She squeezed the bridge of her nose for a moment, then patted her eyes with the tissue, seeming to pull her emotions back under control. “That was a friend of mine from LA.” She stuffed the tissue back in her bag. “She’d offered to help me retrieve a few things from the home I once shared with Tomas, but apparently his new fiancée refused to allow her inside to collect them.” Elena looked like she’d been about to say more on the subject, but stopped herself. “It’s nothing that plenty of other people haven’t been through when they split up. I don’t know why I let it get to me.”

“These items are legally yours?” he asked, recalling she’d been separated for a year. At her nod, he asked, “Wasn’t that all spelled out in the paperwork?”

Sighing, she seemed to surrender to the topic she clearly hadn’t wished to discuss.

“Yes, but I kept waiting for a good time to return to the house, trying to avoid his fiancée.”

“I remember hearing he proposed to his assistant on his cooking show,” Gage said drily, hating the guy on Elena’s behalf. “Sounded like a ratings ploy to me. But you have a legal right to your possessions, Elena. There’s no need to be diplomatic with people who are denying your rights.”

The aircraft hit a pocket of turbulence, forcing Gage to grip the arms of her chair to steady himself.

“I realize that. I just really didn’t want to play out that whole drama of confronting the woman who wormed her way into my life, pretending to be my friend right up until the weekend she slept with my husband.” She gasped as they bounced through another air pocket, her fingers covering his briefly where they rested on the arms of her chair. Her gaze flicked to his before she took hold of her seat cushion instead. “It’s so trite. So not what I imagined for myself. And I kept thinking Tomas would man up and send me my things, but now I think he’s just dragging his feet in the hope I’ll forget about it. His new fiancée is spiteful and—sadly—my size.”

She shook her head, obviously frustrated, a dark curl sliding loose from her topknot. The strand caught her eyelashes, and Gage couldn’t suppress the urge to peel it gently away from her eyes. Her glossy hair gleamed under the soft cabin lights, the strands smooth against his finger as he let them coil back into place alongside her ear.

“So your friend was denied entrance to your former marital home to retrieve your possessions?” He wanted to be sure he had his facts straight, already seeing a way to be of assistance.