They Bet On My Flight, So I Booked One To Iceland Chapter 10

They Bet On My Flight, So I Booked One To Iceland Chapter 10

The night we flew back to Iceland, the northern lights were at their brightest.

Vast ribbons of green spread across the sky, as though a long-silent canvas had been unfurled once more.

Elias and I stayed in a wooden cabin beside a glass greenhouse.

A fire blazed in the fireplace while he warmed mulled wine in the kitchen. A slice of orange rested on the rim of the glass.

“No cinnamon.” He handed it to me. “You said last time that you didn’t like it.”

I accepted it with a smile.

“You have an incredible memory.”

“It isn’t about having a good memory.” He sat beside me. “Your preferences shouldn’t be treated like they don’t matter.”

My phone vibrated.

The spam filter had caught an email from Mason.

I had no intention of opening it, but the subject line was only a few words.

[The Ocean in Maui]

The email contained a blurry photograph.

The sky over the beach was dark, and the waves were gray-white.

There was only one sentence beneath it.

[Avery, the ocean here is so cold. If there’s another life, the first thing I’ll do is ask you what matters to you.]

I looked at the words without sadness or contempt.

A question asked far too late was no longer an answer.

I deleted the email, then emptied the trash folder.

Elias glanced at me.

“What is it?”

I placed my phone facedown on the table and leaned against his shoulder.

“Just clearing out an old email that was taking up space.”

He did not ask anything else. He simply draped the blanket over my knees.

The northern lights flowed across the glass roof.

Elias wrapped his arms gently around me from behind, his voice close to my ear.

“Are you nervous about the awards ceremony tomorrow?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

Three years earlier, I had believed that losing the Northstar Emerging Artist Prize meant losing my path to the future.

Later, I realized that the path had never been an opportunity someone else chose to give me or a competition someone else could destroy.

The path was the one I made each time I pulled myself out of the wreckage and kept drawing.

“Avery,” Elias said softly, “congratulations.”

I raised my head and looked outside.

The northern lights drifted silently across the sky like an enormous whale.

I no longer had to wait for anyone to open the door.

My life was finally back in my own hands.