Gina woke up to the landing announcement by the pilot, they would be descending into her final destination. This would be her third stop along the journey, luckily there were no long lay overs along the way. She felt her heart jump, thinking about her first meeting with Bill. There was no going back now, she told herself, there's no way she could invest most of the day flying to meet Bill to just turn around and take another plane out without calling him.
As the plane landed on the runway, she felt her heart still soaring up at the high altitude that the plane had come from. It seemed that there was no way she could turn back anyhow, no matter how nervous; she had wanted to meet Bill so much and was so determined to see his smile for real. No more webcam, no more emailed pictures, the living and breathing thing for her to hold and kiss. Gina's thoughts now changed, she felt her nervousness melt away, replaced with determination. Now she could hardly wait for this plane to taxi up the runways get to the terminal and unload her and her dreams.
Finally the 747 pulled to a stop, the captain made his last announcements and the seatbelt signs unlit. Gina was up in a shot, retrieving her carry-on, she just had to get off this plane, get the rest of her luggage and get to a phone. Almost impatiently she waited for the passengers to file off the aircraft and followed them with forced patience, she wanted to budge through, run up that hallway and find the baggage belts.
Several minutes later, Gina had retrieved her other suitcase and now rolled it along behind her as she looked for a phone in the small airport terminal building. She found a phone near the departure area and quickly pounced on it as another lady was approaching. Her fingers dialed frantically. "He's got to be home" she thought, "Come on Bill be home". The line rang and rang and finally his machine picked up. Gina's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach, he wasn't home, perhaps he was just out briefly, she'd call back. Yes, maybe he went out for groceries or cigarettes. She worked hard at convincing herself as she paced around the terminal, her thoughts a blur of activity.
Then as she was brooding the worst, she heard her name called on the announcement. Walking hurriedly to the counter she asked the lady why she was paged. "You have a message" the clerk replied and passed Gina a bouquet of flowers and an envelope. "Thank you, " Gina said and took her things and went to find a seat. She sat down and looked at the envelope. The outside of it read "To Gina: I'm very sorry" Her heart sank, she fought the tears as she opened the letter and began to read the contents inside through watering eyes.
"Dear Gina, I'm sorry... I'm sorry I had to ruin your surprise. I sensed something was happening and I convinced your friend Smiling Rose to give me a hint what was going on. I was shocked by your efforts and had to cut your surprise short and answer it with one of my own"
Just as she finished reading, she looked up to start pondering what the letter meant, when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned and there she saw Bill with a big smile on his face. His eyes were bright and shining with the happiness of seeing her. Her heart jumped back up into the clouds as she jumped up out of that chair and dashed around it and into his arms. She almost leaped at him and he caught her to hold her tightly kissing her lips as they embraced in happy meeting.
"I feared the worst," she admitted "I thought you had decided you couldn't meet me just yet."
He smiled and looked into her eyes, "how could I decide that, you've inhabited my dreams since we met?" His voice was soft and uneven, she sensed that his emotions were as high as hers, she could see the glisten of his eyes, tears of joy welling up. "Come on now," he said. "I think you've had enough of airports for one day."
Bill helped Gina with her luggage and they got into his car. Immediately they embraced and kissed passionately. His hands moved softly over her back, holding her to him gently. Breaking the kiss, he looked into her beautiful eyes, almost mezmerized by the depth that he could only imagine, so much more powerful than that of any of her pictures she had sent to him over emails. "I guess I should take you to my place," he said "you will need to get yourself a bit organized before we go have dinner."
Gina smiled at him mysteriously, he had left her a surprise to reveal to him. "No, not your place," she replied with a grin "I booked us a hotel room." Bill smiled, his face showing his surprise.
"That's something I hadn't found out from your friend," he admitted. "I'm sorry I had to ruin your first surprise." He grinned, "although it was worth it, when I got to see your face. I hope I didnt' disappoint you Gina."
"No, not at all, that was very romantic Bill, I won't even give Beverly heck for telling you what she did." She smiled at him, showing her appreciation for his wanting to surprise her to.