Chapter 21: Gate 14

Elias's POV

At Gate 14 I sat with my boarding pass in one hand and my phone, face down, on my knee.

It was ten past eleven.

I had checked out of the Ritz at six, and I had told myself that was practical.

The flight to Toronto boarded at eleven-ten.

I had not told her I was leaving, because I had known what I would see in her face if I did.

She would have been kind about it.

I could not have borne her being kind.

I had a rule about this, and it was an old one: it hurts less if you leave before they do.

The announcement came for rows twenty and above.

I did not stand.

I told myself that I would give it until the last row boarded.

At eleven-twenty, someone said, "Elias."

I looked up.

She was standing in front of me in her camel coat, with her handbag and nothing else.

Her chest was going up and down, and her hair had come out of its clip.

"Where is your suitcase?" I said, which was the stupidest sentence I had ever spoken.

"At Dean's. He'll ship it."

"You ran."

"I ran. Through security. A man with a dog looked at me."

She dropped into the seat beside mine and held up a slip of paper.

"One way," she said. "Seat 14C. Bought at the counter. Receipt."

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