I rolled my eyes and hugged her goodbye to hurry and catch the next flight.
I fidgeted in my seat for the next hour, willing the plane to go faster. I finally opened my book bag and placed the planner in my lap.
Jay had hidden it from me all month, and for some reason it felt wrong to open it now. Maybe I wasn’t the same person I’d been when I arrived in Greenville. Maybe our lives couldn’t be listed out and crossed off each day.
I took a deep breath and opened to the current day. In permanent marker, he crossed out the lesson for the day and wrote:
Lesson of the Day:“I got you, Pebble. No plans.”
The next day, it read the same:
Lesson of the Day:“I got you, Pebble. No plans.”
I flipped through every page before and every page after. He’d filled them all in. The lesson was always the same and I believed him. As tears filled my eyes, I hoped I would get to him in time. I hoped I would be able to explain why I hadn’t told him, that his movie was just as important to me as anything else.
Landing just twenty minutes away from Greenville, I felt like I was almost home.
Crossing into the town, I rolled down the window and leaned my head out so the cool, fresh breeze could hit me.
Almost home. Almost to Jay.
The sun had just started rising in the East over a hill of golden, autumn-painted grass. As we pulled into Lorraine’s driveway and the gravel crunched under the tires, I hummed a sound of comfort.
As I scanned the Lodge, I didn’t consider whether or not I should knock. I didn’t consider what the little town thought of me anymore. I’d faced one demon and it made all the others shrink back. I belonged where I wanted to. I stood tall like my mother.
And this town had accepted me for who I was before all that.
The door opened as it always did. I was sure Lorraine never actually locked them. I called for Lorraine, but there was no answer. Next, I took the stairs a little more quickly than I normally would have to knock on Jay’s door.
No answer.
I banged on it before swinging it open and finding his bed made but the dresser wiped clean. The vase, books, and doilies that usually sat atop it lay askew on the ground.
I was like a woman in a horror film; I checked every corner of the house as though he was hiding somewhere, even the closet.
My mind raced with worry, with doubt, with the terrible feeling that Jay had access to everything dangerous with no support last night.
I flew down the steps and burst from the home. I ran down the street, so fast I was sure I could have been a track star, and ended up on the outside barrier of the movie set. I scanned it all, and one trailer’s light glowed brighter than the rising sun.
Lela’s.
Maybe there was such a thing as an old man on the moon. Maybe Yue Lao really had tied Jay and I together because I felt the pull. I knew Jay was in that bus with her. Each step toward it felt like sloshing through murky waters toward hell. I wanted to believe I would find them both awake, maybe just catching up, sharing stories through the night.
My gut clenched at even that idea, though. For some reason, over these past couple of weeks, I’d solidified in my mind that Jay was mine.
And this time, I was willing to stand my ground because I was good enough. Logical enough. And we were perfect enough to fight for.
I fisted my hand and pounded on the door.
After a minute, Lela cracked it open and squinted one eye at me. “Girl, it is early.”
I jerked my head down. “Is Jay with you?”
The silent sun rose, the birds chirped loud, the early workers’ cars hummed in the distance. Lela assessed me with her red robe hanging from her shoulder and her dark hair knotted on her forehead. Her presence would enrapture anyone, and this moment was no different. I wasn’t sure if she was calculating odds, comparing herself to me, or learning my whole being.
I lifted my chin, though. I wasn’t backing down.
Finally, she opened the door wide and sighed. “It’s a good thing you’re here actually. The stars are shifting in the sky and you both need to connect or you’ll lose each other forever.”