CHAPTER 6 — ARRIVAL
As passengers stood to collect luggage, I remained at the front.
Professional.
Composed.
Final announcement voice ready.
Ryan didn’t move at first.
Then Ashley stood.
Not at him.
Away from him.
That told me everything.
“Tell me the truth,” she said softly.
Ryan opened his mouth.
Closed it again.
Because for the first time—
he didn’t have a version of truth that worked.
I stepped forward one last time.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I said into the cabin, voice calm and practiced, “please remain seated until the aircraft comes to a complete stop.”
Then I looked at Ryan.
And added quietly:
“Welcome to reality.”
EPILOGUE — THE RETURN FLIGHT
Three days later, I flew back from Cancun.
Different aircraft.
Different passengers.
Same uniform.
But something had changed permanently.
Because Ryan had returned to Dallas alone.
Ashley had not.
And I had filed exactly one thing before leaving Mexico:
divorce paperwork.
Not in anger.
Not in chaos.
But in silence.
The kind that ends things cleanly.
At cruising altitude, I looked out over the clouds and thought about something simple:
May you like
He thought I was background noise in his life.
But I was the flight he never saw coming.
