A few days later, Timothy waited with me just a few feet away from the security checkpoint at the Columbus airport. I adjusted my carry-on, hoping that I remembered to pack everything I would need. The last thing I wanted to do when I got to California was ask Sabrina for a toothbrush.
My feet rooted to the linoleum. I stalled. “Have you heard from Billy?” I asked.
“You mean Walter?” he asked bitterly.
“Is that what we’re calling him now?” I asked. A woman with a hot pink animal carrier walked by with a dog yapping from inside. If they were on my plane, it was going to be a long flight to LA.
Timothy shifted his feet. “I don’t know what to call him. He’s still in the hospital. When he can be moved, Chief Rose will ship him off to Michigan.”
“What can we do for him?”
“We can pray. He’s on the church’s prayer list.” He paused. “Nathan Garner is too. He’s in Columbus. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow on his finger.”
I winced. “Poor guy. His girlfriend is murdered, and he learns his father is the killer. Plus, his best friend attacks him.”
“With Levi and Caleb out of the picture, it looks like he will be running the warehouse all by himself—if he can figure out how to pay back everyone his father swindled over the last twenty years.”
“Tell your family, I said good-bye.” I bit the inside of my lip. “I mean, if you think that they want to hear it.” I hadn’t been back to the farm since Mr. Troyer asked me to leave, and neither had Becky.
Timothy faced me and squeezed my hands. “Chloe, my parents are just upset right now over Becky’s hair. You know that they were hoping she would go back to being Amish. They know it was her decision and that what Becky does is not your fault.”
I wasn’t sure his parents would agree with him. I’d gotten the impression that they thought it was all my fault because I was an intruder, an outsider. I changed the subject. “Has Ruth been able to see Anna more often?”
Timothy nodded. “Grossdaddi told me that Anna was over at our farm all day yesterday.”
“I’m glad. Anna deserves happiness and a father who loves her.”
“Everyone does,” Timothy said. “Including you.”
A TSA agent barked just a few feet away. “Have your IDs and ticket out. Any liquids? Laptops need to go in trays. Those shoes must come off.”
I shivered. “I should get in line.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? I can buy a ticket right now. The pavilions will be fine without me. It’s too cold to work on them anyway.”
I gave him a smile and squeezed his forearm. “Thank you, but I need to do this by myself.”
He folded his hands over mine. “Remember that I’m proud of you.”
“You might not be so proud of me when I throw up on you in a few minutes. I’m so nervous.”
Timothy laughed. “You can face down a killer, Chloe. A few days with your dad will be a piece of cake.”
My dad, maybe. Sabrina, not so much.
He grew serious. “Whatever happens with your dad and Sabrina, remember you tried. If they don’t accept you after that, then that’s their monumental loss.”
Comments like this made what I was about to tell Timothy even more true. “Before I go I need to tell you something.”
His eyes twinkled. “What?”
I looked him dead in the eye. “I love you.”
He grinned and leaned forward to kiss me. When he pulled away, he said, “Now, go. You have a plane to catch.”
I filed into the slow-moving security line. Timothy stood there, watching me until I crossed through the security scanner.
On the plane, I lifted my small overnight bag into the bin above my seat, when my cell phone in my pocket beeped, telling me I had a new text message. I fell into my seat next to the woman with the hot pink dog carrier. A Bichon Frise’s head popped out of the top opening.
I smiled at the woman. “He’s cute.”
“Don’t pet him.” She sniffed. “He bites.”
“Oh.” I scooted over in my seat as far as I could without actually hanging into the aisle, then I removed my cell phone from my coat pocket. The text was from Timothy. Focus on your family now. Don’t worry about mine. We’ll all be family someday.
I stared at Timothy’s text until the flight attendant announced it was time to put away all electronic devices. And the weight of the worries I had carried onto the plane with me blew away like a breeze across the Troyer farm.