It felt appropriate that as I was leaving New York I could get some closure with Cooper before I left. I opened the door and allowed him to step in.
“One move, Cooper, and I will call the police,” I said as he stepped past me and headed to the kitchen.
“I don’t want you to be afraid of me, Jo; I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You placed a drug in my drink, Cooper. You then dragged me outside and pinned me to a wall, so don’t you dare stand there and tell me that you wouldn’t hurt me,” I said shakily. “
That
hurt; believe me.”
“I didn’t know what it would do to you, Jo! You told me you wanted to relax, to forget about Blake. I wanted to help you to do that!”
“So what happened when you took me outside!” I yelled.
“I don’t know,” Cooper said sadly as he sank down onto a stool. “I really don’t know. I’m so, so sorry, Jo. I am truly very sorry.” I could see the pain in Cooper’s eyes; I could see how sorry he was. It didn’t make any of this any better, but it did help to know that he genuinely was sorry.
“Where did you get the drugs from?” I asked calmly. “Please don’t tell me that you got them from someone at the club?”
“They’re mine. I take them sometimes when things get a little crazy.” He said this so quietly that I could barely hear him.
“You take drugs?” I asked, sitting next to him.
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
Cooper shrugged. “Sometimes I just need to forget. Forget all of the shit that surrounds me.”
“What are you talking about?” I laughed once. “What shit?”
“Things that I can’t tell you about,” he said, meeting my eyes. “I can’t believe that I almost killed you, Jo,” he said, rubbing his hands over his face. “You didn’t deserve that. You don’t ever deserve to get hurt, not by anyone. Will you forgive me?”
I took a deep breath in as Cooper’s eyes wandered to my suitcase. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m going home,” I said simply.
“To London?” he asked, turning back to me.
“To London.”
“How long for?”
I smiled slightly at Cooper before standing. “My plane leaves in just over an hour; I need to get to the airport.” I stood from the stool and took the handle in my hand.
“Is this because of what I did?” he asked as his hand wrapped around my arm gently.
“No,” I sighed, turning back to him, “it’s not because of you.” I smiled. “My life here is over. There’s nothing to keep me here anymore, plus I miss my mum, so I’m going home.”
“I’ll miss you,” Cooper said.
“I’ll miss you too,” I replied honestly. “Stay out of trouble, okay,” I said smiling through the tears that were still very present.
“I will,” he promised. “I wish things could have been different between the two of us, Jo,” he sighed.
“Another place, another time, maybe there could have been another us,” I admitted.
Cooper smiled slightly as he held my gaze. “Take care, Jo.”
“You too.”
I climbed into my last yellow cab and asked him to take me straight to the airport. Cooper had offered, but I wanted my last ride in New York to be one that I could enjoy in silence. As I watched New York pass me by, I took in every good memory that I had been lucky enough to experience.
I paid the cab driver and headed into terminal seven at JFK airport without looking back.
There were still passengers checking in their baggage for the flight, so I headed to a kiosk to check in and print off my boarding pass. Once done I placed myself into the steadily moving queue and took my passport from my bag.
I took a moment to look around at the people that surrounded me. There were businessmen, couples, and families. Everyone had a different story to tell, yet everyone looked happy, content even. I wondered whether I looked the same, whether we all hid behind a mask of some sort of heartache that we held sheltered from those looking in.
A few minutes of waiting and it was my time to check in my bag.
I stepped forward and was greeted by an overly friendly airline worker who seemed too happy for someone who was working a late shift at an airport during the weekend. She asked me the usual questions regarding my luggage, and I placed my case onto the conveyor belt before handing her my passport and boarding pass.
“Jo!” Just that one word caused me body to freeze as it echoed around the entire terminal. “Jo, stop; don’t do this!”
The familiar hustle and bustle that came as standard in an airport had fallen to a dull roar with the occasional gasp and fingers pointing; following the stares from fellow passengers, I turned to see Blake running through the terminal and heading straight for me.
My mouth fell open in shock, unable to form words. I just watched as he came to an abrupt stop at the desk without making any form of eye contact with me. He reached around and removed my suitcase from the belt.
“I’m sorry,” he panted to the check-in girl, “she won’t be flying anywhere today.”
“Blake what are you … Why are you … how?” I found it impossible to string one simple sentence together.
He was breathing hard as he captured my eyes with his, trying desperately to calm his erratic breathing.
“Don’t go,” he managed to say. “Please don’t get on that plane.”
“How do you even know?” I asked, completely dazed by the fact that he was standing right in front of me.
“That’s not important right now. Getting you to stay is all that matters.”
“There’s nothing here for me now, Blake; I need to go.”
“The girl,” he breathed out. “It’s not what you think.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the check-in girl, whose mouth was so wide open I’m sure there was dribble trickling out of the corners.
“I’m sorry about this,” I said, feeling slightly embarrassed. “I’d like to check my case please.” I placed my hands around the handle, only for Blake to place his around mine.
The familiar pull was back; electricity sparked as our hands barely touched.
“No, she’s not going anywhere,” he said, taking my case back.
“Blake, stop this,” I whispered. “You are causing a scene; everyone is looking at us,” I said, trying not to look up as I felt every single set of eyes burning into us both.
“I don’t care,” he whispered.
“It’s too late, Blake; it’s over. Now will you please step aside and let me check my case? There are people waiting, and they are all going to end up missing their flight because of you.”
