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“I gotta go,” I break the awkward silence. “Something important just came up.”

“Have fun,” Suzette laughs with relief.

“You too,” I mutter quickly and hang up.

Poetry: Missing you Siren.

A picture of him sitting on a leather couch, looking exhausted, comes in right after. I can see the dark circles under his eyes.

“Oh,cher. You aren’t taking care of yourself.”

I send a text back to correct that. No sexy times tonight. It’s a disappointing thought, but he obviously needs sleep.

Me: You look so tired. Call it a night and tuck you and Racer into bed.

Poetry: How was your family dinner? I forgot to tell you to switch to decaf this morning.

I scoff at his belief that something like that would help me stay calm.

Me: No show for little bro. I’m trying not to picture WHY.

I send him a picture of me gagging in horror.

Poetry: They’re in the honeymoon phase?

Me: And they’ll never leave it. I don’t need to hear about it though.

It isn’t until we chat for a bit that I realize he hasn’t gone to bed. When I call him out, he admits he wanted to see how long it would take before I noticed. I retaliate by telling him I’m refusing to answer any more texts, no matter what, until morning. I save the pouting picture he sends me as my home screen.

Chapter Nine

Adelaide

Today is the day. Poe is coming home. I can’t tell if I’m more excited or he is. He packed while we were on the phone last night so he wouldn’t waste time in the morning. His flight isn’t until ten, but he got to the airport at six, as if he could leave early.

I have a lot of pictures of Racer staring out windows at planes with its paws pressed against the glass. Every image he sends amps up my excitement. I’m not going to ask him to stop because I love how much he shows me that he can’t wait to see me.

I spend my day pacing around the shop and waiting for him to get here.

When the flight is delayed due to a storm, we both start cursing the weather and anything else we can think of.

With the way things end up, he’ll arrive after five, which is insane and appalling. If I thought calling the airline and pleading to let my man come home would work, I would.

I’m stuck moping long enough that Damon can’t stand it anymore and demands that I leave because I’m depressing him.

After a walk around to see if I can find anything to turn this day around for us, I stop in a kids’ party shop. It’s my favorite place for prank items. I buy a bottle of confetti to shower over Poe and call it good.

Then I go home and pace some more.

My heart is pounding. Every second feels like an eternity. I’m convinced that the plane is driving here instead of flying. After the non-stop communication, the sudden silence on his end is unnerving.

I’m crazy. If I ever had any doubts, then this would really bring that knowledge home to me.

Instead of pouting, I decide what I want to wear. Something that I should have had planned earlier, but didn’t think about in all my excitement.

I go with a sundress I haven’t worn in a long time. Something easy to tug off, because it is definitely coming off, whether he protests or not.

The other night has me determined to get the man in bed tonight. It’s going to happen. He’s not leaving until morning.