Chapter 4

Ethan didn't come home that night.

He only walked in the door around noon the next day, smelling faintly of woody perfume.

It was Chloe's usual scent.

He tossed his car keys on the entryway table and glared at me, his face cold.

"Did you throw enough of a tantrum last night?"

I was sealing a cardboard box with tape, not looking up.

"Are you deaf?" He walked over and kicked the box. "What are you doing packing all this junk?"

"Just organizing things I don't need anymore."

He scoffed.

"Olivia, your 'play hard to get' act is getting old. Do you think I'll come crawling back to you if you give me the silent treatment for a few days?"

I straightened up, dusting off my hands.

"I wasn't trying to make you come back."

"Then what's this attitude? Chloe cried for almost an hour last night because of what you said. You owe her an apology."

"I won't apologize."

"You're completely unreasonable!"

He irritably ran a hand through his hair and sat down on the sofa.

"I don't have time to waste on this. Next Wednesday, I'm flying an Aurora Borealis route to Reykjavik. If you admit you were wrong, I'll give you the complimentary family ticket I'd set aside for Chloe, and take you to see the Northern Lights."

I froze.

The Northern Lights.

Six years ago, I was diagnosed with a thyroid nodule. It was benign, but I was terrified at the time.

He held my hand by the hospital bed and said, "Once you're better, I'll take you to see the Aurora. You'll sit on my flight, and we'll watch the most beautiful night sky together."

He'd put off that promise for six years.

Now, he was using that six-year-old promise as a handout, a way for me to climb down.

And that ticket, it was originally for Chloe.

"You don't care?" He frowned, seeing my silence. "Do you know how hard it is to get a complimentary ticket for that route? Chloe begged me for ages before I agreed. I'm only changing my mind for you because it's our eighth anniversary."

"Give the ticket to Chloe," I said, looking at him, my voice so quiet I could barely hear it myself.

"What did you say?"

"I said, give the ticket to her. I don't need it."

Ethan abruptly stood up, his face terribly dark.

"Olivia, don't push your luck. I've given you the chance; if you're just screwing yourself over, don't come crying to me later."

"I won't beg you."

He violently smashed a glass on the coffee table.

Shards flew, cutting my calf.

He didn't even glance at it, turning and slamming the door behind him.

I looked down at the drops of blood on my calf, pulling a tissue to wipe them away.

It didn't hurt. It truly didn't hurt anymore.

Time flew by to next Wednesday.

Our eighth anniversary.

And the day my resignation took effect, the day I left this city.

I dragged my only suitcase and took a taxi to the airport.

My flight to Texas was scheduled for three in the afternoon.

After checking in, I sat in the waiting area, watching planes take off and land outside the window.

The Aurora Borealis flight was scheduled to depart at 2 PM.

Ethan should be in the left seat now, preparing for pushback.

I opened my phone, wanting to check his flight status one last time, to put a period on these eight years.

His crew information popped up on my flight tracker app.

The Captain's name wasn't Ethan.

It was a different, unfamiliar name.

I froze.

Had he gotten sick and been temporarily replaced?

Just then, my peripheral vision caught sight of the entrance to the first-class lounge not far away.

A man in a casual trench coat was wheeling a pink suitcase into it.

Beside him was a woman in a matching trench coat.

She was affectionately linked arm-in-arm with him, her head resting on his shoulder.

It was Ethan and Chloe.

I stood rooted to the spot, watching them enter the lounge.

I overheard two airline staff members chatting nearby.

"Wasn't that Ethan who just went in? Wasn't he supposed to be flying to Reykjavik today?"

"He took some last-minute vacation days. Heard it's to go with Chloe to Finland."

"Chloe was bragging in the group chat all yesterday, saying Ethan skipped his Aurora Borealis flight for her, buying a passenger ticket just to go on a long vacation with her."

"How romantic, Ethan really goes all out for Chloe."

I suddenly found it a little funny.

So he hadn't given me the complimentary ticket he'd set aside for Chloe.

He had, for Chloe's sake, abandoned his duties as a pilot, personally planning an Aurora trip for just the two of them.

The boarding announcement for my flight came over the loudspeaker.

I boarded the plane.

And Ethan, who had taken vacation days for Chloe, was in the first-class cabin of another plane.

I looked out at the sea of clouds.

Eight years. I was finally free.