by Nikki Chase
“I know,” she says softly.
“Do you want to find somewhere to sit down and talk? I’m sure there’s a ton of cafés here.”
“You said we were getting late.”
“We can always take the next flight,” I say.
“Isn’t that going to be expensive?” Jacqueline tilts her head to look up into my eyes. No longer swimming in tears, her big, blue eyes are startling in their clarity.
“Yeah,” I admit. “But if you need some time to think about whether you want to come with me…”
She shakes her head. “No. I’ll go anywhere to be with you.”
Her loving words fill my chest to the brim. That’s the kind of declaration that will pop into my mind and randomly make me smile from time to time.
“I know you will, but you got me a little worried just now.” I kiss the top of her head and inhale her sweet scent. I’ve missed this.
“That was your own fault.”
I chuckle. “Yes, it was.” I let go of her body and take her hand in mine. I smile as I gaze into her eyes. “Let’s go. I can’t wait for our new life to start.”
Jacqueline’s eyes begin to well up again, but her smile tells me these are happy tears. Before the water spills onto her cheeks, Jacqueline dabs at her eyes.
“Let’s go,” she says.
I pull my luggage across the tiled floor of the airport and sling my arm around her shoulders.
As the rising sun peeks out over the buildings outside and pours its light into the airport, I realize I have everything I need in the world. It doesn’t matter where I go now and what I do, as long as I have Jackie with me.
Hell, if she’d wanted to go to Chicago, I would’ve followed her there, even if my dad would do his best to make sure I didn’t land a job there.
“Hey, what about the car?” Jacqueline asks as we join the line of sleepy travelers by the check-in desks.
I shrug. “It’s one of my dad’s. They’re probably going to tow it away at some point and send him a notice.”
A worried frown descends on her beautiful face. “Are you sure that’s okay? That’s not just going to make him angrier?”
“Let me worry about him.” I pull her closer and squeeze her arm. “You just work on putting a smile on that pretty face.”
Jacqueline’s lips curl up. I may have failed to lighten the mood earlier, but it turns out I’m not completely hopeless at it.
I give her a grin. “We’re Ghana have a good time.”
Jacqueline groans, but then she gives in with a sigh and laughs at my stupid pun.
Jacqueline
“Tell me everything,” I say as I wrap my hands around the warm paper cup filled with liquid wakefulness. After a few sips of latte, I’m alert and ready for this. “What happened between the meeting at Dr. Kent’s office and this morning, when you picked me up?”
We’re sitting in a small café in the passengers-only Departures area. Travelers and their wheeled luggage bags litter the spaces between tables. It’s so cramped here that my knees and Gabe’s touch under our tiny table—which I don’t mind.
My man—I think I can officially call him that now—is looking fine this morning. He’s even kind of pulling off that herringbone flat cap he put on in case he needed to cover his face when he picked me up this morning.
He’s lucky my mom was the one who came out to talk to him while Ray was dragging me out of bed. If Ray had seen him, he would’ve been recognized, cap or no cap.
I mean, just look at those intelligent green eyes and those prominent cheekbones. How does anyone miss a face like Gabe’s?
A few women have turned their heads as they whiz by with their big bags, but Gabe’s eyes are on me. He probably doesn’t even realize the kind of attention women give him all the time—that’s why he had no idea I had a crush on him when we were younger.
Those green eyes cloud over with pain. For the fifteenth time this morning, he says, “I’m sorry, angel. It still kills me when I think about how I just let you cry in that office.”
“I’ll have to admit, it really stung when that happened,” I say. “But that’s behind us now, and I’m sure you had a good reason, otherwise you wouldn’t be here in front of me right now.”
“Thank you for being so understanding.” Gabe smiles at me and strokes the back of my hand with his thumb.
“That’s kind of premature,” I say with a teasing smile. “I’m not saying I’m definitely going to be okay with whatever you’re about to tell me. If I don’t like what I hear, I could still get on that flight to Chicago.”
