Page 150 of My Merry Mistake
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Raya
This is insane.
But somehow it still makes sense.
It helps that my sisters are cheering me on. They even come with me back to my place to help me pack, and I tell them the entire truth about Finn, starting with the first time we met and ending with that knee-buckling kiss in my kitchen. I don’t even mind when they squeal, because if I were a demonstrative person, I’d be squealing too.
Instead, I stand there, embarrassed, trying to be okay with the rush of emotion.
They make me promise to stop keeping things from them, even though Eloise seems a little too pleased to hear I’d been fired from that job. Considering how many times she’s been fired, I should’ve known she would understand.
And yet, for some stupid reason, probably my pride, I couldn’t let on that I didn’t have everything figured out all the time.
I’ve been so stupid.
The whole way to the airport, they coach me on what I should say, and by the time I get out of the car at O’Hare, I have a whole script memorized.
“Finn, you were right,” I recite. “I didn’t want to admit that there’s something between us because I’m stubborn and pigheaded and?—”
“Proud,” Eloise fills in.
“And proud,” I roll my eyes at her. “Can’t forget ‘proud.’”
“I think you should chuck the speech and just kiss him,” Eloise says as Poppy pulls up next to the sidewalk in front of my airline’s departure terminal.
“That would work too,” Poppy says, a conspiratorial gleam in her eye.
At the mention of kissing Finn, my face gets hot and my fingers go cold. The image of his disappointed face flickers through my mind. Disappointment I caused because I was scared. I hate that my fear hurt him even for a second.
I shove the thoughts out of my brain and focus on a plane landing overhead.
It’s dark, and the airport lights spill out onto the sidewalk. I stare at the door, clutching my bag, still fueled by pure adrenaline. It’s surreal that I’m even here.
Eloise jumps out and opens the door, then grabs my arm and pulls me out onto the sidewalk.
Poppy joins us, leaving her car door open.
A traffic cop blows a whistle. “Hey! No parking!”
Poppy waves and smiles at her. “We’ll just be a minute!”
“Back in your vehicle, ma’am!” The cop starts moving toward us.
“Shoot. We’re in trouble,” Poppy says. “We have to go, but you’re going to be fine. Just be honest. Speak from the heart.”
Eloise does a little dance. “Pull him into a closet and grab onto him and?—”
The whistle is so loud we all jump, then laugh, then they pull me into a tight hug.
“Okay, I’m going,” I say, then I look at them with wide eyes. “I’m doing it.”Oh my gosh, I’m doing a grand gesture. Who even am I?
“Sleep on the plane,” Poppy says.
“Yeah, you’re gonna need your energy for Finn.” Eloise wags her eyebrows, and I roll my eyes, hugging them both once more before I race off into O’Hare.
Later, after a stereotypically predictable delay, I’m finally looking out the window of a plane headed to Montana.
