A little after two, I walked my suitcase down the stairs and onto the curb in order to hail a cab. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Devon there, but I was really hoping he wouldn’t be. Instead of arguing, I handed him my suitcase and climbed into the front seat.
So, here I am with Devon driving us through the Lincoln tunnel and we emerge in New Jersey. I don’t know my way around the Garden State but when I started seeing signs for Teterboro Airport instead of Newark, red flags go off in my head.
“Where are we going?”
“To the airport,” Devon answers in a straightforward manner.
I scowl at him. “Which airport?”
Devon bites down on his lip and doesn’t answer.
I cross my arms and push my back into the leather seat and huff in frustration. I have a really good idea where we are going. My suspicions are confirmed when we pull into the private flight terminal outside Teterboro and end up next to a private plane with the name ASHER on the side.
“No. I can’t—” I look at the time. “I have a flight at Newark in two hours.”
Devon shakes his head and opens the door. “No, you don’t,” he says before exiting the car.
I can’t believe him. It’s bad enough the man has been ignoring me all day. Now I know he lied to me about the commercial flight and is making me take his very extravagant private plane.
Okay, I understand how this sounds.
Ungrateful.
I hear it in my own voice.
I pull out my phone to text Alexander but don’t know exactly what to write. It’s not like he’s been communicative today. In fact, it’s been radio silence. I put the phone away and step out of the car when Devon opens my door.
A woman greets me at the bottom of the stairs leading onto the plane. I give her a shaky smile and climb up the staircase. When I’m inside the plane I’m completely taken aback. Creamy ivory leather seats line the cabin, eight in total. A shiny birch veneer dining table matches the veneer accents throughout making it feel like I’ve stepped onto Air Force One. I peek in the back of the plane and see a bedroom with a full-size bed and a bathroom.
I take a seat in one of the eight passenger seats by the window. When the captain comes over to greet me, I ask him where we’ll be landing so I can text the information to my family. I don’t know who is picking me up. It was supposed to be Leah but she has an emergency wedding thing to take care of.
I keep my phone on for the flight as the plane is equipped with wi-fi and wait for Alexander to text or call . . . or something. I suppose I could text him a thank-you but I didn’t ask for this and my stubbornness keeps me from contacting him.
We are two people who were burned by the past. When you have been hurt before it is difficult not to bring the pain with you into the present.
Parker left me for the possibility of something better. How am I not to assume someone else will feel the same way he did and leave me? Alexander loved a woman who loved him only for his money and another who was in love with someone else.
Rascal Flatts wrote a beautiful song called “Broken Road.” It was about how every breakup and broken heart paves the pathway to finding your true love. The verse they forgot to write was about the midnight fight over trust issues.
I understand why he is upset. In a relationship, you should put the one you love first. When it comes to my family, I am having a hard time doing that.
When Parker left me, I was devastated. I put my own desires first. My need for a thrill put Luke in danger. It doesn’t matter he was driving. I egged him on. Too many lives were ruined in the process.
Am I punishing Alexander for Parker’s mistakes? Am I punishing him for my mistakes?
My inner monologue on whether to call Alexander or not takes over the entire flight and before I know it, an hour and a half has passed and we are starting our decent to Columbus.
The plane lands and I gather my purse and thank the captain and stewardess for a lovely flight, feeling so awkward for having taken it at all.