Free The Light of the Blue Pearl by K.C. HAWKE Page A

you mind if I rode to the airport
with you?” he asked, finally looking up and staring into her eyes.
She doubted she would find it easy to forget the blue eyes gazing
back at her.
    “I would love that,” she answered. Smiling
at him she added, “You know me, I’m going to be a complete mess
soon, freaking out every passenger on the plane. Your moral support
up until that point will be greatly appreciated.”
    He laughed and finally seemed a little more
at ease. She had given him just a few minutes more before the final
goodbye would take place.
    When the taxi pulled up they both
reluctantly climbed in and were swiftly off to the airport.
    After removing her belongings from the taxi
and making their way to the airport terminal the uncomfortable
silence of what was about to come resumed.
    Instead of talking as they sat there waiting
for her flight to be called, Ian took her hand in his and held it
tightly.
    “This is so weird,” he finally said. “I
barely know you.”
    “Yeah, I know,” she answered, looking down
at their fingers intertwined.
    “Do you want to exchange numbers?” he
asked…obviously terrified of the question and what the response
might be.
    She had anticipated this and was as scared
as he was of what her reply would be.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ian,” she
answered, doing her very best to not let him see her chin
trembling.
    “Oh,” was all he said in reply.
    “I have a complicated life,” she said. “I
wouldn’t want to complicate yours.”
    “Oh,” he said again. “Well, I wouldn’t
mind…I like complications.”
    She laughed. “Well, I live in San Francisco,
that’s all I’m going to say,” she smiled hoping that would be
enough to appease him for now. This was harder for her than he
could imagine.
    When they called her flight they both looked
at each other and reluctantly stood up. He carried her bag again
and they walked over to the line.
    “I’m going to miss you,” he said. They were
still holding hands. She honestly couldn’t believe this was
happening. Three days ago she hadn’t even known who Ian was, and
now she was going to miss him… a lot.
    She let go of his hand and shot up on her
tiptoes and hugged him tightly. “I’m going to miss you too,” she
whispered.
    She relaxed her hug a little and looked into
his eyes. Without saying another word she kissed him passionately,
savoring the taste of his lips. She reached down and took her bag
from him, met his gaze one last time and said, “Goodbye Ian,” and
walked towards the gate.
    She heard him faintly say “Goodbye
Ethne…good luck,” as she was walking away. She turned one last time
before heading through the door and saw him wave, she waved back
and tried to smile. As much as she didn’t want to say goodbye to
him, she wanted even less to be getting on another airplane; the
trip home was not high on her list.
    After finding her seat and trying to settle
in she reached into her pocket to try and find some comfort in her
blue pearl.
    The little container he had given her had
been pretty small and there were a few things in her pocket, but
she didn’t feel it.
    Starting to panic she started taking
everything out of her pocket. Once everything was removed she saw
no little box.
    This loss coupled with the one she had just
experienced with Ian was almost too much for her plane riding,
sleep deprived, stressed out self.
    All she could do was look down at the
contents of her pocket in disbelief that her magical blue pearl was
gone. Gone. Just simply…gone.
    She tried to think of what could have
happened to it. It was possible it had fallen out when they were
waiting for the flight, and there was still time before the flight
took off; she thought maybe they’d let her go look.
    “Ma’am,” she said to the passing flight
attendant. “I think I lost something out there while I was waiting,
could I go back and look for it please?”
    “Oh I’m sorry, I can’t let you back off
now,” she