“I’m going to drag you to the plane, kicking and screaming, if I have to. You already said you were coming with me and there’s no turning back now.” Gabe’s smile tells me he’s joking, but there’s solemnity in the statement, too. He’s not going to let me go just like that, the way I thought he did in Dr. Kent’s office.
“Fine,” I say in mock anger, “just tell me what you thought you were doing.”
“To be honest, I had no idea what to do yet, when I saw you walk into the office. That was a surprise to me, too. I didn’t know he’d called you to the hospital,” Gabe says. “My mind was… a mess. You were waiting for me at home, and you were finally ready to tell me your secret. You even seemed distressed about having to hold on to it, even for just a few hours longer.”
My mind flashes back to that day. God, that was just yesterday, wasn’t it? It feels like it’s been forever.
“I knew…” I pause to reconsider my words. “I had a feeling that someone might tell you about me, and I wanted you to find out from me. I was afraid you were going to feel so betrayed you would’ve left me right away. Like you said, had you known who I was when we first met, you would’ve kept your distance.”
“And that would’ve been the biggest mistake of my life,” Gabe says.
I smile—how can I help it, when he’s acting so sweet?
“I was shocked when my dad told me who you were.” He studies my features. “I just… You were… When I left, you were just a teenager. And now, you’re… you.”
I find it unbearably endearing that he can’t find the words to describe me. “Thank you. I grew this—” I gesture at my face and my seated body “—myself.”
“Well done.” He grins. “So when you walked in, I was still in this state of shock, and I didn’t actually have any plan at that point. My dad literally told me, and then a few minutes later you came in. I’d had no time to react.
“But I knew two things.” Gabe holds up his index finger. “One, I couldn’t lose you, no matter who you were or what your name was.” His middle finger shoots up to join the other one. “Two, I couldn’t give my dad any hint that I wasn’t going to play along with his plan. I didn’t want him to quash my plan before I’d even come up with it.”
Gabe pauses as the PA system loudly calls for a Mr. Victor Smith to go to Gate 43.
“My dad is a spiteful man. And resourceful, too. That’s a scary-ass combination,” he says with a wry smile. “I was afraid he was going to use you against me. He could ruin your career, and I had no idea if you’d choose me over your career. I couldn’t be as selfish as to make that decision for you. I didn’t want to ruin your future.”
Warmth fills my chest as I listen to Gabe. The whole time, he was thinking about me, about how every little thing could potentially hurt me. “I do care about my work. But I love you more, Gabe.”
He stares back at me with bright eyes, grinning from ear to ear. “I love you, too. And I wanted you to make that decision yourself. That’s why I still have the Chicago ticket in my bag.” He leans forward over the small table and smirks. “But now that you’ve already said you’re staying, you’re stuck with me.”
In dramatic fashion, he pulls out said ticket for the flight to Chicago and tears it into pieces on the table.
“Oh, no. What am I going to do now?” I say with a flat expression.
“Ha. You should be scared, young lady.” His smile
slowly fades and he continues his story. “So I had to take care of a few things first. I wanted to get a head start. And I wanted you to be in on it.
“Right now, my dad thinks I’m still at home, and you’re about to fly to Chicago. It’s going to take him a while to realize we’re gone.
“Meanwhile, we can take a leisurely stroll around the airport, or just sit here on our asses, drinking overpriced coffee. If he’d caught wind of my plan, he would’ve shown up here and done anything in his power to stop us from leaving.”
“Like what?” I ask, curious about what my former boss is capable of.
“I don’t know.” Gabe shrugs. “At the very least, he could buy a ticket and get onto the same plane as us. Do you want that?”
I quickly shake my head.
Twenty hours with that scary man who made me cry yesterday, in an enclosed space that could catch fire and crash at any time? Uh, no, thanks.
