The Piano Man

XXIII. I Miss You Quite Terribly

"In a matter of speaking. I am an X-man. I am different from most people, I stand out in the crowd, and I don't like being judged for it." Dean Mackin

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XXXIII. I Miss You Quite Terribly

"Now, you aren't going to worry about a thing, right?" Noah asked Sophie for the fortieth time that day.

They stood in the international departures section of Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport. Sophie had always loved airports ever since she was a child. There was something fascinating about watching the flights come in and go out, seeing the flight information change on the screen, and watching the people rush about with their large suitcases as they jetted off on holiday. She had been one of those people once. Her parents preferred to summer in Spain or Italy or Greece.

But she didn't love the airport today. It was December. It had come too quickly. Christmas lights and decorations were up, and tacky ornaments were being sold in the airport shops. And Noah was flying home.

The previous night had been his last at the West End Piano Bar. Pete had shut the pub early and they had all sat around for several hours drinking and laughing. Sophie laughed to keep herself from crying.

Well, Pete didcry at the realisation that he would have to actually pay his next piano man.

What was silly was that she knew it was not goodbye forever. Noah had invited both Sophie and Maddie to Los Angeles at Christmastime. Sophie was going to go to a real recording studio to sing the song that Noah had written for his film, and then they were going to fly up to Napa to spend Christmas at his parents' house.

Sophie didn't think that she had fully wrapped her head around that idea. It was sodifferent from the Spam sandwiches she had served Maddie for Christmas dinner last year as that was all she had been able to afford.

All she could think about was the fact that when she went into work later, that Noah wouldn't be there at the piano. She had only just found him, and he was going.

"Sophie, everything is going to be fine," Noah assured her. "I'll send you the flight information when I get back, and I'll call you when I land. It's not even a full three weeks."

"Two weeks and six days," murmured Sophie. They would be arriving in Los Angeles on the twenty-first of December.

"I'm going to miss you, too," Noah uttered, cupping her face. "I'm soglad I met you, you know. To think I could have missed out on it ..." Noah trailed off and sucked in a breath. His eyes flicked over her face, as if to commit to memory those minor little details that made up a whole person. "You'll tell Maddie I'm sorry?" he asked.

Noah had already apologised to Maddie profusely the night before in Sophie's flat, but she had slammed her bedroom door and thrown a whale of a tantrum. Sophie had not heard one like it for a long time. She did not take the change well, and it had not hit her that Noah would be leaving, albeit temporarily, until he was saying goodbye to her.

Holly was kindly looking after Maddie as she refused to come to the airport. She refused to come out of her bedroom to speak to Noah after that.

Maddie had wept her little heart out that night, sobbing until she had no tears left. She had cuddled with Sophie all night, and her eyes had still been swollen this morning. Maddie was how Sophie felt.

"Yes, I will," Sophie whispered.

"Do you think she'll forgive me?"

Sophie could hear the genuine fear in Noah's voice. It really hurt him that Maddie was upset, and he really did care about their relationship. As if she needed another reason to think him a good man.