Page 145 of Dirty Rival
I try to call Reid, but I get a busy signal.
“My cell never works in this part of the airport,” a man behind me says.
“Oh. Thanks.”
No. No. No. This can’t be happening.
It takes another twenty minutes and I run like a madwoman to my gate. I watch as the doors shut. “No!” I scream. “I’m on this flight.”
“Sorry, ma’am. FFA regulations. Once the doors shut, they’re shut. We can get you to a customer service agent to rebook you.”
He’s going to think I didn’t want to be on that flight.
Reid
She didn’t show up. I’m destroyed in a way I didn’t know I could be destroyed. Two whiskeys and an empty seat beside me, and I can’t seem to calm the damn ache in my heart. I’m two hours into the sixteen-hour flight and I decide I need to work. I need to do something to occupy my damn mind. I pull out my MacBook and log onto the internet.
An instant message pops up from Carrie: Please tell me you’re online.
I stare at it, not sure I want to answer. Not sure of any fucking thing right now. When I don’t reply she types: I made it to the gate as they shut the doors. My flight from Montana circled for an hour and then security was out the door. My father was out on the ranch until an hour before I had to leave and please talk to me. Are you there? I love you, Reid. I never doubted you. I’m in the air. I got on another flight. I’m landing first. It’s a non-stop. I’ll be at the gate waiting for you when you land. I know everything. I don’t even know if you will see this message, but I’ll be there.
Suddenly, I can breathe again. I type: I read it all.
She replies instantly: Please tell me you believe me. There was not one moment that I wasn’t trying to be on that plane with you. I went to Montana so this can just be behind us.
I need you on this plane with me, I reply.
I want to be there with you, she answers.
What does “you know everything” mean? I ask.
The debt, she types. The way he held you hostage. But I only know because his new woman knew and she told me most of it. She forced him to tell me the rest. Even when I told him how much you mean to me, he wasn’t going to tell me.
I meant it when I said that it’s killed me to keep this from you, I reply.
You were right to hold back, she says. I want to say I wouldn’t have confronted him, but I might have thought I could have made him back off on the deal. I think after today, I would have been wrong. You were protecting all of us.
Relief washes over me and for the rest of the trip, we talk to each other about everything from what we are doing at the time, to what to name our cat and dog. Right up until her plane lands before mine. I shut my computer and I decide I can’t wait. I open my bag under my seat and pull out the velvet box.
Carrie
I stand at the waiting area, watching for Reid and when he appears, looking all kinds of masculine perfection in faded jeans and a black long-sleeved sweater, I swear my heart races a hundred miles an hour. “Reid!”
The minute his gaze lands on me, my heart sings. It’s then in that moment when our eyes connect, that I can finally breathe. We’re okay. We’re better than okay. He steps up his pace, rounds the posts dividing us, and then I’m in his arms and he’s kissing me, deeply, passionately kissing me. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too. Let’s not do that again, okay?”
He takes my hand. “Come with me.” He starts walking and leads me around a corner, into a rather empty walkway, where he pulls me behind another wide concreate post. “We’re going to Paris for Christmas. That was going to be a surprise.”
“I love that. It’s a perfect Christmas destination and surprise.”
“I was going to wait to do this there, but I need to do it now.”
My brow furrows. “Do what?”
He goes down on his knee and pulls out a velvet box. “Will you marry me, Carrie?” He pops the lid on a stunning emerald and diamond ring that has so much sentimental value between us.
“Yes. Yes. And that ring is so, so very special.” I start to tear up as he slips it onto my finger. “I had it custom-made.” He stands up. “I wanted it to be as special as you are to me.” He cups my face. “I want you to be my wife.”