Authors: Nikki Rittenberry
He arrived back at his apartment just before dark and started packing for his long awaited trip back home to New Orleans. He was utterly euphoric. He couldn’t believe he would be boarding a flight the following morning and would soon be holding his
future fiancé
. He walked to the kitchen, grabbed himself a beer, and sat down on his couch. He couldn’t turn his mind off, constantly replaying different scenarios of where and how he would propose. Maybe he would plan a picnic over the weekend and hide the ring in the basket, or propose a toast at the beginning of Thanksgiving dinner in front of their families and friends, or because he was so excited, maybe he’d drop down on one knee at the airport the following morning when she picked him up.
Suddenly, he was interrupted from his scheming trance by the sound of his phone ringing; it was his best friend Tanner.
“Hey bro—I heard the good news. Congratulations on your presentation! I guess since you’re this big-time
New York City architect
, you forgot to call your best friend to tell him personally!”
Jacob traced a bit of sarcasm in Tanner’s voice and shook his head. They always did enjoy giving each other a hard time. “Thanks man! Look—I meant to call you first thing this morning, but I had something really important I had to do.”
“Oh lord—let me guess… Donald Trump heard about your presentation and has an idea for a new hotel that he wants you design!”
“No, smartass! Actually I was out shopping… for an engagement ring for Cassie. I think I’m going to ask her to marry me this weekend.” There were a few seconds of silence and Jacob thought for a moment that his cell phone had lost its network connection. “You still there?”
“Oh boy”, Tanner softly replied. “
Giving you hell for not calling about your big day yesterday was only part of
the reason I called. Look bro, there’s
something you need to know about
Cassie.”
Jacob’s heart began pounding violently in his chest. He was almost afraid to hear what Tanner was about to say next and judging by the change in his tone, he assumed Tanner’s news wasn’t going to be good. “Ok, I’m listening”, he mumbled hesitantly.
“Emily and I were both at Cassie’s apartment earlier today. She brought some of her books with her, hoping Cassie would be able to help her with some microbiology homework. Anyway, about halfway through, Emily’s pen ran out of ink and Cassie told me if I looked in the top drawer of her nightstand, I would find some pens. So I opened the drawer and found the pens… and I… couldn’t help but notice a paper with the Denver Therapy Institute letterhead on it.”
“
C’mon man! I can’t believe you
were snooping around in her drawers!”
“
It wasn’t snooping!
I
was
not
snooping! The letter was there staring back at me. Anybody in that situation would have picked it up and looked at it!”
Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose and clenched his eyes shut. He could feel his brain pulsating, throbbing in unison with his rapid heartbeat. “Alright… Well, what did it say?”
“She got in man—they accepted her into the program. It said they needed confirmation by the first of December in order to secure her spot. Did she mention anything about it to you?”
Jacob was stunned. “No… no, she never said anything.”
“Look bro, I know you guys have big plans for her to move to New York and all—but that’s a huge honor. The letter
was post-dated on the fifteenth of
October, which means she’s known about this for at least five or six weeks. I’m guessing she’s probably turned it down to be with you.”
Jacob was speechless. How could she have not told him? He thought about the few phone conversations they’d had over the past several weeks. Sure the amount of times they spoke was few and far between, but news as big as this could not have been mistakenly overlooked. You don’t just
accidentally
forget to tell the most important person in your life that you’ve been accepted into the nation’s most recognized physical therapy internship.
Jacob hung up with Tanner and began pacing the floor in his small apartment. He thought about the last night he’d spent with Cassie. Something had been clearly troubling her that
evening. She’d known about her
acceptance then and had kept that vital
piece of information to herself.
Why?
His initial anger soon turned into frustration and finally… to
guilt
. How could he have been so selfish, he wondered? He’d spent the last eighteen months micro-managing every aspect of their lives, precisely calculating his own success while essentially asking Cassie to surrender hers. He thought about calling her, but what would that accomplish? She would apologize for keeping it from him and in the same breath declare she had no regrets about turning down her position.
No—he couldn’t call her.
Jacob advanced toward his suitcase and retrieved the little black box that housed Cassie’s engagement ring. He sat back down and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees and opened it. He gazed at the ring for a moment and took it out of the box. Holding it with his two fingers, he rotated his wrist; carefully inspecting it as he had done so earlier in the day at the jewelry store. After a few moments he placed the ring back in the box and leaned his back against the couch. He closed his eyes, searching his exhausted mind for the best solution to their scenario. He needed to find one quickly; he was scheduled to fly to New Orleans the following morning.
* * *
It was half past four, Wednesday morning. Jacob awoke on the couch in the clothes he had been wearing the evening before. He ran his hands through
his thick, dark hair and glanced at the
black ring box sitting on the coffee table. His mind was made up and now there was no turning back.
