MY LUGGAGE WAS THE LAST left on the conveyor belt. How long had it travelled around in circles before I finally noticed it? How long had I even been standing here?
The joy I’d felt over the past twenty-four hours had completely transformed into a mixture of shock, panic and sadness. I couldn’t remember the last time deep sadness completely consumed me like this. My emotions had left me a frozen shell of myself as I stood in baggage claim.
I’d lost track of Cass sometime after she revealed the name of her baby’s father. To be honest, I barely remembered exiting the plane and arriving at this spot.
Finally lifting my suitcase off of the belt, I looked around at the crowds of people making their way through the airport. A part of me wanted to just run, but a bigger part knew that I had to hear it from
him—that he knew her, that he was the father of this baby.
Was there a chance she could’ve been making it up? I quickly banished the thought from my brain, refusing to give myself false hope.
My head felt like it was going to implode between the intermittent intercom announcements, the sounds of the people rushing around me, and the fearful thoughts in my head. Everything seemed loud. Looking down at my phone, I realized I was late in meeting Carter at the airport lounge.
One foot in front of the other.
Go.
You have to face him.
The escalator slowly descended into what I was pretty sure was going to be my own personal hell.
When I got to the lounge, I closed my eyes to grab my bearings before entering. When I opened them, I spotted him in the corner. He was all decked out in his pilot’s uniform and looking up at a sports channel that was playing on the television. Just inside the entrance, I stood there with my heart pounding and admired his tall stature without him noticing me, for the sheer reason that it might have been the last time I could do it.
He suddenly turned around. My heart dropped when I noticed he was holding a large bouquet of flowers. When our eyes met, Carter’s mouth curved into the biggest smile. My heart was breaking with every step he took toward me. And with each step, his smile slowly faded once he realized that I was crying and that they weren’t tears of happiness.
He mindlessly threw the flowers onto a nearby table. “Perky? What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
Unable to speak, I gripped his shirt for balance.
“Did something happen on the flight?”
Still unable to form words, I nodded.
He pulled me into a hug, and I was too weak to resist. Crying into the crook of his arm, I could feel his heart beating a mile a minute against my cheek.
When he pulled back and examined my eyes again, he said, “Tell me what’s going on.” When I continued to remain silent, he begged, “Please.”
Closing my eyes, I prayed for the strength to get through this, then finally spoke.
My voice was shaky. “I sat next to a woman on the plane. She was four months pregnant.”
“Okay. It freaked you out?”
“No.”
“Did something happen to her?”
Grabbing a chair for balance, I sat down and looked up at him.
He didn’t move. “Tell me what happened, Kendall.”
“She was an off-duty flight attendant.”
“Alright. I’m not following.”
“Her name is Cass. Do you know her?”
He started to open his mouth to say something then froze when realization hit. “I do know her, yes.”