Page 11 of Lovestruck at Sundown
“And I love you and those little noises you make too. They get me—”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Someone knocked on our door as if trying to take it down. I sat up straight and pulled the comforter to cover myself with it.
“Mr. Sjöberg!” Aaron shouted, banging the door again, harder this time. “Mr. Sjöberg, open this doorimmediately!”
“Aaron, we’ll be right out!” I shouted back. “What’s happening?” My voice was barely a whisper. I didn’t know if something was wrong with the plane or if something had happened to one of the pilots. William considered my shock for a moment and smirked at me, the kind that both thrilled and unnerved me.Boom! Boom! Boom!“William, what is going on?!”
I jumped out of bed, grabbed my clothes, and threw them on in record time. William did the same, though he took his time doing it. He seemed unfazed by the apparent panic in Aaron’s demanding voice and his violent knocks.
“Mr. Sjöberg! Now!”
My first instinct was to open one of the window shades to see if an engine was on fire as William reached for the doorknob. Everything seemed fine. The plane was intact. We were descending, the landscape below us getting closer. We were flying over the ocean, but I could see the coast in the near distance. I’d been to London quite a few times, but this wasn’t it.
The scenery was different.
The moment William opened the door, I turned to look at Aaron, who was now standing under the threshold. His face twisted with anger. David stood behind him like a statue without a hint of a smile on his face—a loyal second-in-command.
“Yes, Aaron?” William said casually, wiping his glasses with his t-shirt.
Aaron fired a look of utter disappointment my way before flicking his attention back to William. “Mr. Sjöberg, would you care to explain to me why this plane is about to land in Tel Aviv?”
“Just a quickovernight layover, Aaron.” William waved a haphazard hand in front of him, wordlessly asking Aaron to step aside. “Nothing to worry about.”
I followed William out of the bedroom in complete shock.
“Nothing to worry about?” Aaron shouted behind us. “Mr. Murphy will go ballistic on me. On all of us! You lied about the flight plan, Mr. Sjöberg. And—”
“It was the only way,” William cut him off, his voice harsher this time. “And I will deal with the consequences once we’re back in New York.”
My hand searched for William’s while hooking an arm around his.
“We’re here to pay our respects to the family of the man who gave his life for ours.” William squeezed my hand and searched for my gaze. His lips curled into a tight smile. And I smiled back, feeling how my throat closed in on me.
Aaron’s nostrils flared as he took a deep breath in through his nose.
“Oh, William,” I mumbled, hugging him. He’d done so many thoughtful things for me in the past, but this exceeded all of them. It’d been so painful to say goodbyeto Caleb in New York knowing I could’ve been there for his funeral.
But I missed it. I had begged Nathan to bring me to Tel Aviv, but he panicked and chose to avoid any problems with my father. And since that day, I’d felt like I had missed a step in the grieving process. I needed to bury him, so now, at least I’d get to say a proper goodbye at the exact place where his body had been put to rest. And William had thought of this because he knew me well enough to know how much Ineededthis.
It was now or never. I didn’t think there’d be a chance in the near future to come here and do this. And as much as the dread kept piling up in regard to my father’s retaliation, the desire to be here outweighed the trepidation.
“I’m sure you can understand that, Aaron. And I’m hoping we can count on your cooperation in arranging the meetup and the visit to Caleb’s grave.”
Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head a few times. He seemed beyond distraught. I’d never seen him display such a varied range of emotions in my entire life. I knew we were pushing his limits, and I didn’t want to know what would happen if we managed to overstep those completely.
We had to tread carefully during our time in Tel Aviv.
“Good morning, Mr. Sjöberg,” Amy, the flight attendant, said with a twitchy smile, assessing the situation. “Miss Murphy.” She nodded once at me. “Sorry to interrupt, but could I ask you all to please take your seats and fasten your seat belts? We will be landing shortly.”
“Yes, of course.” I took a seat and did as I was told, somewhat thankful for the interruption. William sat next to me while Aaron and David followed Amy’s orders and buckled up as well.
“William?”
“Mmm.” He leaned in and kissed the top of my head.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “You shouldn’t have. But I’m glad you did.”
