Ryann checked her phone and the time again, her anxiety rising. When she’d first landed, she’d hoped that, like he’d done in New York, Ted would have arranged a car service for her, but she saw no new messages when she’d turned on her phone. Her flight had been delayed, of course, and it was now closer to ten in the evening. She had no idea if the car-rental agencies were on site or off, but she was worried that if she got there too late, they’d either be closed or out of cars. Her flight here had been packed—lots of tourists heading here for spring break, she supposed, if they were anything like her boisterous seatmates. Both had spent the majority of the five-hour flight discussing the best place to buy pot. She’d be battling it out with the new-age hippies for the last car on the lot. Still, she decided, just in case, to check the Delta baggage claim for a driver with one of those paper placards, as the message might have been lost when her phone was off.

Finally, the train pulled into the terminal, and she once again used her New York skills to push her way through to the front, not one person fighting back or even complaining. She ran to the escalator, walking up it as quickly as she could. Then, spotting the signs for the Delta baggage area, she raced that way, power walking through the milling friends and families reuniting by the roped-off security checkpoint.

“Ryann!” someone called.

She didn’t immediately react. The name was common enough, but the next time someone called her name, she turned.

Maddie stood there some ten feet away, clutching an enormous bouquet of red roses. Her hair had grown longer in the last few weeks—no longer a neat pompadour, but messy and clearly in need of a trim. She looked a little wan, too, perhaps a little thinner, and her tan was even more faded than it had been in February.

They stood there, simply staring at each other in the midst of a few hundred people bustling around them. Ryann’s heart was pounding so hard and fast, she felt a little light-headed.

“What—what are you doing here?” she asked, moving one step forward.

Maddie laughed. “I’m here for you, of course. Someone named Ted texted me, and so I bought the ticket—”

“You did?”

Maddie nodded, finally stepping forward, too. Like Ryann, she stopped, as if uncertain whether to come closer. “I didn’t know if you were going to come. I’ve been waiting here for hours just hoping, I guess. I just…I had to try, you know?”