บท 61: A Ride to the Airport
"Are you sure you can drive this home, Bug," he asked.
"I should be OK. I might look a little silly, but I think I can handle it."
Dean threw the last of his luggage into the bed of the truck. They headed towards the freeway to get onto 480 to the airport.
"Do you think you forgot anything, Bean?"
"It would be nice if I were able to forget Allie."
"Hey, don't do that to yourself. And never say that. You love and cherish her. I told you to think of it when you get back, you'll be together. Just don't do anything stupid while you are there," she said. "In other words, keep your dick dry. You don't need any drop-and-goes or anything to keep you from marrying Allie because I know you and she will be together. You were met for each other. She is a person who would make an excellent addition to the family.
"Thanks for your vote of confidence, Bug.," he said.
"I'm sorry, but I know you can be foolish sometimes. For example, you decided to tell your fiancé three days before moving 2000 miles across the country for an unknown time frame four months before your wedding."
"I thought I was protecting her feelings; I should have known better. I think deep down, I was just protecting my feelings. If I had told her earlier, she would have left earlier. I would have been without her longer."
"Well, big brother, you need to make a decision. You either need to live out there as if you are coming home to her, or you need to get over her and move on," she said.
"What would you do, Bug, if you were in this predicament?"
"If I love somebody as deeply as you love Allie, which I do, I would wait. But this is a decision only you can make, Dean. You need to decide whether you will stay the course and whether the storm or if you will take a new path. I cannot tell you what to do, and I know you are looking for approval somehow."
"You are right. I am looking for someone to tell me what to do because I don't have the slightest clue," he said. "That doesn't involve me going to federal prison."
"Yes, you do. Look, you once mentioned that she was in love once before, and the only reason that love ended was because he died. You are not dead. I don't think while you are alive, her love for you will die. I wish I could tell you the future. I wish I could talk to you while you were gone and tell you how she is and what she is doing. I can try to send you a telepathic message. Maybe we have that weird sibling bond.
"SHIT!" Dean said while hitting the steering wheel.
"What's wrong?" Natalie asked.
"I forgot something at the office."
"Do you need it that bad?"
"Yes, I do."
"Let's take a detour, but you had better make it quick.
Dean ran into the building, up to the office, and grabbed his dossier off his desk. It is a good thing he remembered this. He was going to spend the entire flight reading over and over. When he arrives at LAX, he is supposed to rip it up and dump it in one of the garbage cans.
He was about to walk away. A picture caught his eye. It was a picture of Allie and him riding Athena and Zeus. She had her hand out and was showing off her engagement ring on one hand, and I Love You in sign language.🤘
His fingertips traced the outline of her face. He wanted to take it with him—maybe hide it in his shoe. He's not that dumb, but he's that in love.
"I would die for her, my Princess, my Buttercup." Tears fell, and he quickly wiped them away. "She's the other half of me. She's my reason."
He jumped back into the truck, and Natalie yelped.
Jesus Cristo, I can't get used to you with that douchie haircut and the beard. Do you know how much I hate that beard? Ugh."
"It wasn't my choice. At least they didn't make me shave my head. It was hard to grow it all out being with Allie. She thought I was having a mid-life crisis."
"Well, if this mid-life, you better bring your ass home to live the other part of your life."
"I will be back, and I will be me. I will do anything I can to let her know how much she means to me. Maybe I will give her that million dollars so she can give it to her charity."
"This is getting way too deep and serious. Fuck, do you see what time it is? You had better hope security is relaxed. This does put us behind. And since you do not have your ID, it's different than you can just fly through security with your FBI credentials. Welcome to the world of standing in line in security, and then when you get on, you have crying babies and a 6-year-old snot kicking your chair. You are a Gulfstream, spoiled rich kid, Dean Stapleton."
Natalie was digging around in her purse. "Ah, there it is." She pulled out her phone. "My phone is dead. Do you have a charger?"
"Natalie, for the love of the holy lord. Why can you never keep your phone charged? The epitaph on your grave will read, "My phone is dead, and so am I."
"That was so funny, I forgot to laugh. Well, do you have a charger or not, Bean?
"I have an Android. I do not have spare iPhone chargers hanging around."
"Fuck."
"Hopefully, you won't need it. You are going right home, correct?"
"Yes, I am going right home. I wouldn't want anything to happen to your baby."
Dean slowed down.
"Now what?"
He was in front of Jakes. "That's Allie's car. She's in there, Natalie."
"Dean, no. Don't do this, not now. We do not have the luxury of spare time, and neither of you is going to be able to keep it together.
When am I going to have another chance? I need to make sure that she has not changed her mind.
Don't you think she would have called you by now if she changed her mind?
Dean opened the door to the truck. "I have to see her bug. What if something happens to me? She needs to know that no matter what she decides when I'm gone, I will stay faithful to her no matter how long it takes or what I have to do."
"Yeah, that shouldn't start a conversation we do not have time for."
