Anywhere With You Read Online Free PDF Page A

hand on the man’s forearm. “I’m sorry your wife couldn’t be here, she offered hoarsely. I was taken aback. How did she fake sleep so well? And more importantly, how did she always know the simplest most right thing to say?
    The man smiled. “Me too.”
    Amelie’s gaze drifted over to me. I studied her expression. Her face now completely refreshed as though she’d just slept it all away, her demeanor youthful again, and she appeared lighter than she had been before her pretend nap. I watched as she picked up my bottle of water and took a sip.
    She gulped half of the bottle down before turning her attention back to the man. “And I heard you say you were going to be a Grandpa.”
    The man beamed. “I am. They tell us it’s a little boy...” He frowned slightly and looked at Amelie over to me and then back at her. “Everything’s so different these days, though. We never knew half of the things you kids know today. It’s almost as though nothing can be a surprise anymore.”
    “Isn’t it amazing?” Amelie exclaimed. One small, at least half-fake nap and suddenly, she was a different person. This version of Amelie was on top of the world—full of energy and happy. So happy. The old man was wrong. Lots of things could surprise you. He just needed to hang around Amelie a little more.
    “You should tell your wife to write the baby letters,” she remarked, looking over at me. “That’s what Jack’s mom did when she got sick…”
    I looked away and refocused my attention out the small window. I watched the clouds gather and form and then drift away. At that moment, I wanted to be one of them. Why was she bringing this up now? I hadn’t thought about those letters in years.
    “Hmmm. That sounds like a really good idea...” the man murmured.
    “Oh, it is! Jack let me read a few of them and I tell you what—” she lowered her voice a few dozen octaves. “They really made an impact on me.”
    “I’m not sure though…her hands shake a lot these days.” The man conceded. “I think it’s the medication.”
    Amelie exhaled loudly. “Just give her a pen and see what happens. You might be surprised by the outcome if you hand her a renewed sense of purpose.”
    “You’re a very wise young lady.”
    “My dad was a poet,” Amelie mentioned cheerfully, and I could feel her eyes on me.
    “That makes sense,” the man replied.
    I looked over at her then. She caught my gaze and didn’t take her eyes off mine.
    “I’ve actually started writing a bit here and there, too. But mostly—I take pictures.”
    “What do you photograph?”
    Amelie’s eyes bore into mine, and suddenly, I felt at ease. “All the beautiful things,” she said.
    “Of which there is no shortage,” I added seconds later.
    The man looked away. So did Amelie, focusing her attention ahead.
    “Hey!” she eventually piped up, startling us both. The man looked over at her furtively. “I could take a photo or two of you and the baby—for your wife. You know, to make the trip a little more worth your while…”
    The man considered her proposition before tearing up just slightly. Eventually, a small smile played across his lips. “You already have, my dear. You already have.”
     

     
    I drummed my fingers on my leg. Amelie had run off to the lavatory eighteen minutes ago and hadn’t returned. I could hear her somewhere near the rear of the plane talking animatedly although I couldn’t quite make out what she was saying.
    The man looked my way and smiled. “Seems like she made another friend…”
    I raised my brow. “That’s Amelie for you.”
    He chuckled. “I gathered that.”
    “Well, it’s a part of her anyway,” I told him as I willed Amelie to get her ass back to her seat.
    “I don’t like to pry, son—but may I ask you a question?”
    “Shoot,” I said, although I didn’t look directly at him.
    “The letters your mother wrote…did they help?”
    I sighed as I considered his question. “Not really,” I