Plane Ticket To You

Chapter 29

ELIAS

Meet me at the Serving Spoon on Wednesday at twelve. Don't bring your sisters.

I continued to stare at the message, a headache starting to pound at my temples. 

I resolved not to tell my sisters about my mother's sudden desire to meet up with me, especially because I knew that they would insist on coming with me.

And Sylvia Teale had requested for them to not come along. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

The headache was not subsiding, and I desperately tried to appease it by kneading my forehead with my fingers. I needed something, anything, to ground me.

With shaky fingers, I opened my phone and went to Instagram. I opened my Following list and clicked on Lucia's profile, knowing that this was utterly pathetic and unreasonable.

However, I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to see her, even if it was through a screen.

I scrolled through her photos, some of them from our trip together. There was her in Peru, her beautiful hair loose as she gazed at the breathtaking sights of Macchu Picchu. There was her in Italy, digging her toes into the golden sand of Amalfi. There was her in China, smiling brightly against a background of mountains.

My heart skipped a beat as I remembered our feverish kiss in China, the way her lips had tasted. I knew immediately that I wasn't getting over her anytime soon.

I continued looking at all her photos from our trip, realizing with dread that I was in love with her.

Wholly, irrevocably, completely in love with her. But was I in love with the version of her I had gotten of her on our fairy tale trip, or the real version? How did I know if we could ever have survived together in reality?

Maybe we couldn't have. And now, we would never even get to try.

---

I pushed open the door to Serving Spoon, breathing in the familiar scent of caramel and cinnamon. 

I brought Jas and Penny here all the time. It was like a tradition of ours. Somehow, knowing that my mother was somewhere in this building felt like a personal violation, an intrusion.

I scanned the tables for her, not sure if I would even recognize her after all these years.

My gaze landed on a table in the corner, where I spotted a shock of blonde hair. The woman sitting there looked up from the menu in her hands, and I froze.

She looked so much like Penny that it was jarring. 

I couldn't do this. What was I even thinking? This was my mother. The woman who had abandoned my entire family. What was I doing, talking to her after all these years?

I turned to leave.

"Elias?"

Shit. I turned back around slowly, my heart hammering.

She looked so familiar. Even though I had only been six when she'd left, she was held such a prominent part of my memory that could it could never be erased.

She had Penny's pin-straight golden hair, the dark blue eyes that we had all inherited. She was wearing a white blouse and dark slacks.

So she had made an attempt to look presentable for our meeting. Why?

I slid into the chair opposite her, staring at the table. "Hello, Sylvia."

"Elias, please look at me."

I forced my gaze upward. Why did she look so penitent, so sincere? I was on my guard immediately.

"Why did you meet up with them behind my back?" I bit out.

She sighed. "I... I'm sorry. I knew you wouldn't let me visit them if you could help it."

"You're right," I said harshly. "I wouldn't have, because I know you, and what other intentions could you possibly have other than bad ones? I could report you for this, you know."

"I know," my mother said. "Elias, I don't want to take them from you."

Surprise of the year.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I just want to have a relationship with them," she said. "I feel... so guilty. You have no idea."

I shook my head. "So basically the only reason you want to have a relationship with them is because you feel guilty?"

"No, no, you have it all wrong," she said, shaking her head firmly. "I was living in California. Before. But I realized that I had no life there. I realized that I genuinely wanted a relationship with all of you guys, so I came back. I'm hoping to rebuild my life, Elias."

My heart hammered, my blood roaring in my ears. No. This was my worst nightmare. 

"So you're just going to... hang around them for the rest of their childhoods?" I asked. "Do you really think I'm going to let you do that? Did you even think about how much that will impact them? Sylvia, Penny and Jasmine genuinely care about you now. They want to get to know you. How do I know you won't hurt them?"

"I know that I will have to build your trust," Sylvia said. "But I am their mother. I have a right to be able to talk to them. I swear, Elias. I will never mistreat them ever again."

I blew out a breath. "I will think about it. But absolutely no promises."

---

Back at home, I related everything that I had talked about with Sylvia to my sisters.

"So she's not even going to... try to get custody of us?" Penny asked.

"Is that what you want?" I asked. Even though it hurt me to hear her ask that, I only wanted her happiness. And if that meant Penny living with her mother... I couldn't deny her that.

"I love you, Elias," Penny said, looking me squarely in the eye. "But for God's sake, you're eighteen. You're not supposed to be worrying about raising your teenage sisters."

Jas nodded. "Yeah. I totally agree. You should be thinking about your future career. Or kissing pretty girls in foreign countries."

I shot her a disapproving stare, but she simply laughed. "We all know that you're going to drift back to Lucia at some point."

If only that were true, I thought to myself.

"So, if I could potentially get our mother to agree to custody of you guys, you'd be okay with that?" I asked, averting the subject.

"Yes," Jas said, padding over to me and laying her head on my shoulder, and Penny followed suit. "We only want you to be happy. And we know that you're not content with your current life. So go out there and study piano, do whatever you want. Don't let us hold you back."

"I just don't want her to hurt you guys," I said softly. "I don't want her to just up and leave."

"I know," Penny said. "It'll be okay. It'll be okay."

Penny and Jasmine living with Sylvia. I thought about that for a few moments, and my pulse raced.

Oh God. What was I doing? I couldn't trust Sylvia. I could barely trust myself. I had just planted false hope into my sisters' heads, what the hell was I--

"Elias?"

Which one of them had called my name? Jas, or Penny?

Why was it so warm? I felt suffocated.

All of a sudden, my sisters' faces swam before my eyes, dark spots appearing in my vision. I felt out of control, floating in mid-air.

"Elias!"

Was someone shaking me? The dark spots grew bigger, and I was getting smaller, and smaller--

Darkness consumed both of my sisters' faces.