Come Back

Part 7.

November 20

Today’s the day. We board the plane in an hour or so. We all decided to meet separately at the airport today, saying goodbyes to our family members on our own, then meeting up at the terminal together. I said goodbye to mom who dropped me off without a problem. Saying goodbye was a natural occurrence for her because of my dad. Saying goodbye to Lily was a whole other story.

I said goodbye to her right before I went up to get my plane ticket and check my suitcase onto the plane. “Daddy, are you coming home?”

“Of course I am,” I smiled at her.

She frowned. “So you’re not going away like mommy did?”

This caught me off guard. I felt a lump rise in my throat. I had to swallow it down in order to assure her I wasn’t. “I will be back in a week, Lily. I promise I’m coming home.”

“Can you keep that promise?” she asked, looking up at me. I was kneeling on her level, but she still had to look up a slight bit.

“Yes,” I assured her. “Now give me a hug.” I wrapped her into a long, tight hug, smoothing the back of her hair. She wore a beautiful yellow, orange and brown dress. Her hair hung down in curls. “I love you.”

“I love you too, daddy,” she said into my shoulder, muffled. When we pulled out of the hug and I started to walk towards the counter, my mom took her hand and tried to lead her back to the car, but of course, the water works were on their way. “Daddy, don’t go!” Tears spilled from her eyes.

My heart broke for hers. I ran up to her, dropping my luggage and scooping her up in my arms. Her gasps in my ear made me never want to let go of her, although I knew I had to or I wouldn’t catch my plane in time. “I’ll be home in five days. Grandma and grandpa will take good care of you. Be good, okay? I love you so much, squirt.”

She nodded and took my mom’s hand, walking out the door. I watched her go, looking back every so often at me, stumbling as she went, until she was out of sight. I went through security as fast as humanly possible and ran to the food court to get some food before the plane ride and then met up with everyone at the terminal.

It wasn’t too difficult to find everyone because of Logan’s fiery red hair, pulled up into a ponytail. I rolled my carry on up to them and gave Logan a hug and high fived Shiloh. “Anyone have any idea where Theo is?” I asked them.

Logan laughed and replied, “He went to go get a map of New York so he wouldn’t completely get lost.”

“Well that’s dumb.” I shook my head. “Because I know that city inside and out.”

“That’s what I said,” she laughed. We waited in the chairs outside of the terminal until Theo came back with a map and a few books. Logan decided she wanted to go get a book for the trip and took Shiloh with her. That left Theo and I alone, waiting to board the plane. Babies cried and men talked loudly on cell phones, teens traveling alone had headphones in and played Angry Birds on their phones. I watched all of this going on until Theo spoke up.

“So you never told Julia?” he raised his eyebrows at me.

I looked at the ground. “Nope.”

“Why not?” he asked.

I searched my mind for a reason, but came up with nothing. “I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t want her to get even more mad at me.”

“Is it because you wanted to spend time with Logan?” he asked me, nodding towards her and Shiloh who were finally on their way back.

I looked up at her, laughing as she walked back, two books in her hands. She looked beautiful, even though she was only wearing baggy sweatpants and a purple sweatshirt. “Sort of.”