With the Last Goodbye

by Len Webster

  Rip up your boarding passes, Josie.

  Stay with Max.

  But your dad will be waiting for you.

  You made a promise.

  Too many promises.

  Josie stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Max’s neck. She let out a sigh as she looked in those light brown eyes of his. “I feel like I’m losing, too, Maxwell. I want to be with you more. I want to stay here and finally give this between us a proper go. I want to be the girlfriend you rush home after work to see. I want to be the girlfriend you cook dinner for and sleep next to. I don’t want to be the girlfriend who holds you back.”

  Max shook his head. “You’re not,” he promised as he wrapped an arm around her and held her to him. “You can be all those things when you come home. Just promise me that when I need my girlfriend, she’ll be there. When I need to spend outrageous amounts of money on calls just to hear her voice, she’ll be there. When I need to just see her in a video call, she’ll be there. Just be there, Josephine.”

  Tears blurred her vision of him. “I’ll be there. I won’t let you down.”

  There was no smile on Max’s face, but she saw hope in his eyes. Hope that they could do the long-distance relationship without it ruining them. She believed in that hope in his eyes. It was the assurance she needed. She could go to Berlin and make it work. She had to make it work.

  Three of the most important people in Josie’s life stood before her.

  West, Stella, and Max.

  Her best friend and her best friend’s boyfriend had met Josie and Max at the café almost a half an hour ago. Traffic meant they couldn’t spend as much time as they wanted with each other. The conversation was light. They never spoke of Josie actually leaving and living in Berlin. They seemed to ignore it as if it were an idea that Josie had and would never follow through with.

  Josie glanced over to see Max holding her suitcase and now her passport and boarding passes. She gave him an appreciative smile and then stepped towards West at the end of the line.

  “You know I love you, right?” she asked him.

  West gave her a full-blown grin. It was cocky with a lot of teeth. “I do, Josie. You know I love you, right?”

  Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. “I do. Please take care of Stella for me. I left my car behind in case you ever feel like using it.” She sniffed as she wiped her tears away with the back of her hands. “Also, I thought it was time to let you know that I have diplomatic immunity, and I will kill you if you hurt Stella while I’m away.”

  “I knew you had immunity!” he shouted. “Look, truth be told, we all know that it’s Stella who could quite possibly hurt me. So you have nothing to worry about while you’re in Berlin.”

  She laughed because it was highly likely that West Montgomery was correct. Josie threw her arms around her best friend’s boyfriend and hugged him tightly. “Thank you for everything, West,” she whispered.

  His arms were around her, squeezing her tight. “Thank you for giving me the chance to be a part of your life and your mother’s.” He pulled back and cupped her face. “I still need you to come home, though, okay? I mean, I can make Stella happy, but you make her content. So come home, all right?”

  She nodded as he pressed his lips to her forehead in a sweet kiss and then pulled away. She sidestepped him and faced Stella. “I don’t want to say goodbye to you,” Josie said.

  Stella let out a laugh as tears began to roll down her cheeks. “Please don’t. I know Berlin’s far but not far enough where we can’t still be best friends and sisters. I know why you’re doing this, Josie, and I respect you so much for doing it. But I want you to come home because you’re my family, too. And they might be blood, but what we have is so much thicker. And I can’t—goddammit, Josephine! I cannot live the rest of my life with you in Germany. You hear me? I hate German beer, so don’t make me visit you. Just come home, okay? Please just come home.”

  “I love you, too, Stella,” Josie said through her tears as she hugged her best friend.

  “I love you, Josie,” she sobbed. “I love you more than Gilmore Girls.”

  Josie chuckled as she blinked her tears away and pulled back. “I’m still gonna wanna leave sticky notes on your door.”

  “Me, too,” Stella said.

  “I’m glad I left a couple in our apartment for when you go home. Don’t worry about rent or any of the bills. They’re all covered. And yes, you can walk around naked if you want. But just not in my room.”

  Stella laughed. “This is the first of your birthdays since we met that I won’t get to celebrate with you.”

  December.

  It was still over two months away.

  But Josie knew she wouldn’t be home by then.

  It wasn’t enough time.

  “We can have our Gilmore Girls birthday marathon over Skype.”

  “Still won’t be the same,” Stella said in a small voice. “You’d better not go and make new best friends in Germany, okay? You can make friends, but no one is allowed to replace me.”

  Josie shook her head. “No one could ever replace you.”

  “Good,” Stella said as she grasped West’s hand. “We’ll let you two have a moment. Come on, West.”

  And with that, they left Josie and Max outside security.

  He let go of her suitcase’s handle and stepped in front of her. “I’ll be here waiting for you to come home. I’ll be at arrivals when you land in Melbourne, okay?”

  Josie cupped his face as his arms wound around her back. “Okay,” she whispered, her thumbs brushing against the corners of his lips. “I already miss you so much.”

  Max pressed his forehead to hers. “I started missing you the moment we decided that you were going to Berlin.”

  “I love you, Maxwell. Even from the other side of the world, you will always be my La Vie En Rose.”

