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We disconnect and I stretch to my feet. I think I need a cinnamon roll.
I’ve just taken my place at the back of a surprisingly long line when I hear, “Liam!”
That sounds like…
I turn and see Ivy running toward me.
I feel like the oxygen just got sucked out of my lungs. What the hell? How is this possible?
She darts around a family with two suitcases, two toddlers, and a stroller—seriously, how do people travel like that?—almost plows over a businessman who is too caught up in talking on his phone to notice her, and then is there, throwing herself into my arms.
“Liam! Oh my god!”
I catch her, squeezing her tightly to my body, but over her shoulder I see Harrison jogging toward us.
My heart does a double-flip.
“What are you doing here?” I ask against her hair, taking a deep breath, inhaling her scent.
I let her go as Harrison joins us. “Jesus, you’re fast,” he tells Ivy. “You didn’t even give me a chance to get my shoes back on after security.” Then he meets my gaze. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I frown. “You went through security? You had to take your shoes off?”
“They make people take their shoes off if they’re not pre-screened,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “Yes, I’m aware. When has thateverhappened to you?”
“When I fly into an airport in a private plane, but have to get to my boyfriend who is flying commercial out of an entirely separate terminal, so I have to buy a brand new ticket and don’t have time to give them all the pertinent information.”
I look from him to Ivy. “You had to buy tickets to get to this gate?”
She nods. “Buthedidn’t buy anything. Ford did.”
I look past her just as Ford comes jogging up. “Jesus, you two. You couldn’t have waited three minutes?”
“It’s not our fault you look sketchy and had to be patted down,” Harrison says.
I look from him, to Ford, to Ivy. I can’t believe they’re here.
InDenver.
“What…how…what the hell are you doing here?” I ask. “How did you even know where I was?”
“Sam,” they all say together.
“We intended to come all the way to L.A.,” Ivy adds.
“We would have done it two days ago, but we got a little held up,” Ford says.
“The FBI,” I say. “I heard.”
“I can’t believe we missed your calls and texts,” Ivy says. “I’m so sorry. We felt awful as soon as you left, but they showed up, literally minutes later.”
“Sam filled me in,” I tell them.
“But what areyoudoing in Denver?” Harrison asks.
He hasn’t said anything about being sorry or missing me. He also hasn’t touched me yet. I can see wariness in his eyes. But also hope.