Page 93 of Every Broken Piece
The pilot speaks to Gabe. I tune them out. Something about winds and estimated time of arrival and a car waiting for us when we land. I’m always the one behind the scenes planning these types of trips for my clients. Living it is so very foreign to me.
Soon the engines whine causing the plane to vibrate and I hastily buckle my seatbelt. Like a seatbelt will save me if the plane goes down. This is a very, very bad idea.
Gabe places a hand on my bouncing knee. “Relax. Millions of people travel by air every day.”
I know this, but it doesn’t help. My nerves are caused by more than the plane ride. It’s everything. His sudden appearance in my life right when I needed him. The things I’m beginning to feel for him that I don’t know what to do with. I’ve never loved anyone. Maybe Sandra once when I was too young to remember. I relied a lot on Scarlett until she abandoned me to drugs. But that was about survival, not love.
Isn’t that what I’m doing with Gabe? Survival?
Yet, my feelings for him are different. Yes, he makes me feel safe. Yes, he takes care of me. However, it goes deeper than that. I’ve told him more about myself than I’ve ever told anyone andthat was when we were only texting each other, before I really got into the nitty gritty of my life.
The plane starts moving and my muscles lock tight. My gaze jerks to the window. I’m not so sure sitting by the window was the right call when the trees begin to blur as we race by them.
My fingers dig into the armrests until Gabe’s hand comes down on mine. I flip my hand over and our fingers tangle together. He moves my hand to his hard thigh, holding tight to me.
Suddenly we’re separating from the Earth. The ground disappears and we’re airborne.
“Ohhhh.” I lean toward the window until my forehead bumps the thick glass and there’s Cincinnati laid out before me in a way I’ve never seen before. The Ohio River a ribbon of brown, dotted with tiny barges. Yellow, purple, and gray bridges span the slowly winding river. It’s like a miniature scene you see in toy train displays.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Gabe asks.
I nod. Already the landscape has changed, the river lost from my sight.
Eventually the cloud cover blocks my view. The flight attendant arrives with two bottles of Gabe’s bougie water and a bottle of ibuprofen. Gabe shakes out two pills, opens my water, and hands everything to me.
I swallow the pills while simultaneously trying to swallow my tears. What the hell did I just do? I uprooted my entire life to be with a man I barely know.
But you do know him. You spent months getting to know him through emails and texts.
And now I’m flying across the country with him with no plan, no calculated next move.
The tilt of the plane jerks me out of a deep sleep. I hiss when I jostle my wrist, then realize that I’d fallen asleep leaning against Gabe’s shoulder. I check my lips to make sure I didn’t drool. Geez, I hope I didn’t snore. How embarrassing.
His left hand comes up to press my head back to his shoulder while his right hand continues to type on his laptop.
“Sleep well?” he asks.
“Mmmm.”
He turns his head to kiss the top of mine. It’s such a natural gesture for him that he doesn’t even take his eyes off his computer screen. He tugs my blanket over my shoulder, and only then do I realize I’m covered in the blanket from my bed. The bright yellow one with white daisies.
“Where did this come from?” I pluck at the blanket.
“Everyone needs to travel with their favorite blanket. I brought the pillow too, but I liked you using my shoulder too much to pull the pillow out.”
I stare at him, but he’s still studying a document on his computer. “Gabe.”
He grunts and types something.
“Gabriel.”
“Theresa.”
“You brought my favorite blanket?”
“Yes.” He’s wearing those sexy glasses, and I want to kiss him, but I don’t know how to initiate that, or even if it’s appropriate with the flight attendant flitting about.
He glances at me and pauses, then closes his laptop to turn to me. “Back when we were texting, you told me you loved yourblanket cocoons.” He tucks my blanket more firmly around me. “You said it makes you feel safe, so I brought one with us.”
