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Maybe he won’t see me. I hoped, no, prayed, silently. I fumbled around the glass table next to me for a magazine, newspaper, hell, anything in reach. I found an old newspaper and quickly opened it and put it in front of my face. Everything about me was trembling and my breathing was much quicker now than it had been.

“Rachel LaRoe, you have a call awaiting you at the Services desk,” a woman came over the loudspeaker.

“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath. I closed my eyes and slowly put the paper down in front of me, being sure not to make any form of eye contact with the man sitting in front of me. I hurried over to the guest services booth and smiled. “I’m Rachel LaRoe.” They handed me the phone. “Hello?”

“Ray? It’s Ryan,” I heard him sigh. “I tried calling your cell phone, but it went straight to voice mail. You must have been on the other line.” I realized he must have called when I was on the phone with Leighanne and Brian. I rubbed my temples in hopes to rid myself of the pounding headache that was beginning to throb there. After I didn’t say anything, he decided to continue. “Listen, sweetheart, I’m really sorry about everything. I should have been more sympathetic.”

For some reason, I wasn’t able to concentrate on any of the words coming out of his mouth. Instead, I could only concentrate on the stares burning a target on my back – a target for his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. We both were a little stressed and it’s okay now.”

“But I want you to know that I’m really proud of you for making this decision on your own, and I’m really not upset with you at all,” Ryan said. I could tell it was coming from his mind rather than his heart. A small smile struck my lips.

“Really, though, it’s okay,” I smiled. “I forgive you if you forgive me?”

“Of course,” I could tell he was smiling.

“Okay, well, I love you and I’ll talk to you later, okay?” I smiled.

“Okay, sweetheart. I love you too,” and with that, we both hung up. I sighed and closed my eyes. As soon as the feeling of relief left my body from recovering from the fight I had with my fiancé, the feeling of fear overcame me as I realized who was behind me.

“Rach?” I heard him say.

I turned around slowly, almost too slowly and bit my bottom lip, wondering if this was really happening. “Nick, wow, hi,” I smiled breathlessly. “What are the odds? You and I both at the same airport, at the same gate, at the same time.” I rambled.

“I-I know,” he managed to stutter out. “Weird, huh?” He rubbed the back of his head; a nervous habit, I assumed. I rocked back and forth on my heels a few times and looked around the lobby to the gate. “How have you been?”

“Good, very good. How about you?” I asked back. There wasn’t any harm to casual conversation, was there?

“Same, doing well. Busy touring with the boys again,” he said. I couldn’t get over how mature he looked since the last time I saw him. His voice was the same. It still made the butterflies in my stomach flutter more than usual and my heart beat faster than it should.

“It’s good that you guys got back together again. I’ve talked to Brian a few times, and he tells me it’s going well,” I smiled. I bit on my bottom lip as I watched him run his fingers through his hair. God, why does he have to be so damn sexy?

“Yeah, Brian mentioned he had been talking to you a little bit,” Nick nodded. My breath got trapped in my throat as I watched his eyes travel to my left hand. He would see the ring. “Oh, wow! I see you’ve been busy. You’re married?”

“Engaged,” I corrected him, an instant flow of blood quickly flushing my cheeks. “Yeah, I got engaged about a month ago.”

“Oh, well, congratulations,” maybe it was just me, but I could almost sense a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Thanks,” I smiled. It was then that I realized the sadness wasn’t just in his voice, but my voice, as well.