  He clenched his eyes tightly shut as if it pained him to hear it. “And you, Josephine, are the love of my life.” He opened his eyes, his love radiating in his light browns. “I don’t care how Gilmore Girls ends. I don’t want Lorelai Gilmore. I want you. I want to belong to Josephine Faulkner.”

  Tears continued their descent down her cheeks. “You already have me. I didn’t know it, but I was yours on that bridge. I don’t want Luke Danes. I want you, Maxwell Sheridan. I’ve always wanted you since that wedding. More so after that dinner where my dad bailed. I want you forever. This won’t break us. I swear, this won’t break us.”

  He pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss and whispered, “Nothing will. Time and distance won’t. We can survive this. We can survive anything. I’ll be here when you come home. I’ll be on the other side of that phone when you need to hear my voice. I’ll be on the other side of the camera when you need to see me. I’ll still be the boyfriend you need me to be even with oceans between us. I love you so much, Josephine.”

  “I love you, too,” she breathed as she pulled his lips back to hers and kissed him deeply.

  With each movement of her lips, more and more tears fell down her face.

  “I love you,” she whispered against his mouth. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

  She kissed away his tortured groan as he pressed his forehead to hers once more. Josie slowed their kiss until he pulled away, panting.

  His hands now held her hips. “We’re not saying goodbye. Not ever again, okay?”

  She nodded, unable to get her breathing back to normal.

  “Good.” Max removed his hands from her and handed Josie the boarding passes and her passport. “Come home to me, Josephine.”

  “I will,” she promised and kissed him one last time. Then Max grasped her suitcase handle and handed it over to her. “Max …”

  “Yes?”

  Her eyes focused on every feature of his face. His strong jaw. Those beautiful brown eyes. The perfect shape of his nose and that smile she knew was even more gorgeous when it was full and happy. “Email me everything about you that I never got to discove
r. I’d like to read it when I land in London. Or just email me things about you. Just write me something I can read before my flight from Heathrow to Berlin.”

  He nodded. “I will. Just be safe.”

  She smiled, stepped a fraction closer, and curled her free hand around the back of his head, inching his lips to hers. She whispered, “My heart is here with you. I’ll be coming home to you soon, my La Vie En Rose.”

  He was the one to kiss her and mumble his love for her one last time before she pulled back and swiped her thumb across his bottom lip. Then she glanced over his shoulder and nodded at Stella and West to join them.

  When Stella and West stood next to Max, Josie smiled at the three of them. She grasped the handle of her suitcase tighter. “I’ll be home soon. Take care of each other while I’m gone. And for the love of God, please write to me.”

  They all promised, and Josie nodded her head. She then turned around, pulled on her suitcase, and headed towards security. Once she reached the security officer, she handed over her passport and boarding pass. He glanced at the front page and her ticket and told her that she had to go through the priority line—after he no doubt saw the diplomatic status on her passport. She glanced back at Max, Stella, and West and told them she loved them all before she took her passport and made her way towards the security line.

  It was happening.

  She was leaving Melbourne for Berlin.

  She was leaving her home and her family in hopes for another.

  Josephine’s gone.

  Max watched her walk through security and out of his sight with Stella and West. For twenty minutes, they waited, half-hoping she’d change her mind. But when she didn’t come waltzing out of security and they saw that her flight had closed for check-in, they knew they had seen her for the last time for a while. Stella had him promise her that he wouldn’t give up on Josie and that he would wait for her. He knew then that his life would now be entwined with Stella’s. They shared a common concern, and that was Josie. He received a text from Noel asking him to go to PJ’s tonight for a last get-together before he and Clara left for Boston. Stella had invited him to go out to dinner with her and West, but he politely refused, saying that his best friend needed him right now.

  That had been an hour and a half ago.

  It was now seven p.m., and Max was entering PJ O’Brien’s for the first time in what felt like forever. He scanned the pub, finding his best friends and their significant others at a table towards the back. Many of the usuals hollered their hellos as he walked past. Upon reaching their table, he let out a sigh as he sat in the free seat next to Julian.

  “Maxie,” Julian said, sounding relieved as he set his palm on his shoulder. “How are you?”

  “Good,” he said as he took in Julian’s grin.

  “That’s good.” Julian raised his arm up in the air. “Mitch, can we get a pint for Max?”

  “I’ll send Tiff down when she’s free,” Max heard the bartender yell out.

  Feeling his phone vibrate in his leather jacket pocket, Max took it out and noticed that Josie was calling him. He didn’t bother to excuse himself as he got up from his chair and made a dash for the exit. When he was out of the pub, he answered her call in time and held it to her ear.

  “Josephine?”

  She was silent.

  Then he heard some people in the background.

  “Hey, sorry, I was just moving so that this passenger could use the wall socket to charge her laptop,” she explained.

  “Are you okay?” he asked as he walked away from the pub and to the steel barrier, taking in the glittering Yarra River. The sun was starting to set, and it was one of his favourite times to look at the river.

  She let out a sigh. “I just left you, Max. I’m not okay with that. I’m sitting here at my gate, wondering why I’m doing this.”

