Page 144 of Love Unavoidable
Chapter 40
Ethan
I take an inordinately long time to take a piss in the airplane restroom with one hand, which is frustrating as hell. I know a woman is waiting out there because I heard her say something to someone else about both being full. I finally get my pants buttoned back up and my hand washed and unlock the door to leave the restroom. Only to realize my hat is still on the sink.
“Shit, my hat.” I pop back in and grab it, then step out. I look to the front of the plane, but no one is waiting.
Maybe they gave up.
I look to the back and see the woman there.
“Sorry it took so long,” I say. “With this cast—”
I stop mid-sentence and my mouth hangs open.
It’s Sadie. Sadie is here. On this plane.
“Ethan?” she asks, eyes wide.
“Sadie.” I breathe. I look around, confused, then back at her. “Is it really you?”
“Yeah. You’re okay? Thank god! What are you doing here?”
“Me? What are you doing here?”
She looks down, her cheeks flush. “I was coming to see you.”
“I was coming to see you,” I tell her.
Her head pops up. “You were?” I reach out to put my hand on her and nod, then pull her back in to the attendant area and out of the aisle.
God, she looks beautiful. Her hair is mussed, make-up smudged under her eyes, and one side of her face has a sleep crease. She has never looked better.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “They cancelled our flight, and we had to catch the next one. I was stuck at the airport. I wasn’t at home. Oh god, I’m so happy you are okay. Kat said . . . well, it doesn’t matter. Wait, was my mother horrible to you?”
“Uh, I didn’t leave the airport,” I say, my stomach tightening.
“Ohmigod.” She looks at my cast and then back up at me. “You’re the guy with the cast.”
I hold it up. “That’s me, ha ha.”
“That’s what Kat meant when she said you were hurt . . .” She pauses. “Wait, you got off the plane with that little girl, and then went right up to the counter, you didn’t even try to see me.”
“Uh . . . uh . . .” I don’t know what to say to that. She’s right. Why didn’t I go see her? How stupid of me.
“But why?” she asks. “Why come all this way and then not even try to see me?”
Just be honest.
“I didn’t want to stalk you.”
“Stalk me? Why would you think you were stalking me?”
“Well, you weren’t really texting back or anything and then you told me it was best if we didn’t talk again, and that you wished me well . . .”
“Yeah, that was dumb of me,” she says.
“Then Rachel said what kind of thirty-five-year-old guy chases a woman who doesn’t return his calls, and it just made sense.”
