Where You Are

Airborne

Birgitta

Jesse had wanted to meet me in Moncton, but I'd insisted I would be able to get to Toronto myself and meet him there. I didn't see the point of him making a pointless, two-hour flight in the wrong direction. But now that the day was here, I really just wanted to see him.

It was only a three-and-a-half hour flight to Nassau from Toronto and two hours from Moncton to Toronto. I just wanted to be with him again. He was my husband, I guess it was only natural. He was the person I loved most in the entire world.

I was practically an expert at getting through airport security. I knew exactly what I could and couldn't bring on the plane and what needed to be out of my bag for the scanner. But I would still say about ninety percent of the time I was 'randomly' selected for extra screening. I knew it was only because I always travelled alone, but I still couldn't wait until Jesse and I lived in the same place and he could take me through the flight crew security with him. Surely I'd be considered less suspicious then.

I actually had a checked bag this time. Just a little one, but enough that I was only going through security with a small backpack. This was a longer trip than most, and even though Jesse had assured me there wasn't be a need for very many clothes, I'd gone shopping anyway.

I'd never owned a single piece of lingerie before in my life. However, the only time I'd ever felt more awkward than I did walking into the lingerie shop and telling the sales associate that I'd just gotten married and needed all the help I could get, was on our wedding night when the sexiest thing I owned was apparently a dark grey, non-sports bra and panties that sort of matched. But the lady had been extremely professional, took my measurements and set me up with several sets of lingerie, each one more scandalous than the last, as well as two bikinis. I'd also never owned a bikini before, but I'd wanted to give Jesse a bit of a treat on our honeymoon. For someone who almost solely shopped in thrift stores, I'd never spent so much at once on clothes. And clothes that wouldn't even be worn for very long at that. In any case, everything was packed up in my checked bag. I would have been mortified if airport security had made me open my carryon to find all of that.

Even without my clothes on, I'd been a bit embarrassed at the state of myself. I knew Jesse had only ever had sex with two or three other people before, but I wanted to look nice for him. So the day I returned to Moncton, alone, I'd booked myself a full Brazilian without fully understanding what it meant until it was too late. I'd been sore for a day or two, cursing myself for being so naive, but, fortunately, I was back to normal now.

'Birgitta!'

As soon as I passed the extra security and gathered my things, I heard my name. I wheeled around, my heart stopped at the sound of the familiar voice. Surely there weren't many people in Moncton with a British accent.

Sure enough, it was Jesse. He was hurrying towards me while I was frozen to the spot, feeling tears welling up in my eyes.

At once, he had his arms around me so tightly, he was lifting me off the ground. I clung to him and felt tears soaking into his soft, football shirt, hardly believing he was really here.

'What are you doing here?' I finally managed to say. I pulled back a bit, but he wasn't letting me go. I felt my throat burn with more unshed tears and buried my face in his shirt again, inhaling his familiar smell and allowing him to hold me close to him.

'I know you said not to, but I wanted to,' he explained. I pulled away and he looked me in the eyes, his own were a bit wet, too. He put a hand to the back of my head and ran his fingers through my hair. 'I missed you too damn much and I wanted every minute I could get with you.'

'I missed you, too,' I said, my voice shaking. I quickly wiped away the tears.

'My beautiful wife!' He suddenly exclaimed for everyone in the security line to hear.