Chapter Four:
He's expecting her.
They haven't spoken in years, haven't seen each other in even longer, but she knows that he's been informed of her return. Her last minute details do not deviate from the original plan, so she has to believe that he's accepted the cover story.
Just as well. Like much of his life, he's never really had a say, but a little part of her still hopes that he was a willing accomplice.
Why? What did it matter?
It just did.
Seated in business class, she taps her fingers against her arm-rest, staring listlessly out into the nothingness of the world at thirty-six thousand feet.
"Anxious to return to your sweetheart?" asks the kindly old woman sitting next to her. To prompt the conversation, she points to the rings on Sarah's left hand.
Sarah's taken aback because it's been so long since people have made assumptions but she manages a polite smile.
"Yes," she whispers, because any louder and she'd have to start facing the demons she's taken such pains to run from. Nervously she runs her right hand over the diamond and the band, hiding it from view.
"Miss him?" the old woman presses, beaming at her.
Sarah stares back out the window, but the glaring whiteness is too much for even someone desperate to avoid a conversation. "Of course," she replies, feeling her lips tremble to hold the smile.
The old woman nods her head in agreement. "My husband passed away last year," she confessed with a sad look.
"Oh."
"He was the love of my life."
The fatalistic tone matched with the elderly woman's frail voice lends to Sarah's melancholy. She's spent a lot of time in denial over the years, made a lot of mistakes along the way, but one thing was sure.
He hadn't been one of them.
"Do you miss him?" Sarah asked, the first time she's felt engaged in the conversation.
"Everyday," the old woman replied. "They say time heals all wounds but " Placing an empathic hand to her chest, she shook her head, "Not this."
Sarah stared at her, long and steadfast. "You know," she finally said with a look of understanding. "I think you might be on to something there."