“I tried a moment ago. His phone is going to voice mail.”
“Then leave a message. Try again because the tension is killing me. I know this is partly my fault.”
“It’s not your fault.” Hannah was trying to smooth her hair with her fingers. “It’s my fault. If I wasn’t so messed up about relationships, I would have told him the truth back in Manhattan instead of running home.”
“Leave the damn message!” Posy swerved out a lane to overtake two more cars and then swerved back again.
Hannah left a message. “Adam, it’s me. If you get this in time, I was thinking—I just wanted to say—”
“Don’t get on that plane! She loves you,” Posy and Beth yelled together, and Hannah hung up.
“That was embarrassing. You do realize he is actually going to listen to that at some point, don’t you?”
“Yes, and we are hoping that point is going to be sooner rather than later. Now get out of the car and run. This is not the time to worry about rejection.” Posy screeched to a halt outside departures and Hannah stumbled from the car.
“Where will you be? How will I find you?”
“We’ll find you.” Posy watched Hannah fly into the airport terminal and wondered if she might be even more nervous than her sister. Adam had probably already left. Or maybe he’d had enough of trying to get Hannah to open up.
What if this had been another of her terrible ideas? The last one hadn’t exactly turned out well.
“Follow her, Beth.” She pushed her sister out of the car. “I’ll park and meet you in there.”
“I don’t want to get in the way! You can’t have three people in a love scene.”
“Then pretend you’re an extra! Play the part of an interested bystander or something, but keep an eye on her. If this goes badly, she is going to be in pieces. We’re the ones who are going to pick those pieces up.”
Maybe she hadn’t always been the best sister—in fact, she knew she hadn’t—but it wasn’t too late to make up for it.
28
Hannah
“Excuse me, so sorry—” Hannah sprinted, weaving through people and luggage as she ran.
The airport was packed with people setting off on their Christmas getaway, making forward motion harder. She bumped into people and sent parcels swinging into legs. She dodged trolleys and jumped over bags. Her usual dignity and restraint had abandoned her, which was bad news for anyone in her path.
She collided with a man loaded down with luggage and gasped out an apology, before surging forward and catching another person with her elbow. “So sorry, it’s an emergency—”
Parents grabbed children and pulled them out of her way, sending her looks that would have singed the ends of her hair if she hadn’t been moving so fast.
She felt desperate, wild, determined to reach Adam before he left. Determined to speak before she lost her nerve.
She had to tell him that she loved him. She had to explain everything, even if he rejected her afterward. She had to know.
She raced toward security, scanning the line of people waiting to go through to the departure lounge. She saw harassed parents, a few tired-looking businesswomen, impatient men, but no Adam.
And then she heard the final call for the flight and realized he must already be in the departure lounge.
The disappointment was like a physical blow. She stopped running and bent double, her breath coming in tearing pants.
She was too late.
She waited for the stitch in her side to ease and for her breathing to slow to something close to normal, and then she lifted her head.
Tears burned her eyes and she turned away, intending to walk back to the car, when she spotted a tall, dark-haired man striding toward her carrying an overnight bag.
“Adam!”