“Before we get going, I’d like to do something I’ve never done on a flight before,” he said. “There’s a very special someone on this plane tonight. Someone who means absolutely everything to me.”
My face went hot.
I thought he had seen my name on the passenger list and that the surprise was ruined.
At the same time, my heart stumbled at the thought of being spoken about like that in front of a whole plane.
I actually started to rise from my seat, half laughing already, waiting for him to say my name.
Then he said the next words, and I froze.
“To the beautiful woman in 15C,” he said, warm and intimate in a way I had never heard over an intercom before, “you already know how much I love you, but tonight I want the world to know too. I don’t want to hide how I feel anymore, and soon, we won’t have to.”
For one second, the cabin was silent, and then people clapped.
A few passengers even let out those delighted little noises strangers make when they think they are witnessing romance.
I was glad I never got on my feet, because I was certainly not the woman he was talking about.
My ears rang. The woman he mentioned was in seat 15C.
It was not me.
This was not my anniversary surprise. He definitely didn’t know that I was on board.
My husband was not speaking to his wife because why would we hide anything?
I don’t know what expression I had on my face, but the woman beside me glanced over with a smile that faded immediately when she saw me.
“You okay?” she whispered.
I nodded because I couldn’t do anything else.
The flight attendant began the safety demonstration. Passengers settled, the plane turned toward the runway, and life continued with astonishing cruelty.
I sat there staring straight ahead, trying to breathe without making a sound.
Maybe, I told myself wildly, stupidly, maybe this wasn’t what it sounded like.
Maybe 15C belonged to his friend or a relative I was yet to meet.
Maybe the “love” wasn’t romantic.
Maybe I was about to humiliate myself with suspicion when he only meant some platonic love.
But my body already knew.
It had gone cold in that unmistakable way it does when the truth arrives before your mind is willing to receive it.
We took off, my heart thumping in my chest.