CHAPTER THREE
The day had finally come and Cassie couldn’t conceal her excitement. She was relieved that their separation would soon be ending and was eager to spend the next few days reconnecting with Jacob. She stood up and journeyed to the monitors which displayed incoming flight information. She found his flight number and noted it was on time; just a few more minutes until its scheduled landing. She traveled as far as security would allow her and patiently waited for his arrival.
She lingered calmly for close to twenty-five minutes and there was still no sign of Jacob.
What’s taking him so long? The suspense is killing me!
She returned to the monitors and
once again found his flight. The data
indicated that his plane had indeed landed. She traveled back to the reception area in front of the metal detectors and watched as dozens of people scurried by, reuniting with their loved ones with arms wide open.
The airport was exceedingly overcrowded, but she hadn’t overlooked him, had she? Moments later she decided to search for him near baggage claim; just in case he slipped by without her knowing it, but unfortunately he wasn’t there either. Cassie retrieved her phone from her purse, dialed his number and after several rings, she was prompted to leave a message.
“Where are you? I’ve been waiting at the airport for almost an hour now… This just doesn’t make any sense! Call me back as soon as you get this message, Jake.”
After her attempts to reach him failed, worry began to consume her. He couldn’t have boarded an airplane and then spontaneously vanish mid-flight. She hadn’t spoken to Jacob in a couple of days, but she knew he wouldn’t have forgotten his plans; today was important to both of them. Was it possible he’d
overslept and missed his flight?
Cassie approached the ticket counter and asked the gentleman if there was any way he could search their records to see if a passenger had boarded a flight.
“I’m sorry, ma’am”, he explained. “Releasing that information is against airline policy.”
After several minutes of pleading with the ticket counter representative, desperately trying to find some answers, worry and frustration consumed her and Cassie began to cry. “I’m not asking for his social security number or his credit card information. I just need to know if he was on that flight. Please, that’s all I need to know!”
The gentlemen sympathized with her story and against his better judgment decided to bend the rules—just this once—to help her find her loved one. After pounding away at the speed of light on his computer, he explained there was no record of Jacob Nelson checking-in or boarding any flight from New York. Cassie asked if he could do one more favor for her by searching the database to see if Jacob had made arrangements for a later flight. After a few moments the gentleman indicated no such arrangements had yet been made. Cassie thanked him for his help and slowly walked away.
She tried calling Jacob again, but was unsuccessful. She left another voice message and then finally headed back to the parking garage.
* * *
Jacob stood with both hands in his pockets staring down at the street below from his apartment window. He’d already received at least a dozen calls from Cassie, each message sounding a little more desperate than the one before. She was unmistakably concerned; it was extremely uncharacteristic of him to abandon her like he had. He knew he was going
to break her heart by walking away
from their relationship, but for once in his life, he decided he was
not
going to be selfish. He wanted nothing more than to ask Cassie to marry him, but how could he live with himself knowing she’d turned down a once in a lifetime opportunity to work alongside some of the best therapists in the country? He felt the only way she would accept the offer in Denver was if he was out of the picture. After all, he was the only reason she was willing to move to New York City in the first place.
After receiving dozens of frantic messages, Jacob recognized that he couldn’t ignore her calls forever. At some point, he was going to have to respond. Fearing he would be unable to find the strength and the words to break off the relationship, he took the coward way out. He picked up his phone and began to text Cassie. He then turned off his phone, grabbed his coat and headed downstairs to catch a train. He didn’t quite know where he was going, but anywhere was better than being at home.
* * *
Cassie arrived back at her
apartment shortly before noon. Upon entering she
immediately checked her answering machine, but there were no
messages from Jacob. This was so
bizarre! She sat down on the couch and dialed Emily’s phone number, hoping that she would be able to shed some light on the situation, but before she was able to press the send button, her cell phone chimed indicating that she had an incoming text: It was from Jacob!
I’m not coming. It’s over. I’m so sorry.
Heartbroken, Cassie stared at the text message in disbelief. This made absolutely no sense at all! She recalled her last conversation with Jacob two days earlier; everything seemed to be perfect. He was reveling in the success of his presentation and even spoke about hiring a realtor to assist them in locating a more spacious apartment. Cassie wanted some answers! What kind of person breaks up with their partner by sending a three sentence text message? That was something you would expect from a seventh grader, not a twenty-five year old man!
She tried to get in touch with Jacob, but once again her call went unanswered. It was clear he had no intention at all of taking her calls. Cassie dashed into her bedroom and grabbed her laptop. She quickly transferred some money from her savings account into her
checking, and then purchased an
exceedingly overpriced roundtrip airline
ticket to New York City. Without delay,
she haphazardly threw some of her
clothes and other belongings into a small suitcase and headed back to the airport. If Jacob wasn’t going to return her phone calls then he would have to give his explanation in person.