Blake released my hand and stepped back slowly before turning to the watching crowd. “Hey everyone,” he said loudly as he climbed upon the next available desk.
“Blake, what are you doing!” I said in a harsh whisper which he chose to ignore.
“Most of you probably know who I am,” he said loudly.
I shook my head with complete humiliation before mumbling sorry to those who stood around me, but no one’s attention was on me; everyone was focusing solely on Blake.
“What you don’t know, however,” he continued, “is that this young lady here, Miss Josephine Summers, is the woman who I am completely, utterly, and helplessly in love with.”
I heard a few gasps and even a few aahs.
“Blake, please get down from there now,” I said through gritted teeth.
“We have had a lot of ups and downs along the way. It’s been a tough ride so far, one that has broken us both to a million pieces.” He looked down from where he stood and smiled sadly at me. “And I have told her time and time again that I love her, and I know that she loves me too. But she thinks that by flying home to London, by running away from it all, that we would both be happier. She is afraid; she is petrified that by loving someone, it will cause someone else pain, that there can be no happiness without the pain. She has all this fear pent up inside her, and she just keeps on running. She would rather run than risk someone, even someone who couldn’t give a shit about her. She would rather run from what she wants to save someone else’s feelings. That’s how selfless this beautiful woman is. But she doesn’t need to be afraid. Not when I love her more than I can ever imagine loving anyone.”
“Blake, people are recording you; please, come down and let’s talk somewhere private.” I turned to the check-in girl who was still gawping at Blake. “Do you have somewhere private that we could go, please?”
She scrambled out of her seat, but Blake ignored my request. “If you leave, you may as well cut me open right here right now and take my heart with you. I’m nothing without you, Jo; I’m just a dead man walking without you in my life.”
“Don’t say that,” I whispered.
“Do you remember what I said to you in the hospital, Jo? About running?”
I nodded slowly. “At some point in your life it is time to stop running,” I choked out.
“Now is that time, Jo.”
I heard a “whoop” from one man and “so sweet” from an old lady.
“But you’ve moved on, Blake; I came to see you earlier, and your new girlfriend opened the door,” I said, struggling to stem my emotion.
Again there were gasps from the ever-growing crowd, and even more phones were being held in the air, recording us.
Blake jumped down from the desk that he had taken over and took my hands in his. “You see that beautiful blonde girl standing over there?” I and everyone who surrounded us followed the direction of his finger to the girl who had opened the door to me only a few hours before.
“That is my sister Jasmine.” He laughed once. “And that little boy she’s holding?” I nodded. “That is my adorable little nephew, Fraser.”
They both gave me a small wave, and I waved back, feeling totally and utterly humiliated. Of course it was his sister; she was his double. The blue eyes, the perfect jawline – it was obvious now who she was, and I was left feeling a complete fool.
“They have been keeping me company. You see, I’ve been a bit lonely lately.”
Blake took my hands and forced my gaze to meet his. “Do you think I would just go out and find someone when the only person I have ever loved and wanted to be with is standing right here in front of me?”
“Blake,” I gasped, “I don’t know what to say.” I shook my head in shame. “I’m so sorry.”
“Say that you won’t go; say that you will come home with me now and spend forever with me.” He paused and took in a deep breath. Looking around, he seemed to suddenly notice that we weren’t alone. He shook his head and smiled before looking back to me with the most loving eyes. “I love you. I have loved you from the first moment I laid my eyes on you, and I know that you love me too; you’re just too afraid to admit it.”
“I do love you,” I replied. “I love you so much.”
Blake let out a big breath before turning to our private audience. “Did you hear that! She loves me!”
Everyone cheered and clapped. It was complete and utter madness, but it was real, and finally I had told him how I felt. I hadn’t lost him; he hadn’t lost me. This was the most perfect moment of my life. I was going home – not to London, but to Blake.
“Come here,” he said quietly as he turned back to face me.
Our lips crashed together, desperately, hungrily. Weeks of heartache spilled out through the way our mouths spoke for us. “I love you, Jo, and I swear I will do everything I can to protect you; I love you so much,” he said as he pulled away slightly.
“I love you too, so, so much,” I replied.
The crowd were going wild; it was as if the scene had fallen straight out of a film – our film, our story.
“I’m beginning to think I’ve just made a complete fool out of myself,” he laughed, placing his brow to mine.
I slapped him playfully on the chest. “I hate attention.”
“You think this is attention?” He gestured around the room. “We’re gonna be going viral this time tomorrow,” he said in mock horror, “believe me.”
We both laughed before Blake kissed me again, and yet again the room erupted.
“We need our bubble back,” I whispered.
“Anything you want, beautiful, anything you want.”
I pulled back and looked at Blake, confused.
“What is it?” he asked, concerned.
“How did you know?”
A slow smile spread across his face, and he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Your mom called me.”
The shock and disbelief must have been obvious for anyone to see
“My mum?”
He nodded, smiling. “Yes, your ‘mum’ as you say it.”
“I’m going to need to have words with her,” I said.
Blake leaned down and grabbed my bag with a huge smile on his face. “Can it wait? I am in desperate need of some loving right now,” he whispered.
“Won’t that be a bit awkward?” I nodded to Jasmine and Fraser just as Blake took a look at his watch. “Her husband, Robert, is on his way to pick them up.” He placed his hand around my waist and pulled me closer. “I need you to myself tonight; you have no idea how much I have missed you.” his hand swept the hair from my face.
“I have missed you too, Blake; so much.”