Page 82 of Endurance

“Don’t worry about rushing. The flight is delayed slightly due to a hazmat issue, so you should make it to the gate in plenty of time.”

Not bothering to ask more specifics about the hazmat delay, I thanked her again and rushed to security, where I had to wait in yet another line. As I slowly made my way through the snaking rows of retractable belt stanchions, I had a minute to absorb what had just happened at the ticket counter and found myself chuckling over the irony.

Married? Right.

However, the more I toyed with the idea of marrying Kallie, the better it sounded. Hadn’t I just been thinking about spending forever with her? That’s what marriage meant after all. Perhaps this was fate’s way of giving me a nudge. The rational part of me erred on the side of caution. A lifetime was a long time. There were so many things Kallie and I had yet to learn about each other. Still, despite the unknowns, a lifetime with her felt right—like it was just the way things were meant to be.

After I got through security, I followed the signs to my assigned gate number. When I reached it, I didn’t even have to search for Kallie. Just like the first day I saw her on the beach, she stood out among the ordinary, and I felt her gravity pulling me like an invisible magnet.

Slowly, I put one foot in front of the other and studied her. Her golden hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the red and blue extensions still in place. She was looking down at a magazine on her lap, her beautiful face focused on whatever text she was reading. My breath caught in my throat. The idea that I might have lost her—that I might lose her still—caused all the air to steal from my lungs.

As if she felt the pull, too, she slowly turned to face me. I couldn’t tell if she was sad or happy to see me. She shook her head as if to stop me from coming any further, but I didn’t stop walking until I reached the end of the row of chairs on which she sat. Only then did I pause. She stared at me with stormy green eyes for a long while, her expression distant and untouchable, as if she were trying to hide the feelings she was trying to sort out.

Emotion welled up inside me, erupting from a place I didn’t know existed. My words—everything I’d practiced in my head during the drive to the airport—got caught in my throat as I stared at her. Instead of trying to say everything I was feeling, I said the only thing that seemed to matter.

“I love you, Kallie. Please don’t go.”

28

Kallie

Igasped. It felt like the ground had quite literally fallen out from beneath my feet. I couldn’t speak. A shiver raced down my spine, and energy crashed through the air like a thunderbolt. I knew I had to say something one way or the other, but fear of getting the words wrong rendered me speechless.

Sloan stood only a few feet away from me, his eyes searching mine. His blue gaze was piercing and devastating, just as it was on the day we first met. He was a force of nature, and he was here—for me. Something profound twisted in my heart. My love for him was bigger than anything else I’d ever felt. It was intense and potent—just like he was. As I stared into his expressive eyes, I wanted nothing more than to leap into his arms. However, before I did that, I had to be sure his declaration of love wasn’t just in response to mine.

“Sloan, what are you doing here?” I asked once I could find my voice.

“I’m here because I couldn’t handle the thought of you leaving.”

“But you should be on your way to San Antonio.”

Moving over to sit in the empty seat beside me, he took my hand.

“I’m not going to San Antonio, Kallie.”

I had to fight every bone in my body to stop myself from reaching up to touch his face. Whenever he was around, I was unable to resist being close to him. But after the emotional and physical strain of the past few weeks, I hesitated. Although he was right next to me, he seemed so far out of reach.

“What do you mean you aren’t going?”

“I mean, I quit. I’m giving up racing. You were right—the risk to my body is too great. But it’s more than that. It’s about you, too. I feel like every turn I’ve made since before my accident has sent me the wrong direction on a one-way road. I kept trying to dodge the oncoming traffic instead of going the way everyone else was. But then you came along, and you made me realize there was more than one way to travel. I—”

Whatever else he was about to say was interrupted by a loud voice coming over the gate’s intercom system.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the delay. The captain just informed us that we should be able to begin boarding in about fifteen minutes. As a reminder, those with disabilities and people with small children will be allowed to board first.”

“It’s a good thing for the flight delay,” Sloan said. “I wouldn’t have made it here in time if not for that. The lady at the ticket counter said it was a hazmat issue. I wonder what that’s all about.”

“Poop on the tarmac,” I replied, only to receive the most bewildered expression I’d ever seen on Sloan’s face.

“I’m sorry?”

“Apparently, when the service guys were emptying the waste tanks from the previous flight, the hose outside the plane broke. So, that means poop on the tarmac—literally. They had to call hazmat to clean it up before we could board. Shit happens, you know?” I said with an ironic smile to try and lighten the somber mood. I felt uncharacteristically nervous because I didn’t know why Sloan was here. I wanted to know, yet I didn’t at the same time.

Sloan returned my smile, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes. He looked out through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the plane. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, and I had to strain to hear him.

“You were really going to leave.”

Overcome with sadness, I dropped my head and pulled my hand from his.

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