Chapter 3

Daniel asks me to meet him at the arrivals café after his flight.

[Six tonight. We should talk before you go.]

I agree.

Beth lends me her car, and Sophie stays behind to finish packing. I want to tell Daniel what happens next without his mother answering for him.

But Melissa's family is already at the café.

Daniel stands beside the table in uniform, his cap tucked beneath one arm. A crew member pulling a suitcase past him nods.

"Good night, Captain."

Melissa catches Daniel's sleeve and asks her husband for another photograph.

"Get the stripes in. Both boys say they want to be pilots now."

I stop a few feet away with my new itinerary in my hand.

When Daniel first made captain, I was still working cabin crew. I straightened his collar and took photographs of him in our kitchen.

He kept blinking at the wrong moment, and we laughed until I had to start over.

I used to be prouder of that uniform than anyone.

Daniel spots me and lowers his cap.

"Melissa's giving me a ride home."

"You said we should talk."

"We will."

He sends his nephew to choose a muffin, then gestures for my itinerary.

Daniel scans it and taps the Denver connection.

"You're adding hours. You know how exhausting that is."

"I know. It's what I can afford."

"Cancel it. We'll arrange something properly when you've calmed down."

I pull the paper back.

"It's paid for. Sophie and I leave tomorrow."

Melissa returns with a paper bag.

"Daniel, don't forget sunscreen. I only bought enough for the boys."

I look at him.

"You're going with them?"

"I have leave."

For a second, I only stare.

"You told me you couldn't get time off."

"That was when you asked."

Last month, I sat with his roster and offered to move our dates around his schedule.

Daniel told me summer was too complicated and that I should go without him.

"When was your leave approved?"

He adjusts his cuff.

"Last month."

My fingers go still against the itinerary.

When I asked, he already knew he had the time.

I was still comparing dates at our kitchen table, but he already had an answer.

It simply did not include coming with me.

"You could have come to Oregon."

"Melissa's husband can't stay the whole week. She needs help with the boys."

"I asked you too!"

My voice rises.

"I said I would change the dates around your roster!"

Daniel glances at the people nearby.

"Keep your voice down. You have Sophie."

"I wanted my husband to come home with me."

His face hardens.

"Elise, enough."

Melissa sets down her bag.

"I honestly thought you two had discussed it. Daniel said your work was flexible and you never really minded changing travel plans."

I turn toward her.

"Never minded?"

Daniel cuts in.

"Don't drag her into this."

"You told her I don't mind?"

"You always rearrange things in the end."

I go quiet.

Every time I rebooked a flight, moved a client, or crossed my own plans off the calendar, he had not seen a sacrifice.

He had seen proof that I could always do it.

Daniel mistakes my silence for agreement.

"So cancel tomorrow's flight and come home. When this blows over, we'll find another time."

"No."

I put the itinerary back in the envelope.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. And when I come back, we're not going to keep living like this."

He studies me for a moment, then gives a tired little smile, as if I have said something dramatic that I will eventually take back.

"Go see your parents. We'll talk when you've calmed down."

I leave without arguing again.

Inside Beth's borrowed car, I search for a family-law office near my parents' home and book a confidential consultation for the following week.

Then I check Sophie and myself in for tomorrow's flight.

Our boarding passes have just saved when my phone vibrates.

Daniel.

[Don't contact me again until you're ready to be reasonable and apologize to Melissa.]