Landon ignored him and ran a hand through his hair, adding grease from the french fries to grease from a full day of travel. “And I had this crazy, insane, stupid, half-baked idea, that if I could just find her again, if I could meet her again, even this newversion of her…” Landon trailed off, afraid of sounding silly or trite.
“Soulmates and all that,” Dave said, implicitly sanctioning Landon’s lunacy. “Is that what this is about?”
Landon’s cheeks reddened. “Something like that.”
“Don’t believe in ’em.” Dave’s words were starting to slur. Landon bit down on a french fry to stop himself from saying that this likely meant Dave had never met anyone who mattered a fraction as much as Rose did to him. “But I like you, and your stupid idea.” Landon grimaced. “It’s like something out of a really bad movie—like the drivel they were playing on the plane. Just completely ridiculous.”
“But it happened once,” he said. “She fell in love with me once. If it can happen once, it can happen again.”
“And we could be hit by a taxi on the way out the pub.”
“What’s that got to do wi—”
Dave’s eyebrows rose. “Though I guess it could have been anyone then and it really could be anyone now.”
Landon sighed. “Your wife must find you impossibly romantic.”
“Used to be a sore spot, she says, before the pill. Probably where herOutlanderobsession came from.” Dave smiled. “So, tell me, why’d your girl take the pill if you’re so perfect?”
The images that ruined Landon’s sleep flashed behind his eyes, the violence and pain of them so searing he had to convince himself he wasn’t being cut open. The fries threatened ejection. “Same reason as everyone.”
Dave gave him a lopsided squint. “And why didn’t she want to remember you?”
“Who says she didn’t?”
“Oi, I know I’m pissed, but you’ve got to work with me here.”
Landon’s shoulders drooped. He wanted support. He wanted someone to help him, to tell him how to make the next move—even if that someone was drunk and thought his plan ludicrous. If he treaded carefully, he could share just enough without unraveling. “Something horrible happened,” Landon said. “And for her, there was just no coming back from it. She didn’t give us time to come back from it.”
Dave nodded, knowingly. “I only have two friends who haven’t cheated on their wives yet. But one’s got a porn addiction and the other gambled away their boat, so I just think they didn’t have the time for it, honestly.”
Landon would let Dave believe what he’d thought he heard. It was worlds cleaner than the whole truth. “I’m here,” Landon said. “I’m here and I still love her. I can win her back—I have to win her back—”
Dave laid a hand on Landon’s shoulder. “I told you,” he said, “we’re seatmates. I’m gonna help you with this stupid idea. You can even blame me when things crash and burn. I can take it.”
Landon was so grateful not to be alone with his thoughts, so grateful that someone had offered to help him determine his next steps, that words fell from his lips as though a dam had burst. He told Dave about Rose’s response to his letter, the note Rose left Poppy so she wouldn’t forget her, and—when he felt he could stomach it—the bomb Poppy had placed in his lap. “She’s seeing someone,” he said.
Dave chuckled. “Notmarried, though,” he said. “Not engaged.”
“No.” Landon was almost certain that Poppy would have told him if that were the case.
“Well then, aces,” Dave said. “This is simple.”
Landon had never been involved in anything that felt quite so complicated. “Explain it like I’m five.”
“You’ve just gotta love what she loves, mate. Find her doing the things she loves.”
Landon froze. “I don’t—”
“Painting,” Dave said. “You said she moved here to paint.”
“Yes, though I can’t imagine she’s any good—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Dave said. “Not the point.” The words swirled together like yellow and blue paint on their way to make green. “She’s at the university. A begin—” He closed his eyes. “A begin-ager. She won’t be so hard to flound.”
“Find,” Landon corrected, his mind racing. “But no, I don’t suppose she will be.”
“You just march down to the regis-stars office and tell them…” Dave swallowed hard. “You tell them—” He slammed his fist into his chest as though it could jump-start his heart.