He stepped out of the truck and closed the door.
"Dean!" she called behind him.
He had already started to head towards the door. He caught a glimpse of her through the front window. She was sitting at the bar. He could tell that she had been crying. Her clear porcelain skin was ruddy, and her eyes were visibly swollen. She already had eight empty shot glasses and three beer bottles in front of her. "She must have gotten an early start."
He stepped towards the door when he saw Alvarez approach her and put his arms around her. She put her head on his chest, and he gently stroked her hair and kissed her head. He whispered something to her. He had made her smile.
"My guess is that is the first smile she has had on her face for three days, and I am not the one doing it. I should be making her smile, NOT Alvarez," he said to himself.
Dean stood perfectly still for a second, not knowing if he should leave or go inside. He decided that if she would stay faithful to him, she would. He didn't need to tell her that he was going to; he was going to do it.
Alvarez looked up out the window.
"Is that Carron's truck?" he asked.
Allie looked up, and she saw it too. The truck was slowly starting to pull away. She jumped from the barstool and aggressively pushed her way through the crowd. By the time she made it to the street, his taillights were nothing but small red dots. Within seconds, they were gone.
He hadn't left yet, but why didn't he come for a minute? He had to have seen my car. Damn it. What have I done?
She called his phone. A message on the other end announced that this phone had been disconnected. She hoped she had called the wrong number, so she tried again but got the same message.
"Fuck!" she shouted while sobbing in the middle of East 9th.
Natalie would be the one driving him to the airport. That made the most sense. She quickly dialed Natalie. It immediately went to voicemail. She tried three more times. No change. It went to voicemail.
She walked back inside and sat back down on the barstool.
I assume you didn't catch up to him.
"Who do I look like, Jackie Joyner Kersey? No, Alex, I did not catch up with him."
"Did you try calling his phone?"
"Of course I did. It's been disconnected, and his sister's phone is either off or dead, or she's giving me the FU."
"I'm sorry, Allie. Is there anything I can do?"
"No. I am beyond help and out of hope."
"What were you going to say?" Alvazez rubbed her back as he held her. Her tears soaked his shirt.
"What does it matter? I didn't get to say it."
"Tell me what you were going to say. It would help if you said it to someone."
"I was going to tell him how much I was going to miss him and that I made a huge mistake. He was right: If I were going on deployment, I would want him to stay faithful. To me, this assignment is just like a deployment. But I was too late. I was too stubborn, too hurt, and foolish."
"So, where do you go from here?"
"Like this, I just pick up where I left off."
"I'm so sorry. I wish you could have said that to him."
She lifted her head to look at him. "Well, if wishes had come true, this would never have happened in the first place. If my wishes had come true, I would get married in four months. If wishes had come true, we would live happily ever after and raise our children."
He put his arms around her again, and she put her head on his shoulder, buried her face into his neck, and cried softly.
"Don't worry—I'm not going anywhere. If you need me, I'm here. I have two solid shoulders and arms to hold you, and you know that I care deeply for you and your happiness."
She said nothing.
Dean pulled up to the terminal and parked the truck. Natalie slid out and fell two feet to the ground.
"You know, bro, we should put a slide on here for me so my feet don't have to hit the ground so hard. I want one that looks like a waterslide. With twists and turns."
"I'll look into it," he said. "I might actually miss you, Bug. Of course, it's taking 2000 miles for that to happen."
"You know you are a smart-ass."
"Better than being a-"
"Dumbass," they said together.
She got on her tippy toes. He bent down, and she put her arms around his neck and hugged him.
"I am going to miss you, Special Agent Big Brother. Please don't get yourself killed."
"I'm not planning on it.
"Man plans. God laughs."
He went to stand up, but she still had a tight grip around his neck.
"Bug, you have to let me go. I'm going to miss my plane."
"Can you take me as a carry-on? I mean, seriously, look at me. I am not that far off from looking like a Barbie doll. "
"Which one are you? Annoying little sister Barbie?"
She reluctantly let him go, but only in order to give him the finger.
"I know I'm the number one in being a super agent. No need to inflate my ego."
She hugged him hard at the midsection and squeezed as tight as she possibly could.
"There is a quality natty bug hug. When you miss me, think of me squeezing your guts."
He laughed and smiled at his sister. "I am going to miss you. Try to find your own place while I am gone."
She punched him in the arm. "You are such an asshole. Do you know that?"
"I've been told that a time or two. I'll see you later, little bug."
"I'll see you soon. Immense pain in my ass."
She turned around and ran back to the truck. It was entertaining to see her trying to climb inside. It looked like she was climbing a tree. He laughed a little.
"That's a good memory." Dean gathered up his bags and walked into the airport.
Natalie wiped her eyes and pulled the truck away from the curb.
Lord, I don't have a good feeling about this. That is my brother getting on that plane, but I have a bad feeling a stranger is coming back.
📚😉If you want to know how this story ends, you have to wait
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