Evan kept talking. “I might not be King Kong, but I’d find a way to sprout wings and carry us both down safely before I let anything happen to you.”
“Did you say you love me?” I repeated louder at the ceiling.
“Just hang tight back there, Henry. It’s only a storm. This is completely normal.”
“Did you just say you loved me?” I shouted as loud as I could, losing my patience with his inability to hear me.
He continued. “Well, not completely normal, considering I’m professing my love for the first time over an intercom with only Javier locked in the cockpit beside me, but the turbulence you are feeling is normal. Henry, I love you, and I’m gonna take care of you up here. And as soon as I get us back on the ground, I’ll say it to your face. Just hang tight for me, babe. It’s all going to be okay.”
The speaker cut off when he severed the connection, but I could do nothing but sit frozen, blinking at the ceiling.
I was vaguely aware of the plane dipping and shaking, but a wide smile covered my face.
“He did.” I leaned back in my seat. “He said he loves me,” I whispered to myself.
Robin’s hand squeezed mine to catch my attention, “If he has to sprout those wings, you better take me with you.” Her green face turned to Carter just in time for him to shake a puke bag out and pass it her way.
But I couldn’t focus on the movement long enough to think about being airsick. I’m not positive I remembered I was on a plane.
He loves me.
It wasn’t a novel concept. There was plenty of proof that he did. But the way I felt to have heard those words come from his mouth was indescribable. No matter if it had come over the intercom of a plane that could very well have been falling from the sky.
Evan loved me.
I’d go down with a smile on my face.
I WAS OUT of my seat and barreling to the back of the plane before we made it to the gate. Javier was more than capable of taxiing us in.
The weather had been shit the whole flight. I’d managed to avoid the worst of it, but the air had been choppy as hell. Normally, it was nothing I’d be concerned about. You know, unless my boyfriend, who was already terrified of the normal bumps in the sky, happened to be with me. And then, in that case, the alarm bells might as well have been screaming like sirens in my head.
I’d told Henry that I loved him not because I’d feared something was wrong, but rather because it was a fact I knew with every fiber of my being. I’d been searching for the right way to tell him over the last week, but nothing I’d come up with had come close to doing my feelings justice.
I loved him. Wholly. Utterly. Permanently.
And, knowing he was in the back, losing his shit, I hoped that my words could offer him the comfort I was physically unable to provide him from inside the cockpit.
God knows telling him soothed my soul.
I could only pray that it had the same effect on him.
After I pushed through the door, I came to a screeching halt when he came into view.
I’d expected bad.
I’d expected panicked.
I’d even prepared for pissed off.
However, I’d never considered he’d be damn near giddy.
“Hey,” I said, cautiously taking in his wide smile and his sparkling, blue eyes.
“Hey,” he replied softly.
My feet started moving again. His gaze locked on me as I closed the distance.
“Are you okay?” I asked, dropping to my knees beside him. I smoothed my hands over his shoulders before tracing up his neck to frame his face as though I had been searching for a physical injury.
He silently held my stare, his eyes glistening as they searched mine. Just when his reaction began to unnerve me, he blurted, “I love you too.”
A laugh sprang from my throat before I corrected him. “Evan.”
His smile grew, and he threw his arms around my shoulders, pulling me off-balance until I was hanging over the leather armrest. “I love you too, Evan.”
I closed my eyes and allowed his voice to wash over me, soothing me from the outside in. Or maybe it was inside out. Regardless, it reconstructed my heart.
Henry had made me whole again when he’d come into my life.
But, right then, he rearranged the pieces in a way that erased the past.
He still hadn’t released me when the plane came to a stop.
Nor did he release me when the cabin door was opened.
And, as Carter and Robin made their way out, I was still tightly wrapped in his arms.
“I love you,” I whispered into his ear. “And I’ll tell you that every day for the rest of my life, but unfortunately, I have to remind you that we need to get to the hospital to see Levee.”
His back shot straight and his arms fell away. “Shit. That’s right.” He unbuckled his seat belt and dug his phone from his pocket. “I’ll text Sam and let him know we’ll be there soon.”
“I’ll grab my stuff,” I replied, backing toward the cockpit to retrieve my phone and my ball cap from the storage compartment.