“Exactly,” he says. “He could follow us around, find out where we live, figure out where we work… He could do all kinds of things.”
I hesitate before I ask my next question. “Didn’t you suspect me?”
“Not at all,” he answers with full confidence.
“Why not?”
“I’d seen you struggle with something—some kind of a secret you were keeping from me. And I knew it wasn’t pleasant for you. It must’ve been difficult.” He smiles and stares at me like I’m something rare and precious. “You don’t have what it takes to be a bad guy, angel. You’re too kind. You couldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Maybe.” I give him my best sinister smirk and raise my eyebrows. “Or maybe you’ve been fooled this whole time. You’re blinded by love.”
“I’m okay with that.” He shrugs. “I may be blind, but I’m also the happiest I’ve ever been. It’s a fair trade.”
“I could’ve been working together with my brother to set everything up.”
“But you weren’t, were you?” Gabe asks in a way that tells me the answer is obvious to him.
I shake my head.
“I told you I’d stick around no matter what. There’s no faking this.” Gabe puts his hand behind my head and pulls me into a kiss.
He tastes like caffeine, and a hint of nicotine. He only smokes when he’s under pressure—it must’ve been an absolute torment to get through last night on his own, coming up with a plan and making all the preparations himself.
“I should’ve been there for you,” I say, pulling away just enough to speak.
Gabe is barely two inches away from me, and I can feel his breaths on my skin. I can’t help but imagine those lips on my neck, on my tits, on my…
Obviously, I can’t just keep kissing him, or we’re going to end up doing something completely inappropriate, right here in this busy coffee shop. I don’t want to be dragged away by the cops for indecent behavior when we’re so close to getting away.
“Yeah. I told you. You should’ve picked up my phone call.”
“Maybe you should’ve thought up your plan faster,” I counter.
Gabe chuckles. “It wasn’t as easy as that, angel. It was really hard to think. You only have yourself to blame.”
“Hey,” I protest. “What did I do this time?”
“You made it hard for me to think clearly. I was losing confidence in my own judgement. I’m just gaining it back, thanks to the success of this covert mission.”
I giggle.
I’ve essentially been fired and probably blacklisted in various hospitals in San Francisco. As if that’s not bad enough, I’m turning down an offer from a prestigious hospital in Chicago to go live in Africa.
I must’ve gone crazy with love too, because it feels like we’re going on a fun adventure. Or maybe that’s because Gabe makes me feel so safe that I don’t even sense any danger at all.
“I didn’t do that to you, though. I didn’t do anything,” I say, still giggling.
“Angel, I made you give me a blow job in a hospital room, for fuck’s sake. When we were both supposed to be working,” Gabe says, lowering his voice.
I giggle even louder. “You totally did.”
“Let’s agree that I’m not the smartest guy there is when you’re involved. Unless there’s absolutely no other person who can do it, I’m not to be trusted to come up with important plans.”
“That’s okay,” I say. “I’m hoping this is the last such plan you’re ever Ghana have to come up with anyway. We’re not Ghana see your dad in Ghana.”
Gabe laughs. “Okay. I get it. It’s a bad pun.”
Bad pun or good pun, we’re too giddy to care.
As if we’ve inhaled a tank of laughing gas, we continue to annoy the sleep-deprived travelers around us with our excessive exuberance.
We only leave when we hear the announcement saying that our flight is boarding soon. With our hands linked, we’re ready for anything.
Jacqueline
Six Months Later
“Me wia me djuma,” I say to the security guard standing at attention by the main hospital entrance.
Even though the official language in Ghana is English, the locals still speak Twi pretty extensively. That’s why I’m trying to pick up a few useful words and phrases from Gabe and my co-workers at the hospital.
I just told the guard that “I have finished my job.” I’d heard people say that phrase at the end of their shifts, so this morning I asked one of the nurses to teach me how to say it correctly.
