He chuckles. “That really worked on us both, didn’t it? Two people with such strong minds.”
“Who turned out to be the biggest idiots in the pack,” I tell him with a grin.
“That we did,” he says, his eyes flicking down to my lips again. “But I still think they gave the two of us something much stronger than they gave everyone else.”
“Of course you do,” I answer.
“Which means, I’m not some big believer now.”
“I don’t know … you at least partially believed the story about the vampire fish, if I recall.”
His face turns slightly red. “Yup. You got me there.”
“And you took the leap of faith, which required what?”
Rolling his eyes, he says, “Faith.”
“Exactly. I’d say you made some remarkable progress. In fact, I don’t think you hold the title of the world’s most cynical man anymore.”
“Damn. I really liked being the reigning champion of something.”
“You’ll have to find a new thing to be king of.”
“I suppose so, now that I’m a disgrace to skeptics everywhere.”
The pilot announces that we’re making our descent into Lima. Ty rubs my thumb with his absentmindedly, then his face grows serious. “What are you going to do? You know… after?”
“When I get home? Sleep for a month.”
“No, when you lose your job.”
His words feel like a gut punch, even though I’ve known it’s been coming for days. “Skip won’t…?”
He shakes his head. “Not a chance.”
“In that case, I don’t know. Honestly, I’m not ready to think about that. The team is still working to find the funding and I’m going to go home and throw myself into that, and hope that we can find a way.”
“It’s an impossible amount of money,” he tells me.
My heart drops to my feet and I nod a little, unable to think of anything to say to that.
“My advice would be to start looking for something else.”
“Yeah, I guess I should do that at the same time, just in case.”
The plane touches down, and as it does, Ty grips my hand a little harder. “Say, why don’t I give you a lift back to California? We’re pretty much going to the same place.”
I stare at him for a second, wanting so badly to take him up on it, just to have a few more hours with him. But I shake my head, knowing it’s only going to make things harder. “Thanks, but I think I need to get back to reality. I also want to see if I can find my bag at the airport.”
He nods, looking disappointed. “Yeah, that makes sense. Besides, what would all your work friends think if you came home with the enemy?”
“Exactly. They’d be totally pissed at me.”
“I wouldn’t want that. It’s probably for the best anyway. I’m going to have to work the whole time.”
“I’m sure you are,” I say, as the plane comes to a stop. The other passengers start to gather their things while Ty and I just stare at each other, our hands still intertwined.
Come on, Gwen. You have to let go. You can’t have this man. I try to pull my hand away, but he tightens his grip just a bit.