Bear Heart (Book 2)

Chapter 26

26. Recalling

We had to board the plane quickly, seeing as how we had spent so much time hugging and crying. It seemed as though everything afterwards was a quick blur that I could hardly remember; before I knew what was happening, we had already found our seats and Kenai had helped me store my luggage. The plane wasn’t very full; actually, there were very little people on the flight. Maybe the plane would be more packed once we reached Washington. It was a connecting flight, so we would have to change planes before we would reach New York.

“You have your boarding pass, right?” I asked Kenai as we sat in our seats, which were set apart from everyone else. It was probably good that we were—if someone were to eavesdrop on our conversation, we were going to sound like a couple of loons. Kenai nodded, giving a sigh as he sat down, suddenly looking very tired. “Do you know if the lady put you down for the connecting flight to New York? If she didn’t, you’re probably going to have to buy more tickets when we get to Washington.” Kenai’s eyes widened. “Connection flight? You mean we aren’t going directly to New York?” I shook my head. He cussed under his breath, covering his eyes with a hand. He’s going to drop a lot of money on this spontaneous stunt of his.

The thrill and fast-paced atmosphere had died down once we got on the plane. Everything wasn’t as hectic as it was before we boarded, so we were finally able to take in everything that had happened and think reasonably. The craziness of what Kenai was doing, which might have seemed sentimental or even romantic in others’ eyes, was actually a really stupid decision. “My dad is going to kill me,” he said at last, the hand moving from his eyes to his mouth. He was probably finally understanding what it was that he was doing. “Now that I think about it, how did you even get here?” Kenai released a sigh, removing his hand. “My motorcycle. Now I’m going to have to call someone to get it for me. You know, after I tell my parents why the hell I just up and left without so much as saying bye.” He just shook his head. “Why did you come?” I asked. He looked at me, a little confused. “I mean, it’s not that I don’t want you to come, I’m actually really relieved that you’re here, but this is costing you way more than it’s worth. You’re probably going to be spending a good ten grand on this trip.”

Suddenly, Kenai started to laugh. I cocked an eyebrow, wondering if he had cracked. “What’s so funny?” I asked him. This made him laugh a little harder, making some people turn around to see what was going on. “Do you know how stupidly cliché we must have looked out there?” He continued to laugh, which proved to be contagious, because I started to laugh, too. “That’s the kind of thing you see in movies, and we just made ourselves look like a couple of idiots with how we acted out there.” I nodded, trying to muffle my laughter by clenching my jaw. “You know, no one ever talks about how expensive or troubling it is to do something like that. I’m so stupid.”

“You are, but I’m glad you’re here.” We both gave a content sigh, and I gave him a bright smile. “Thanks for pulling that stupid stunt, it means a lot to me.”

“It better. I’m spending a lot of money on it!”

“Oh please, it’s not even your money! It’s your dad’s money.”

“Hell, after he sees the bill for this, he won’t want to be my dad anymore. He’ll probably drop my ass off in foster care.”

We laughed, but I quickly made sure to dispel his seemingly harmless joke. “There’s no way. Your parents love you very much.” I paused a bit, trying to keep the humorous atmosphere. “They have to if they’re going to give you a credit card.” I shook my head. “A Visa,” I muttered, “your parents gave you a Visa. Adopted kids really are spoiled.” This caused Kenai to laugh. “Joseph has to attend a lot of business dinners and parties and things of that sort. I really don’t like going, but it helps him look good if his business partners see that his family is involved. I remember the first dinner party he made me go to was the very first week I started living in their house. I had just gotten settled in, and we had drove all the way from Oregon to Seattle. I really didn’t want to go, so he bribed me with a credit card. He said if I kept going to the dinners then he’d let me keep the card.”