The guard seems surprised to hear me speak Twi, but he recovers just in time to give me a smile before I walk out of the cool, air-conditioned building through the glass automatic doors.
The sultry, tropical air blasts me in the face, and almost immediately, my skin grows sticky from the heat.
Luckily, it’s a short walk to Gabe’s car, which is already waiting for me. My sandaled feet move briskly, urged on by my impatient heart.
It’s also dark outside, so it’s not as stifling as it gets during the day. If the sun were out, I’d be roasting under my floral sundress on my walk across the big, uncovered parking area.
Things are good, though. Aside from the heat, I’m liking it here. I can see why Gabe had chosen to live here for years.
As it turns out, my fears about living in a foreign country—in Africa, no less—were unfounded. Most of the images I’d seen of the continent showed endless deserts, ancient hunter-and-gatherer tribes, mud huts, and of course, starving children.
But it’s nothing like that, here in the sea-side city of Accra, Ghana. I just found out that expats often come here first before they move on to more challenging countries, like Angola or Nigeria.
If anything, it’s kind of boring here. Sleepy.
I don’t mind, though. After all that drama Gabe and I went through back in the States, I could use a little peace and quiet.
It makes me feel bad to admit this, but it’s also nice to not have to see Mom or Ray as soon as I get home from a long day at work. My conscience doesn’t like the fact that I’ve left my family behind, but they’ve left me no choice.
Now instead of them, I get to see the love of my life at the end of the day.
I pull open the car door and my heart leaps with joy at the sight of him. Even in jeans and a T-shirt, it’s obvious that Gabe’s a beautiful man. He turns his attention from his phone and looks at me with his sharp, penetrating gaze.
I can’t help but have a big smile on my face. It’s automatic. I’d always light up for him. “Hey, you. I missed you.”
“I missed you too, angel.” Gabe’s lips widen into a panty-melting smile, and I almost wish we were going straight home. He asks, “Ready for our date?”
“A date with you?” I wrap my arms around him and kiss his smile. Putting on a serious expression, I say, “I was born ready.”
Gabe grimaces, which makes me burst out laughing.
I told him all about how I’d always had a crush on him, for as long as I could remember. And it still seems to weird him out a
little bit to think of me as a baby and him as a third-grader, or me as a third-grader and him as an eleventh-grader, and so on.
“You need to stop saying things like that,” he says.
Of course, this kind of a reaction from him only makes me want to tease him even more. “You know, when I was a little girl, whenever Ray would be mean to me, I was secretly happy if you were around. I knew you were going to save me.”
“Well, you’ve come a long way.” Gabe’s gaze roams all over my curves, making me feel self-conscious about the way the seat belt presses against the valley between my breasts. “There’s nothing little about you now.”
“Are you calling me fat?” I accuse playfully as Gabe pulls the car out of the parking lot.
“Of course not. You’re perfect, angel.” He laughs. Cool air escapes the car when Gabe rolls the window open to show the parking attendant his permit. He turns to me and cocks an eyebrow. “I just mean that… you’re now old enough for this ride.”
From the way he smirks, I know exactly what he means.
I feign shock and outrage. “Oh my God. Are you calling me fat and old?”
We both laugh as the car joins the heavy traffic on the main street.
This is going to be a long ride. But as long as Gabe’s with me, I know I’ll enjoy it.
We drive out of the crowded city and through green hills to reach the nearby town of Aburi. We have a nice dinner at this little open-air restaurant, and now we’re driving up into mountains.
The air is balmy, which makes for a pleasant drive. We roll our windows down, letting the breeze in to cool my skin and play with my hair. It’s nice not to be pestered by window-washers and peddlers of plantain chips every time we stop, which happens all the time in Accra.
On the slow, lazy ride up, we’re treated to glimpses of the town, with its pretty lights in the distance.
I’m telling Gabe an old story about him that I heard from Sam. “Do you remember a girl called Nancy? Sam told me you were friends in medical school.”
