Gate 17
Chapter 05 - Gate 17
Marisol found Ethan forty minutes later.
He was sitting alone near Gate 17, although he had no boarding pass.
His duffel rested between his shoes.
A vending-machine sandwich sat unopened beside him.
Marisol sat down without asking permission.
For a while, neither spoke.
Finally she said, “I hated your mother.”
Ethan looked at her.
Marisol's eyes filled.
“For years.”
She told him the truth.
When Lily disappeared, their father had suffered a stroke. Marisol was left to care for him alone. She worked two jobs. She postponed college. Every birthday, she waited for Lily to call.
Lily never did.
“So I decided she was selfish,” Marisol whispered. “It was easier than believing she didn't love me anymore.”
Ethan reached into his jacket.
He handed her another folded paper.
Marisol recognized Lily's handwriting.
Tell Mari I'm sorry I let shame become silence. Every year I waited made the next year harder.
Marisol began crying before she finished.
Ethan stared straight ahead.
“She wrote letters to you too.”
“What?”
“She never mailed them.”
“Why?”
“Fear, I guess.”
Marisol laughed through her tears.
“That sounds like Lily.”
For the first time, Ethan smiled.
Only slightly.
Marisol noticed how exhausted he looked.
“Where are you staying?”
“I'll figure something out.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
Their apartment lease had ended after Lily died. Medical bills had consumed what little money remained. Ethan had taken buses for two days to reach the airport.
Everything he owned was inside the duffel.
Marisol looked at the battered bag.
Then back at him.
“You're coming home with me.”
“I don't need charity.”
“Good. Because I'm not offering charity.”
She stood.
“I'm offering you the spare bedroom your mother should've slept in twenty years ago.”
Ethan's eyes lowered.
Behind them, Thomas had been standing several yards away.
He had heard everything.
But before he could approach, his phone rang.
The caller was his eighty-four-year-old mother.
May you like
Margaret Whitaker.
And somehow, she already knew Ethan had arrived.
