I laughed to myself. I’d told Shay that I didn’t know how I felt. In my panic, I texted him.
I miss you. I’m sorry I haven’t called you back.
I’m on my way to Alaska. I’ll be there soon.
You better be okay.
I pulled up my phone screen, staring hard at Holly’s phone number. Under the stern gaze of Shay, I’d entered it when she dropped me off at the airport, pointing out I would need Holly to tell me how to get to the hospital and probably pick me up.
Noting I still had fifteen minutes before boarding, I took a deep breath and tapped Holly’s number to call. It rang only once.
“Delilah! Please tell me you’re at the airport,” Holly demanded.
“I’m at the airport. Is Alex okay?”
“I told Shay to tell you he was fine. Okay, maybe he’s not one hundred percent, but he’s going to be fine. One of my best friends was his nurse all night and assured me his numbers were good.”
“What happened?”
“We’re not really sure. Alex was at the airport doing some maintenance on a plane. Another plane was coming in to land, and there was an explosion in one of the engines as the plane landed. Alex was pulling out the pilot, who probably got knocked out during the landing, when another explosion went off. They think it was the gas tank. We don’t know why it exploded yet. We won’t know until they do the official investigation and release the findings.”
“So what happened to Alex?”
“He saved Fred’s life. Fred’s a pilot, and he’s been around forever. Fred was already unconscious, and then Alex was knocked out with the second explosion. The passengers had gotten out and dragged him and Fred out of the way.”
“What are his injuries?” My stomach was churning and churning and churning.
“He had a mild concussion, and he’s got ringing intermittently in his ear. He’s all scraped up on his back from falling on the pavement. He’s going to be sore, but he’s going to be okay. They kept him overnight for observation because he was unconscious when he got there. He also was having trouble breathing at first. I think he had a mild case of blast lung.” She paused, and then, “Delilah? Are you still there?”
I didn’t realize a tear was rolling down my cheek until it hit the corner of my mouth. I swiped it away, sniffling as I replied, “Yeah, I’m here.”
“I’m glad you’re at the airport. I tried to get you a better flight schedule, but there weren’t many options on such short notice. You won’t get here until tomorrow evening because of the layovers in Houston and then Seattle tomorrow. I made sure you have a hotel voucher in Houston if you need it tonight. I figured you might want it with a seven-hour layover. There’s a hotel right by the airport.”
“It’s fine. Actually, it’s amazing. You didn’t have to do this,” I said quickly. “It doesn’t seem like there are many direct options from here to Alaska.”
“I’d say not, and it’s faster to fly to Europe from the East Coast than to Alaska,” Holly said wryly.
“I know. I’m just glad I’ll be there soon.”
“Maybe I overstepped, but I—”
I cut in. “You didn’t. I want to see him. I’m just not so sure he’ll want to see me.”
“Oh, he will,” Holly said firmly. “I know you broke up with him.”
I was glad Holly couldn’t see my face because I was so embarrassed. “Holly—” I began
It was her turn to interrupt. “I get it. It’s just I can tell you mean a lot to him, so I decided to make fate intervene.”
“Are you fate?” I asked between sniffles.
Holly laughed. “Maybe, maybe not. I thought I would nudge things along. The rest is up to you and Alex.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Alex
The next day - Alaska
“Holly,” I practically growled, not even bothering to keep the irritation out of my voice.
“What?” Her voice was all innocence and sweetness. I wasn’t fooled. My twin sister was anything but innocent and sweet. She was up to something, but hell if I knew what. I was too tired to figure it out.
“I’m home, and I would like some privacy. Please.”
“Just let me stop by and check on you,” she insisted.
I heard Nate say something in the background. I could’ve sworn he said, “Why don’t you tell him?”
“What the hell is Nate talking about?”
Holly hung up on me.
“What the hell?” I muttered entirely to myself.
They’d let me escape the hospital late yesterday afternoon. After they ran a battery of tests, I was cleared to go home. I was expected to have some shortness of breath for a few days, but Charlie told me I was good to go. I was supposed to go see her in her office at the end of this week. Between my mother fussing over me since yesterday, in addition to Holly, I was ready to scream. I just wanted to relax, which wasn’t easy. My back was sore from the scraping from the asphalt.
I tossed my phone on the coffee table and reached for the remote. After a few minutes, I settled on the background noise of the news because I couldn’t find a show I wanted to watch. I looked at my phone again, opening the text from Delilah. I had already sent her a return text when I got my phone back, but that wasn’t until today. I’d left it at the airport, and no one knew where the hell it was. Nate had driven me out there, and I’d found it in my bag of tools where I’d tucked it when I started working.
So far, nothing but silence from Delilah in response to my text. I didn’t know what she meant about coming to Alaska. I figured that meant she was planning a trip and would let me know when.
Standing, I made my way into the kitchen, ignoring the pain in my back. I opened my refrigerator, only to be reminded I hadn’t done any grocery shopping yet this week. I pulled out a bottle of beer and the last two pieces of leftover pizza I’d gotten three days ago.
I was sitting on the couch finishing a slice of pizza when there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” I called, figuring it was Holly and maybe Nate.
The door opened slowly, almost hesitantly, which was my first clue it wasn’t Holly. She was more likely to come in with a flourish.
“Alex?”
I stood quickly, and my breath hissed through my teeth when the skin on my back pulled tight.
“Delilah?”
I was crossing the room just as she peered around the door. My heart kicked up a racket in my chest, and my breath seized in my lungs for a moment.
She stepped in and closed the door behind her. “Holly’s not coming over, but she dropped me off.” Delilah’s eyes searched my face.
I closed the distance between us in a few strides and pulled her almost roughly into my arms. Delilah didn’t hesitate, stepping close and wrapping her arms carefully around my waist as she tucked her head into the crook of my neck.
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Her voice was muffled against my shirt.
I had one arm wrapped around her back and the other cupping the back of her head. I tried to catch my breath, but it wasn’t working very well.