Page 50 of Things Left Unsaid

Once Tee joins me, I grumble, “I’m grateful that you care. I love you as much as you love me, but while we’re in a secured space, if you so much as mention Colton once, I swear to God, I’m leaving you and heading for the nearest bar. Now, I need chips. Stat.”

I feel like a bitch for abandoning her there while she organizes her hand luggage into the packing cases she relies on, but I need a minute to myself.

Yes, my situation is shitty.

Yes, it’s dire.

But it’s not criminal.

Needing chips wasn’t a lie so I head to Relay.

It’s times like these that I wish I could gorge myself on junk.

I can enjoy fast food in moderation so long as I balance it with insulin, but sometimes, I just want to drown in carbs. I’ve spent a lifetime watching Tee eat her feelings with ice cream and candy without worrying about her blood sugar, and today, I’m jealous.

Because I need some of that, I snag two bags of All-dressed chips and head to the line, making mental calculations about how to combat the influx of carbs.

That’s when someone grabs my arm.

Startled, I turn, half-expecting to see a CATSA agent, but it’s not.

Neither is it Tee.

I can literally feel the blood drain from my face when I set eyes on Clyde Korhonen.

For the first time in years.

I can’t speak, can’t breathe.

Fear has me in an immediate chokehold.

Unbidden, the bags of chips tumble to the floor.

“It’s been a long time since we last met, Susanne.”

I don’t answer.

I can’t.

“How many years has it been?”

Oh, God.

Not enough.

Yet it also feels like yesterday since I saw him in the?—

“You’ve grown up very nicely.”

There’s a lag between ‘very’ and ‘nicely.’

A lag that he uses to look me up and down.

He’s…

My mind blanks.

That voice… his tone…