A Cosmic Kind of Love(106)

“I’m so sorry, Chris. I don’t know what I was thinking when I left you for Matthias.”

“I know you’re sorry. That’s not the point.”

“Maybe we could work at it. I could earn your trust again.”

“We can’t. I don’t love you. You and I were never in love, because if we were, you couldn’t have done that to me, and I wouldn’t have gotten over it so damn easily.”

“Chris—”

“You know what I won’t get over? Losing Hallie. So thank you for your honesty, but I have somewhere I need to be now.”

“Chris . . . I am sorry.”

“I’m not going to call again, Darcy, and I don’t want you to call me either.”

“But—”

“Our friendship isn’t good for either of us if I can’t trust you and if you’re holding out for something that will never happen. It’s better if we end it now.”

I waited for a response, and finally the line went dead.

In all my distractions over this whole NASA gig, I hadn’t seen what I was doing to Hallie.

Choosing Darcy’s feelings over hers. Not intentionally, but still.

Choosing to hope that Hallie had walked out of my door in the heat of the moment but would come back to me. Well, if her insecurities were really just spot-on gut instinct, then she wasn’t coming back to a fool like me anytime soon. Not unless I righted my wrongs against her.

Renewed panic filled me as I slammed out of the apartment. I had to find Hallie. I would beg on my knees if I had to, because I couldn’t let one more day pass without her knowing she was all that mattered to me.



* * *





“Left for the airport? What the hell do you mean she just left for the airport?” My chest felt too tight, and it wasn’t from the fact that I’d run all the way from the subway to Hallie’s office building.

Her friend Althea glared impressively at me. “Well, see, some asshole astronaut broke her heart, and she decided she needed as much distance from him as she could get.” Her gaze flickered away before coming back to mine. “She’s taken a sabbatical and is going on the trip she’d planned to take with you next summer. She’s going alone. So because of you, I don’t get to see my best friend for three months. Thanks for that.”

Three months?

No.

No goddamn way.

“Which airport?”

Althea raised an eyebrow. “Excuuuuse me?”

“Which. Airport?” I enunciated impatiently.

“JFK. Her flight leaves . . .” She slowly lifted her phone to check it. “Her flight leaves in two hours. You might make it.”

I was already running out the door before she finished.

“Uh, you’re welcome!” Althea yelled at my back. “And you better grovel, Captain! Grovel like there’s no tomorrow!”

If I hadn’t been terrified of missing Hallie at the airport, I might have found her friend a little bit amusing.





FORTY-THREE





Hallie


The airport was crowded with people as I dragged my small suitcase behind me toward the check-in desk. I’d taken business trips over the last few years, and I’d learned it was better to arrive early and be bored at the airport than to be a hot, sweaty mess from running to catch your flight.

Lia had a client interested in a five-star hotel in Vermont as her venue. Usually one of the other field coordinators would fly out to look over the venue, schmooze the manager to see if there wasn’t a deal to be had. Sometimes even Lia went herself if the client was big enough. This was a client she’d usually fly out to Vermont for, but with that sharp intuition of hers, she’d sent me instead.

“It’ll give you something to focus on.”

Yes. Something to focus on. Some space to think.

Mom had got me thinking a lot.

Maybe the reason I was functioning and not curled up in a sobbing ball in a dark room somewhere was because there was a part of me that knew I could have handled things differently. That if Chris and I could just talk, if he’d acknowledge his part in how things went wrong, and I could acknowledge maybe I should have trusted myself and him more, then maybe we could work things out.

A weekend away from the city to contemplate that was a great idea.

I didn’t know what would happen next between us, especially with this job offer in Houston he might have already accepted.

My phone rang in my purse as I walked toward a self-check-in machine. Since it could be Lia, I rummaged quickly through the purse for it. It wasn’t Lia.

It was Althea.

“Hey?” I answered. “I’m at the airport. I didn’t forget anything, did I?”

“Um, yeah, but it’s on its way to you.”

I frowned. “What?”

“Yeah, so you’re not through security yet, right?”

“No, I’m at the entrance.”

“Good! Stay there! Whatever you do, don’t go through security. I sent something you need. You’ll know what it is when it arrives.”

“Can I take it through security? Althea?”

She’d hung up.

What?

I tried calling her back, but it went straight to her voice mail. Huffing in exasperation, I shot off a quick text asking her what the hell she’d sent and how long it would be before it arrived.