during takeoff, and she uttered a little cry, trying not to imagine the plane smashing into a thousand pieces on the runway. What would happen to Dennis then? No, it couldn’t happen. She could not die here, in this metal bird of fiery death. A warm hand slid across hers, its thick fingers wrapping around hers and gently rubbing the skin of her palm. Her hand and Keith’s joined together in a dance that they had done so many times, feeling as natural as breathing. Some light turbulence jostled the plane about, and Elly felt her breath catch in her chest, but she couldn’t be sure if it was the adrenaline or the rapture of holding Keith’s hand, so very right. Frayed wires of electricity were traveling up her arm, and Elly felt for a moment the swirling blackness of a faint. Fear, lack of oxygen, or the presence of Keith? She opened her mouth to tell him that she loved him, that she needed him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our cruising altitude.”