“Then I’ll leave.” He walked across the room and picked up the bag that he had thrown.
Unable to keep her weak body up, she fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, feeling completely helpless because she couldn’t fix what she had broken.
He stopped on his way out and knelt down beside her. “Hey,” he whispered.
She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t face him knowing he was going to leave her behind.
“Danny?”
She shook her head, crying her heart out instead of looking up at him.
“Danielle…”
She knew by way he said her name that the words I forgive you were not on the other side of the loaded silence, but she lifted her head to meet those desolate brown eyes. Maybe it was because he had calmed down, or maybe it was because he felt nothing, but he touched her then, gently stroking the tears off her cheek. To see that kind of tenderness after all that rage was soul-shattering.
“I gave you me,” he said softly. “All of me…and you didn’t want it…and you gave me you…but it wasn’t real…so now we have to let this go.”
“Max, please don’t…” It came out of her as hiccups through her sobs. “Please don’t leave. It doesn’t have to end this way. It doesn’t have to end at all.”
He ignored her begging, reached into his pocket, and took out a small blue suede box. “This was for you. I have no use for it now.” His hand wove into her short hair and he pulled her closer to place a long kiss over the scar on the side of her head. Dropping the box in front of her, he stood up and headed for the door. He picked up his other bag before he slowly turned to face her again. “Maybe you want to remember, Danny…but I’m trying to forget.”
“Max!” she called out, but he was already gone.
It couldn’t be over. Seven years. How could it be over?
She slowly reached for the suede box and when she opened it, fresh tears spilled out of her. Removing the exquisite diamond ring from the casing, she clutched it to her chest. He was going to propose and now it was over. It was her fault. He had played a part but mostly it was her fault. From blazing fire to dead ashes, that was what their relationship had become. How could two people who loved each other so much, destroy something beyond repair? She felt like someone had wrapped both hands around her heart and was squeezing it so tight she couldn’t breathe.
This abyss of emptiness threatened to consume her. It was devastating. It was suffocating. She was drowning. Only this time, Max wasn’t there to save her.
Seven years and this was how it was going to end? No. It wasn’t over. She would make this right. She wasn’t going to lose him. She wasn’t going to let him go so easily. She took her car keys out of her pocket and ran out of the room.
* * *
Danny zoomed into a disabled parking bay right outside the airport entrance. She didn’t care if they clamped her tires. She didn’t care if she got a fine. Nothing was going to stop her. She ran into the building and raced straight through to Departures.
She cut in front of the long line and ignored the swearing and angry remarks coming from the people behind her. Nothing was going to stop her.
She had just pushed past the metal detectors, when a hard hand slammed against her chest and pushed her back. Danny looked up and saw the broad, burly person the hand belonged to. It could be a man. It might be a woman.
“Boarding pass?” The thick, gruff voice gave no further clues to its gender.
“I don’t have a boarding pass,” she said and more grumbles erupted behind her.
“Miss, I can’t let you through without a boarding pass.”
“My…my boyfriend has it. He already came through here. Just let me get to him and I’ll show it to you.”
“Darlin’, if he came through here without you, I’m sorry to say, but he doesn’t want you tagging along. I think you need to accept the fact that you just got dumped.”
Danny had to suppress her urge to punch him/her/it in the face.
The attendant looked past her to the person behind her. “Next.” He/She/It pushed her back through the metal detectors. “No boarding pass. No entry.”
Okay, so maybe something could stop her. On to plan B.
Danny spun on her heel and raced back the way she came until she spotted a security guard. “Hi,” she said breathlessly. “I need your help.”
* * *
Max stood up when he heard the boarding announcement for his flight go off on the loudspeaker. The plane ride would give him enough time to forge a believable smile and make up a decent excuse for why Danny had not come along.
His New Year’s resolution for next year was the same as this year: Move on with his life.
It was easier said than done. She had showed up at his motel room today and he realized that simply seeing her weakened all his defenses. She told him that she loved him and he almost fell back into the same trap, he almost believed her. He so wanted to believe her. But then he reminded himself that she was only there because Amber and Charlie convinced her that she had feelings for him. He had left a week ago and she hadn’t called him once. She would not have shown up at all if their friends had not intervened.
He didn’t know what to think anymore. She had told him last week that she was in love with Richard and then she let him leave without saying another word. And today she shows up, out of the blue, saying something completely different. If it wasn’t real, why had she wept so bitterly on the motel room floor? If it wasn’t real, why did she beg him not to leave?
It didn’t matter now anyway. He was done obsessing over a woman who couldn’t make up her mind about who she really wanted.
As he walked to stand in the queue to board the plane, the loudspeaker went off again.
“Hello,” came a nervous voice.
Max heard three loud thumps on the microphone and smiled. She must be new, he thought.
“Hello. Is this thing on?”
His eyebrows creased as he recognized the familiar voice.
“Maximillian Augustus Shepard.”
He froze, looking around as if everyone knew she was talking to him.
“Yes, you, Max Shepard. There are a million things I want to say to you right now, but I’m gonna keep it short. Do you remember the day I broke up with Anthony? I didn’t break up with him because he left me stranded on the beach. The pictures only came out after that. I didn’t break up with him because of the pictures. I broke up with him because he asked me to choose. All of them did. And my choice was always you.” She paused for a bit and he could tell by the change in her voice that she was crying. “You were never second best, Max. I didn’t mean what I said. I didn’t mean any of it. I love you. I guess my heart always knew that. It just took a while for my head to figure it out. If you can somehow find it in your heart to forgive me, I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby next to the food court. I’ll wait as long as it takes…I think a guy like you is worth waiting for.”
Max exhaled the breath he had not realized he’d been holding and clasped his hands together at the back of his head. She was so fucking ostentatious and she just had to use his full name. Only Danny. Only Danny would suck in her pride and declare such private information to thousands of strangers.
He forgave her. That part was easy. The difficulty was deciding whether he could leave his heart in the hands of a woman who had broken it so many times.
The passengers in front of him shuffled forward as they filed into the plane. Max picked up his bags and shuffled along with them.
* * *
Danny shifted in the chair, trying to ease the pins and needles in her left butt cheek. The chairs were comfortable, but not after six and a half hours. She had changed positions several times, even choosing to sit on the floor at one stage.
She was exhausted now, bored out of her mind. For the first hour or so, she had actually had a group of people sitting with her. They had heard the announcement and came to see the reunion , chatting and giggling about how it was going to be just like the movies. Everyone was excited for the big kiss and the dramatics of it all.
But as the minutes ticked by, they realized that he wasn’t coming and they began to disperse. She had been alone since then, depressed and deflated. He wasn’t coming. Somewhere deep inside her, she knew she had to accept that. She wasn’t really waiting anymore. It was more like she was holding onto hope. She had stood up to leave a few times, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. If she just waited one more minute, she would see him coming through those doors. That was what she had been telling herself all this time.
He was probably in Montana by now. The thought of buying a ticket and chasing after him had crossed her mind, but then she would have to leave this spot and she had grown quite attached to it in the last few hours. She tilted herself upside down in the chair as she passed the seven hour mark, tossing her legs over the back rest and hanging her head over the edge of the seat. The world was a very different place when seen upside down. Legs and bodies and faces all appeared distorted.
Seven hours and twenty minutes. It was a little after midnight now and her tummy started to rumble. Eating was not high priority, though.
She saw a pair of sneakers from the corner of her eye and groaned inwardly. She had become the designated information desk after ten o’ clock. Just because she looked like she lived here, didn’t mean she did. Ten times already she had been asked where the restrooms were.