smile. “Maybe you’re my true love, Georgie.” I laughed. “You chased me down at the airport in the middle of the night. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”
“Stop, that’s not funny.” Her light green eyes implored me to take her seriously. “You’re the one he’s meant to be with, not her.”
I inhaled a shaky breath and took a step back. “I’ll call you when I land. Look after him for me, will ya?”
“Don’t give up yet, Andie.”
I shook my head as Kinsley nudged my shoulder. The plane wouldn’t wait for me.
“I’ve got to go, Georgie,” I said, taking a step back.
“He’s a complete knobhead if he lets you slip away, Andie.”
I laughed and shook my head, letting Kinsley pull me toward the airport doors.
“Do you hear me, Andie?!” Georgie shouted after me. “A COMPLETE KNOBHEAD.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Freddie
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
I threw my hand over to silence my alarm, feeling for my mobile on the bedside table where I usually left it to charge. Nothing was there. I sighed and sat up, realizing as I blinked my eyes open that I wasn’t in the Olympic village. Andie and I had fallen asleep in the hotel, on old scratchy blankets that had seemed like clouds at the time. I tried to recall the last moments of the night, when I had Andie tucked into the crook of my arm, pressed so tightly against me that she’d complained about not being able to breathe. I’d eased up and let her fall to her side of the bed, and she’d smiled over at me in the dark.
“Think we can manage one more time before I have to leave?”
I’d nodded and draped my arm around her stomach. She spooned against me and we must have fallen asleep soon after that.
Now, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, calling out her name into the dark room. The blackout curtains were doing a fairly good job of keeping the sun out, but once I whipped them open, there was no denying that Andie was gone. The hotel room was quiet and stale—and as the dust settled, I realized she hadn’t woken me up before she’d left. She’d told me her flight was in the middle of the night and instead of waking me up, she’d snuck out while I was asleep.
We’d pushed off the goodbye so long that I never got one. I didn’t get the chance to beg her to wait for me. I never told her I loved her, not in a way that would fade once I left Rio, but the real kind, the sort of love you fight to keep. I wanted to promise her that as soon as I had my life in order, I’d fly across to America and drag her out to see me if I had to.
I didn’t get to say those things because Andie had left and I was alone in that room.
A quick glance at my mobile confirmed that she hadn’t tried to ring, and though I was tempted, I didn’t phone her. I collected my stuff from around the room and slipped into the clothes I’d been wearing the day before. My boxer briefs were still damp from the ocean, but I forced them on anyway. I checked around the room twice, confirming I’d snatched up everything, and then I was about to head for the door when I turned for the bed instead. I bent and picked up the pillow she’d slept on—it still had the indent from her head—and I held it up to my face and inhaled. It was like a punch to the gut. It still smelled like the coconut shampoo I’d grown accustomed to over the last few weeks and the scent alone was enough to make my knees crumble. I sat on the edge of the bed and hugged the pillow like a mad fool. Why had we made no plans about the future? Why had I not promised her it would work out? That somehow, someway, she and I would be together?
When I finally left that hotel room, I was running late for my first race of the day. I already had a few missed calls from Caroline, my manager, my agent, my mum, Thom, and Georgie. I sat in the back of the cab and dialed my manager.
“Freddie, where have you been? Your coach has been looking for you.”
I let my head fall against the window of the cab. “I was out. I’m headed to the race