Chapter 8 - What She Never Told Her Family
Ethan’s flight was at 5:40.
Camille learned that at 11:17.
For several seconds she simply stood outside André’s hotel, phone pressed to her ear, unable to process the symmetry.
Another airport.
Another man leaving.
Another decision she had not been ready to make.
“Elise, where is he?”
“His hotel, I think.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He tried to call.”
Camille looked at her phone.
Two missed calls from Ethan.
Both arrived while she was with André.
A message followed.
Call me when you’re done. No rush.
No rush.
Camille almost laughed.
“Why is he leaving?”
Elise explained.
Ethan’s team managed infrastructure for a major healthcare company. Overnight, a software deployment had caused a serious system failure affecting several client networks.
Nobody had been physically harmed.
But hospitals were operating on backup processes.
Thousands of employees were working to restore service.
Ethan was not technically required to return.
He could lead remotely.
He had decided to go anyway.
Camille knew why.
Responsibility.
Control.
The life that made sense.
“When did he change his flight?”
“About an hour ago.”
“How do you know?”
“Daniel called him.”
Camille was already walking toward her car.
“Elise.”
“Yes?”
“I ended it with André.”
Silence.
Then a soft inhale.
“Oh.”
“Don’t say anything.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were absolutely going to.”
“I was going to say I love you.”
Camille stopped.
Her eyes filled.
“I love you too.”
“Go.”
Camille drove too fast.
She called Ethan.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
At 11:46, a message arrived.
On a work call. I’ll call after.
Camille hit the steering wheel.
“You unbelievable responsible idiot.”
At the hotel, the front desk refused to give her Ethan’s room number.
Camille called.
Texted.
Waited.
Finally, at 12:08, the elevator doors opened.
Ethan stepped out wearing dark jeans, a white shirt, and the expression of someone mentally solving five emergencies at once.
He stopped when he saw her.
Camille stood.
“You’re leaving.”
Ethan looked at his phone.
Then back at her.
“Yes.”
“When were you planning to tell me?”
“I called.”
“You sent ‘no rush.’”
“You were with André.”
“So?”
“So I wasn’t going to interrupt that conversation because my company had a crisis.”
Camille stared.
Ethan shifted his laptop bag.
“How did it go?”
She almost laughed.
“You are asking about André?”
“Yes.”
“While you’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
Something inside Camille broke open.
“I said no.”
Ethan went completely still.
The lobby continued around them.
Suitcases rolling.
Phones ringing.
A child complaining about sunscreen.
Ethan said quietly, “No to Dubai?”
“No to waiting.”
His face changed.
Camille stepped closer.
“I ended it.”
“Camille.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t make that careful face.”
“I don’t know what careful face means.”
“Yes, you do. The one where you start trying not to influence me.”
Ethan stared.
“I’m not asking you to celebrate André being hurt.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I know.”
She exhaled.
“But I need you to stop acting like this has nothing to do with you.”
“That isn’t what I’m doing.”
“Isn’t it?”
Ethan looked around.
“Can we go somewhere quieter?”
“No.”
Several people looked over.
Camille lowered her voice only slightly.
“You changed your flight because of me.”
“Yes.”
“You spent two days with me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you wanted another day because you forgot what came next.”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re leaving without saying what any of that means.”
Ethan’s expression tightened.
“My company has a crisis.”
“I know.”
“I have people depending on me.”
“I know.”
“What do you want me to do?”
The question stopped her.
Because she did not want him to stay.
Not like that.
Not at the expense of people who trusted him.
She simply wanted him to say leaving mattered.
Camille looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan’s voice softened.
“I don’t either.”
For a moment, they stood in the uncomfortable truth.
Then he said, “I don’t want to go.”
Camille looked up.
Ethan continued.
“I know I should. I know why I’m going. I know it’s the correct decision.”
A bitter smile.
“But I don’t want to.”
Something in Camille relaxed.
“That’s all I needed.”
“What?”
“For you not to pretend the correct decision doesn’t cost anything.”
Ethan set his laptop bag down.
Camille looked at the floor.
“I’ve spent years telling everyone André and I were complicated because that sounded more dignified than saying I was afraid to stop waiting.”
Ethan remained quiet.
“I told Elise I was fine.”
She laughed softly.
“I told my mother I liked being single. I told Max that André and I were just old friends.”
“But?”
“But every birthday I wondered if that would be the year he came back.”
Her voice shook.
“Every Christmas. Every family event.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Last night at the beach, I realized I’m tired.”
Camille wiped her eyes.
“I’m tired of being impressive about disappointment.”
Ethan’s face softened.
“And I’m tired of making choices based on whether somebody might eventually choose me.”
“Good.”
Camille looked sharply at him.
“That sounded aggressive.”
“It was supportive.”
“It sounded like you wanted to fight somebody.”
“Possibly André.”
She laughed through tears.
Ethan smiled.
Then the moment changed.
Camille looked at him.
“You have to go.”
“Yes.”
“What happens now?”
There it was.
The question both had avoided.
Ethan rubbed his jaw.
“I don’t want to make you another promise at an airport.”
Camille’s heart tightened.
“That sounds like no.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“It sounds like I’ve known you three days, you just ended something that shaped thirteen years of your life, and I live three thousand miles away.”
“That is annoyingly rational.”
“I’m trying.”
She looked at him.
“What if I don’t want rational?”
Ethan inhaled.
Then he did something that surprised both of them.
He touched her cheek.
Slowly.
Giving her enough time to move away.
Camille did not.
“I paid four hundred and eighty-seven dollars because you told me to stop looking at my feet.”
Her breath caught.
“I’m clearly not operating entirely on rational principles.”
“Good.”
“Camille.”
“Yes?”
“I want to kiss you.”
Her lips curved despite the tears.
“That may be the least spontaneous sentence anyone has ever said before kissing someone.”
“I’m respecting boundaries.”
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“Stop calculating.”
So he did.
The kiss was soft.
Brief.
Nothing like the dramatic moment either had probably imagined.
And because of that, it felt more real.
When they separated, Camille rested her forehead against his.
“What happens now?” she whispered again.
Ethan closed his eyes.
“We find out.”
Twenty minutes later, Camille watched his car leave for Miami International.
She told herself she was not waiting.
Not anymore.
But at 4:58 p.m., Ethan called from the airport.
“You were right,” he said.
“About what?”
“I keep leaving things unsaid.”
Camille sat straighter.
There was noise behind him.
A boarding announcement.
Then Ethan said the words that made her heart stop.
May you like
“So before I get on this plane, there’s something I need to tell you.”
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