  His chest tightened as he wrapped his hand around the steel railing. “For you,” he breathed out. “You’re doing this for you. You want to meet Heidi and Angelika, remember?”

  “I do,” she agreed in a small voice. “But what if it doesn’t go well?”

  He heard the fear in her voice. He needed to reassure her. It was the only way to get her on that plane. “It will. But if they’re not who you thought they’d be or they treat you wrong in any way, you come straight home to me, okay?”

  “Okay.” Josie’s voice cracked, and he knew she was crying. “You’re the first person I called. I walked around the duty-free shop buying stupid Australian souvenirs until I couldn’t take it anymore. Then I went to my gate so I could call you. Max, I just dropped everything in my life to go to Germany. My mother’s estate hasn’t been finalised. Her lawyer will be calling me about her will. I just left Ally without a baker and waitress. I dropped my law degree as if it meant nothing. I left you.” She sobbed. “Oh, my God, I left you.”

  “Breathe,” he pleaded. “God, Josephine, breathe.”

  He heard her suck in shaky breaths until she said, “I just ran away, Max.”

  “Josephine.”

  “I just ran away,” she softly cried.

  “I’ll handle your mother’s lawyer. After all, I am your boyfriend and a lawyer. I’m at PJ’s with everyone about to have one last night of drinks before Noel and Clara—”

  “I didn’t even say goodbye to Clara. God, I’m so selfish.”

  “You’re not. She’ll understand. I’ll tell the girls that you said goodbye.”

  “Thank you. And can you tell them thank you for coming to the funeral yesterday? I really appreciate them being there,” Josie said.

  Max nodded even though she couldn’t see him. “I’ll tell them. Josephine, there’s not much I can do about law school. I can have my dad contact Jason. He said that he’s your tutor.”

  “No, it’s okay. I’ll have to formally apply to defer my degree.”

  His heart broke for her. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

  “I didn’t show up for any of my exams, Max. That’s an automatic fail. Who knows if I even have a spot at the university. Right now, law is the last thing on my mind—”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, Qantas flight fourteen to Dubai is now ready for boarding. We welcome families with small children to board the flight first. We would also like to welcome our Qantas Frequent Flyer silver and platinum members, as well as our business and first-class passengers to board at their earliest convenience,” the flight attendant said, interrupting them.

  Josie let out a bothered sigh. “I’m sorry, Max. I have to go.”

  “Still meeting your father in Dubai?”

  Because of the last-minute flight, Josie and her father had to take separate flights to Dubai and would take the same flight to London, and then to Berlin together.

  “I am. We’re in Dubai overnight. I think I land at about nine or ten a.m. Is that too early to call you?”

  A smile spread across his lips. He had her phone call to look forward to. A countdown of fourteen hours would soon commence. “No. Doesn’t matter the time, Josephine.”

  “Okay. Don’t forget to send me that email after my flight takes off from Dubai,” she reminded.

  Max let out a soft chuckle. “I won’t forget. I’ll talk to you in fourteen hours. I love you, Josephine.”

  “I love you, too, Maxwell.”

  Maxwell.

  It sounded so right coming from her lips.

  Max was glad she hung up first. He struggled with even putting his phone down.

  Fourteen hours.

  He could make it fourteen hours.

  It gave him enough time to write her an email.

  And he decided that for at least one of those hours, he would stand by the Yarra River and watch the shimmering water before he walked back into PJ’s without her.

  “Hey, Max,” Ally said when he reached his friends’ table, getting his attention.

  He smiled at her, and he saw the frown on her face. He knew his smile wasn’t genuine. Josie had boarded her flight to G
ermany. His girlfriend of a day had left him without any confirmation of when she’d return. He trusted her completely, but it didn’t make their separation any easier.

  Max sat back down in the seat he had previously occupied, still surprised that Ally was the only one at the table. “Where is everyone?”

  She glanced over at the bar for a second and then swung her gaze back at him. “Noel and Clara are running late from visiting Noel’s parents. Rob, Stevie, and Julian are at the bar.”

  He nodded. “So you’ve been sitting here all alone?”

  Allison Moors smiled. He had once found her attractive. He still did. But her smile, as it always had, did nothing to him. “I’ve been waiting for you. I told them I needed to answer emails and—”

  “Max, you’re back,” Julian cheered as he sat back down in the seat next to Max’s.

  Julian’s brother, Rob, set a glass of lemonade in front of his wife, and then kissed her cheek as he, too, sat down. Stevie joined them seconds later.

  “Sorry, I just had to take Josephine’s call outside. It’s loud in here,” he somewhat lied. It wasn’t a complete lie.

  Ally reached out and set her hand on his. “Hey, how is Josie? She was amazing yesterday. Can you tell her she can come back to work when she’s ready? There’s no rush. Her job’s safe. Taylor’s happy to cover her.”

  Max went rigid.

  His heart pounded violently in his chest as the anticipation of the truth increased his anxiety.

  “You all right, Max?” Rob asked.

  He nodded his head. In time, when Josie did return to him, he would be all right. For now, he was barely functioning—still in shock that she had left.