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Chapter Seventeen
Whitney inhaled deeply. She had to
pull this off, for Theresa’s sake.
"Ethan!" she said, running back into the room.
"Whitney, what is it? Is something wrong?"
Ethan stood up hurriedly, gazing at her worriedly.
"Ethan. we have to turn around. Now."
"What happened?"
"My father. He- he had a heart attack."
Ethan rushed to her side and pulled her into a hug.
"Of course. I’ll go tell James."
Whitney smirked as Ethan rushed off. He was so gullible! The plan was going to work perfectly. And Ethan didn’t
suspect a thing.
Maybe Theresa was right. Maybe two people were meant to be together.
Theresa and Chad were speeding to the airport.
"Chad, faster! We have to make it before they get back!"
"Girl, chill. We’ll get there. You’ll get your man."
Theresa just nodded in response. What if they missed him? What if Whitney couldn’t convince him to come back? What
if....
"Girl, you just gotta relax! You know the boy loves you. Besides, look. We’re here."
Theresa broke into an ecstatic smile. This was it! All her dreams were finally going to come true!
Chad whipped into a parking space and turned to her.
"You ready, Theresa?"
Theresa inhaled deeply and turned to Chad.
After years of waiting, she was.
The hardest part of lying to Ethan was the fact that she had to keep up the facade the whole trip home.
"You sure you’re all right, Whitney?" Ethan asked as he helped buckle her seat belt for the planes descent.
Whitney nodded weakly and quickly turned her head to suppress a grin. He had no clue! What a surprise he was going
to get!
"I’m fine, Ethan. Just a little worried. What about you? Are you sure it’s ok that we’re not going to Miami?"
Ethan’s face conveyed his true emotions. He looked absolutely miserable.
"Whitney, it’s ok. Now that I’ve figured out who my true love is, I’m not going to lose her. We’ll work through
this. I know we will."
Whitney nodded and leaned back in her seat. This was going to be perfect!
The plane touched down, and Whitney looked at Ethan and gave him a small smile. Ethan grimaced in return and closed
his eyes. A minute later, James opened the door to the plane, and they walked down the steps. Ethan walked around
the plane
and turned for Whitney, but she was gone.
"Whitney?"
He shrugged and kept walking. Then he looked up.
Theresa was standing there, holding her sweater. Was this a dream? Another one of his fantasies?
"Ethan..."
He pinched himself. This was no fantasy.
"Theresa..."
They stared at each other for a long moment, and then they were in each others arms.
"You really love me, Ethan?"
Ethan brushed a strand of hair from her eyes.
"I’ve never loved anyone but you. I just didn’t know it."
He stared into her eyes, and Theresa knew it was true. Ethan did love her!
"Theresa, I love you so much. I thought you were going to Miami."
Theresa looked up at Ethan and smiled lightly.
"I was. But then I figured that we had come this far. I couldn’t give you up without a fight."
Ethan squeezed Theresa even tighter and kissed her forehead.
"God, I love you."
Ethan couldn’t stop telling her how much he loved her. For the first time in his life, his heart was free.
"I love you too."
Ethan pulled away and took hold of her hand. They started to walk to the terminal, and then Theresa stopped.
"Ethan...how? I mean, I knew that we were meant to be together. I’ve known it forever. How did you figure
it out?"
Ethan shrugged.
"I think I’ve always known it, from thesecond that you dumped the canister of paint on me. But it took seeing
you so sad before anything kicked in. All I wanted to do Theresa was to make you smile. I had no clue that in the
process, I would really start smiling too."
Theresa gazed up at him and touched his cheek. In a low, throaty voice, in a voice that she could hardly find,
she said, "Ethan, if I could reach up and hold a star for every time you’ve made me smile, the entire evening
sky would be in the palm of my hand."
Ethan stared into her eyes and he knew what he had to do.
He bent his head down and kissed her.
And this time, he didn’t run away. |
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The End
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