(Rebecca's POV)
I've thought about that decision more than once on the flight, turning it over, weighing whether a warning call would be kinder — give him a chance to prepare, to not be caught off guard — against the fact that a warning call would also give him a chance to say don't, not yet, I'm not ready, and I don't want to hand him that option. Not this time. I want an arrival, not a negotiation about whether the arrival's allowed to happen.
I rehearse it the whole cab ride from the airport, the exact tone I want, gentle, sure, no edge in it at all. I'm here. That's all. I'm not here to fight, I just needed you to see me. Something like that. Simple. Short enough that nerves won't derail it halfway through.
The lobby's bright and generically elegant in the way business hotels always
