No. I shake my head, trying to clear my mind. No, I’m not going there.
She can’t be gone. She can’t leave. I won’t let her.
Not without a fight.
“To the airport, but—”
“Thank you,” I mutter and turn on the balls of my feet. There is an hour-long drive ahead of me. Maybe I could make it in forty. Depending on the road I take. But maybe…
“Where are you going?” Miss Adams calls after me.
Is she for real?
“To get them.”
“You don’t really think you can stop them?”
“I can do my best to try.” I look over my shoulder. “Kate and Penny… they belong here.”
In this little town. With us. With me.
“I know, and as much as it pains me to watch them go…”
“Then you should have stopped them!” Miss Adams flinches at my harsh tone. Dammit. “I’m sorry for yelling, ma’am, but I can’t waste any more time. And I can’t let her go without doing my best to try and get her to stay.”
“It’s not up to her.”
Her words feel cryptic somehow, like there is more hiding behind them than the plain obvious, but I push it back because there isn’t much time. And even if there were, it wouldn’t change the outcome.
“I don’t care. I have to try.”
At least I have to let her know that whatever happens, nothing between us changes.
Nothing.
“Emmett.”
“I don’t have ti—”
This time when I turn around, I find her grabbing her bag.
“I’m coming with you.”
Chapter Thirty
KATHERINE
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you should have given us notice that you’d be traveling with a guide dog,” the clerk behind the counter says evenly, keeping his professional face on the whole time.
Mom clenches her teeth, her face turning red, which is a sure sign that she’s losing it. But I have to give it to him; he doesn’t even flinch.
“Well, I didn’t know that! Shouldn’t those things be allowed everywhere?”
“They are, ma’am.” The clerk nods. “But there are procedures that need to be followed when we have an animal onboard.”
Mom clenches her fingers into a fist and pounds it against the counter. Penny jumps a little at the sound that echoes, even in the busy airport. Her fingers dig into the skin of my upper arm. “What’s going on?” she whispers softly. Not that Mom’s paying us any attention, she’s too busy yelling at the clerk, demanding her rights.
“Mom’s just being Mom,” I reply dryly.
People start turning around, looking at us like we’re crazy. Or maybe just unstable. Probably a little bit of both.
“We should have stayed home. I don’t want to go back.”
Penny turns to look at me, her unseeing eyes wide, every line of her face filled with worry.
I tuck a runaway strand behind her ear. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”
“But what about you and Emmett?”
Just hearing his name is like a punch to my gut. I hate myself for sending him that message, but I didn’t know what else to say. And I didn’t have time to think it through, not with Mom’s threat hanging around my neck.
“Where’s his passport?” Mom turns around to glare at us.
“W-what?”
I’ve completely tuned out her part of the conversation with the guy behind the counter.
“Where’s the little shit’s passport?” Mom hisses. “ID? Or whatever the fuck he needs.” Henry starts growling. “For fuck’s sake, control the beast.” She shakes her head. “I knew we should have left him at your aunt’s.”
I step in front of Penny and still-growling Henry. “Don’t talk to her like that.” I move closer, keeping my voice quiet. “And for all that’s holy, please keep your voice down. You’re making a scene.”
“I. Don’t. Care,” Mom mutters slowly, glaring at me. “Papers, Penelope.”
“I-I d-don’t have them.”
“What?!” Her head snaps up abruptly, and she looks over my shoulder at Penny. “What do you mean you don’t have them?”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but if you don’t have all the documents required to check-in, I have to ask you to step aside,” the clerk chips in.
Mom turns around and glares at the man. “I have the tickets, and you will check us in.”
“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have the documents required for the guide dog, we can’t let you on that plane.”
Mom turns her ire on the poor man, giving me a moment to figure out what’s going on. My heart is already thumping rapidly at the hope that maybe, just maybe, we might get out of this.
I turn to Penny, putting my hands on her shoulders as I whisper. “You didn’t bring Henry’s papers?”
“No.” Penny shakes her head, tears gathering in her eyes as she keeps fumbling with her bag. “I thought I did, but they’re not in my bag. I think I left them with Aunt Mabel the last time we took Henry to the vet? I don’t know.”
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
Mom’s yelling becomes louder, making Penelope more agitated.
“Katherine!” I hear my name being called, but Mom and her tantrums can wait.
“I didn’t mean to forget…” Penny hiccups, and I wrap my arms around her.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Pulling back so I can see her face, I brush away her tears. “Things like that happen. We’ll go back and get it. No biggie.”
“But Mom’s mad. I told her when she woke me up that I don’t want to go, now she’ll think I did it on purpose.”
“Of course, she won’t.” If Mom was going to do this, she shouldn’t have put us on the spot, Penny especially, and think this would end up well for anybody. If there’s somebody to blame, it’s definitely her. “Come on now, no crying.”
“Kate!”
There it is, once again.
I’m about to turn around and tell her to chill when my mind registers the voice.
My whole body stops.
It can’t be.
My heart starts racing so fast I think it’ll beat out of my chest. This time I do turn around, looking for the person calling out my name.
Don’t be stupid, Kate. It can’t be. Whoever it is, is probably calling out to somebody else.
“Katherine!”
My eyes land on his, finding him among the hundreds of people surrounding us. I suck in a breath as the world underneath my feet shifts.
“Kate.”
This time his voice is gentler. He stops in his tracks like he too can’t believe he’s seeing me.
But it’s him.
It’s him.
“Emmett,” I breathe, not wanting to hope this is real.
He’s here.
He came.
As if the sound of my voice snaps something inside of him, Emmett starts moving again, determination written in every line of his face, every stride he takes in my direction.