Page 75 of For the Record

My arms crossed. “I want you to be happy.” Even if it meant me being on the sidelines.

“And me going on a date would do that?”

“You said before that you missed dates.”

She let out a closed-mouth scream and stomped her foot. “You’re supposed to tell me not to go. You’re supposed to give me a reason not to.”

“Is there a reason not to?” I asked.

Rachel lifted both hands to her face and palmed her eyes. “Adam.” She sounded exhausted. “I give up.”

“So you’re going? On the date?”

“Give me one reason not to.” She challenged me. As much as I wanted to take the bait, I didn’t.

I shrugged, not replying. I had a million reasons for her not to go, each one ending with some form of mine.

We stood in the silence for a moment, until she scoffed a laugh and stormed off to her car, peeling out of the parking lot.

I waited an hour before texting her.

Are you home safe?

She read it and never responded.

Currently playing: I Believe In a Thing Called Love by The Darkness

***

Every fiber of my being felt like it was electrified.

I was going to see my wife today. I was going to be able to hold her and kiss her and tell her every ridiculous thing I’d been harboring in my mind for the last four weeks. I was going to smell her, tangle my hands in her hair, and squeeze her tight against me until there was nothing left.

The ride back to Philly had been nothing short of a nightmare. The kid behind me kicking my seat, a young girl on my right asking for my zodiac sign, the guy on my left telling me his entire life story about losing his job as a zookeeper for “unscrupulous behavior.” I didn’t ask for details, but I was forcefully fed them anyway. For three hours.

None of that mattered, though. Not a single second of it, because I was finally going to reach my wife, my woman, and look into those round doe eyes and tell her I loved her. No holding back, no stuttering, no waiting, no last-minute backing out. I had no choice now. She was in charge of my body and soul, taking up every inch of my heart, and I had nothing left anymore. I was physically drained from not having her. Another week, and my fist would have been through a wall.

Right on my tail, zoo guy followed me. I think he assumed we were going to share an Uber or something.

“So, yeah. Essentially, I am not allowed within twenty feet of any petting zoos, regular zoos, or safari drive thr—”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “Look, my wife needs me, so I’m gonna pay you ten dollars to stop talking and go far, far away from me.”

The patchy-bearded man squinted at me until I pulled out a twenty and waved it in the air. Turns out that was all I had. He shrugged and reached for it, grabbing his bags and walking the other way. Would’ve paid a hundred if it meant rushing over there any faster.

I passed through baggage claim, then rode the escalator down, facing the front door where we’d agreed to meet up. Looking down at my watch, I realized I was earlier than I thought. My hand reached for my phone, ready to call Rachel.

“Adam!”

I lifted my head, and across the platform, with about twenty people between us, stood Rachel in those cut-off denim shorts with that old ratty military shirt of mine she knew I loved her in and braided hair cascading down her tanned summer skin. Overall, she looked the same. It wasn’t like I’d been gone long enough for either of us to change that much, and yet my heart started picking up pace, my blood pounding beneath my fingertips. She reached a hand up and waved excitedly at me. Me. My smile was slow, starting at the corners and pulling into a full cheesing grin as wide as I could. No sense in holding it back. The excitement I had to see her outweighed any care of staying emotionless.

We ran to each other at the same time, parting through the crowd like the red sea, forcing bystanders to step around us. Ten feet apart, she squealed and ran full speed, arms wide, at me. I set down my bags and opened my arms as she jumped toward me, her legs wrapping around my waist.

“Hey baby.” Both of my arms swaddled around her body, squeezing her tight to me as her nose buried into my neck. I lifted one hand to the back of her head, my fingers pressing into her braided hair, kissing her temple.

She smelled like summer and rain and all things good in my life that I wanted to keep. And I was going to keep her. There was no doubt about it.

Rachel pulled back with a sniffle.