Jasmyn rested her head on the back of the passenger seat in Liv’s minivan, grateful for once for Keagan’s dead silence. She shut her eyes to shut out the freeway traffic, shut out Liv’s tearful goodbye, and shut out Sam’s surprising meltdown.
Liv had made the long pier walk, her arm linked through Jasmyn’s for much of the way, more for sweet contact than support. She was a strong woman, physically and otherwise.
“Jasmyn, dear,” she had said in her low, confident tone, “I truly believe you will be back here to live someday. I only wish it were today.”
Jasmyn listened politely, weary of the question of her future. She had a plane ticket. She would go home because it was her home, she would work because she needed to work, she would pick up where she had left off, perhaps with the in-your-face tornado memory by now a thing of the past.
She would figure out what to do with Danno’s offer or with new owners. She would vacation regularly in Seaside Village.
Liv had said, “From almost the very moment we met, I knew the cottage was for you and not just temporarily. It sounds crazy, but God put that thought in my heart. I’ve heard wrong at times, and I wonder now if I have because why would you be leaving…”
At that point Liv had been unable to hold the blubbering at bay. At least they had reached the Casa and she was able to rest on her own couch instead of on a bench on the pier, waiting for Keagan to come to the rescue with that guy’s cart.
Vacationing in Seaside Village was not going to work.
Vacationing in Seaside Village was not going to work.
The thought struck Jasmyn now like a sudden onset of stomach flu. What she had experienced these past eight weeks was a mere blip in her life. So many forces had come together to create it, from tornado to car theft to Casa residents and where they were in their lives at that point in time. How could that be repeated?
Things like Sam’s success at work and her slow warming to others and Beau’s flirting. Like Tasha starting a new school year and telling Jasmyn about it almost daily. Like Piper’s quiet example of moving through each day after a great loss. Like Coco’s stories that would soon fade away because the woman was ancient already.
Like meeting Nova in the desert mission church. Like Jasmyn herself taking baby steps in prayer and then in sensing the presence of what Liv called Other, with a capital O.
“Jasmyn?” Keagan said. “Are you okay?”
She opened her eyes and sat up straighter. “Probably not.”
“Probably not.” He threw her his quarter smile. “Nope. Probably not.”
She took comfort in his words. In him.
The feather in her throat had begun its tickle a short while ago when he had come to carry her luggage out to the van. It continued through the last goodbyes to Liv and Inez, who had walked with her to the alley. It continued while her eyes were shut.
She reminded herself that, as Quinn had said, it was natural to be attracted to the guy. He made her feel safe. He was single. He had nice eyes. Gorgeous eyes, actually. She’d have to tell Quinn about them.
At the airport, Keagan pulled behind a shuttle van and parked at the curb. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come inside?”
She shook her head and they got out. He unloaded her bags, the purple one and the beach bag carry-on, and set them on the sidewalk.
The next moment passed quickly. She had been unable to imagine a goodbye with Keagan.
The night before, she had exchanged hugs with everyone except him. After weeks of living at the Casa, she easily embraced the women, cuddled with Tasha, kissed Coco’s downy cheek, stepped into brief hugs with Louis, Noah, and Beau, and laughed in Chad’s bear hug. Keagan slipped away when she wasn’t looking. But she would be seeing him the next day.
And now, in the blink of an eye, he was waving and climbing back into the van and calling out, “Text us when you get home.”
So much for feeling awkward about embracing the guy who made her feel all weird inside.
Jasmyn sighed, disappointed and yet relieved.
It was time she got out of town.
Jasmyn easily found her way this time to the check-in lanes. She was flying straight to Chicago and changing planes there. It would be late by the time Quinn met her at the airport, but Quinn was a night owl. The forty-five-minute drive home would scarcely give them time to begin catching up.
The line was long. No surprise. Lines were always long no matter where she went in California. Jasmyn realized the crowds no longer made her edgy or protective of her space. Interacting with total strangers had become an enjoyable pastime.
She smiled. It wasn’t quite the same as knowing everyone she ran into.
Behind a family of four, she parked her suitcase and opened her handbag to get out her e-ticket and driver’s license. She spotted her cell phone, its screen lit up with messages.
She took it out, remembering that she had not turned up the ringer’s volume. There were texts and missed calls and voice mails, all from Quinn. What on earth? Not bothering to read or listen, she called her friend.
“Jasmyn! Don’t get on that plane! You’re not on it, are you?”
“What’s going on?”
“Are you on it?”
“No. I’m in line at the check-in—oh.” She spoke to a woman beside her who was pushing her bag against Jasmyn’s. The line had moved forward two steps. “Excuse me. Sorry.”
Quinn exhaled loudly. “Well, get out of line, hon. We need to talk.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously!”
“Do you know how long this line—”
“Albright, move this instant!”
Quinn could be bossy. In all the years of their friendship, it had been obvious that she was the leader of their pack of two. Jasmyn never minded. She did not care to be first in anything. And, if not for her friend, she might not have found the courage to try taco pizza, lip gloss, clogs, cross-country, or dinner with Nick Bloome. In all her bossiness, though, Quinn had only screamed at her once before, when the tornado touched down.
“Excuse me,” Jasmyn said to the impatient woman behind her and got out of line. “Okay, Quinn, I’m moving.”
“Sit down.”
“What?”
“Sit down.”
“There’s no place—How bad is this?”
“It’s not bad, it’s not—Well, it’s just something you need to know right now.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Is Danno okay?”
“He is fine. Everyone is fine. Find a place to sit already!”
“I’m finding.” Jasmyn eyed an occupied line of chairs and headed outdoors. She strode to a concrete bench under a palm tree. “Okay, I’m sitting.”
No sound came from the phone.
“Quinn, are you there?”
Jasmyn heard muffled noises, a hiccup, a soft crying sound.
“This afternoon…” Quinn’s voice trembled and then it trailed off.
Jasmyn felt some unknown boogeyman eat up the minutes, precious minutes she needed to stand in line, check her bag, go through security, and get on the plane.
She realized that, once again, she was not going to get on the plane.