Chapter 16. Before We Go

Gabriel looked at their joined hands, then toward the open aircraft door.

“We can miss the departure,” he said.

Diana looked at the steps she had been about to climb. His answer made her pull her hand free.

“How bad is the explanation?”

“You should see what I am before you get on my plane. And your call comes first if the doctor is ready.”

He asked Charles to hold the flight. At last, a name for the round glasses. Diana followed Gabriel into the quiet lounge, where he stopped beside the windows instead of sitting close to her.

“You asked me to show you what I told you on your couch.”

“I asked whether that was the whole explanation for what happened to me.”

“It isn’t.” He took a breath. “I don’t know how much of it is.”

She had believed him more than she wanted to admit. She had not seen him change.

Outside, a man in a reflective jacket pushed a trolley across the tarmac. Somewhere behind her, a coffee machine hissed. Diana