Wanderlust Read Free

loudly to my right, head propped upright by one of those ridiculous horseshoe-shaped, travel pillows that wraps around your neck.
    “It’s an engagement ring,” she finally spilled.
    “Oh, no. Addie, you can’t be serious. You’re too young.”
    “I know, Lia. I know what you’re going to say. I’ve heard it all before, but I know what I want.”
    Addie was adamant. She had never been so persistent before, and I knew she was passionate about this subject. I decided to let it slide—for now. After all, senior class did vote her most likely to marry her high-school sweetheart. Rob had filled that role on and off for so many years that it only seemed obvious that this would be the next step in their relationship.
    “Is this why you didn’t want to talk about him on the way to the airport? Is it because you were worried about what I would say about this?”
    Addie bowed her head and nodded shamefully.
    “Well, if it’s what you want…I mean what you really want, then, I’m happy for you,” I finally conceded.
    “No you’re not,” she pouted.
    “Yes, I am,” I said, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. “But, why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Well, with Chaseyn leaving, I just thought it would be better to wait a while. I didn’t think it was right to rub your face in my happiness.”
    “Ugh,” I muttered. “That was my choice, Addie. I’m fine.”
    Chaseyn. I wished they would stop saying his name. The whole point of breaking up with him—no, asking him to leave—was so that I could stand alone for awhile. Find out who Cordelia Lorelei Jameson really was. Chaseyn had a big presence. Larger than life. It was hard to stand out from under his shadow, and as much as I knew I would never find another individual so attuned to me any place on Earth, I needed to take a step back. For how long, I didn’t know. It could be months. Maybe years. When I was ready, I knew he would be waiting. I had faith. Better than that, I had his word. Chaseyn would never go back on his word. However, right now, I just wanted to stop thinking about him and focus on the near future. I decided to take the heat off of me by turning the conversation back on Addie.
    “So what does Rob think about Eli joining us?” I asked Addie now that we had settled into our economy seats and the engines were starting to roar.
    “He doesn’t exactly know…yet.”
    “What? Addie, how are you going to build a marriage if you can’t be honest with him about this?”
    “I plan on telling him,” she said.
    “When?”
    “Now,” she said, snapping open her phone for one last call before takeoff.
    As she dialed his number, she handed me a small white envelope. I knew the texture of the heavy paper and the familiar scrawl all too well. Chaseyn had found a way to send me one last message.
    “He told me to wait until there was no turning back to give it to you,” Addie explained, twisting her head away from the receiver.
    I gave her a nasty look, but she just shrugged.
    “Don’t shoot the messenger,” she said and listened for Rob’s voice to answer on the other end of the line.
    Despite my anger that I just couldn’t seem to escape Chaseyn’s reach, I tore through the paper with extreme care, ensuring not a single word was ripped from the numerous pages inside. He had a lot to say. Much more than usual--he was typically a man of few words. As much as I wanted to believe that I didn’t need him, I clung to every word as I read them silently over and over again.
    Cordelia, my love.
    Trust that this is the last time I will be in contact. At least, until you call for me.
    In the meantime, I want you to live--to experience all that this wonderful, crazy, strange, and enigmatic world has to offer. You deserve to be free from the darkness that falls in my shadow and to enjoy your youth. But I need you to know that I love you more than I have ever loved anything in my unnaturally long existence as a teenage boy. Know that you will always be my