With a few clicks of her mouse, she got me on the next direct flight out of Charlotte set to arrive at LaGuardia, around six. A few days earlier, when we were going over the final itinerary, she’d asked me if I was okay. I didn’t answer her question but told her I wouldn’t leave home without Lilly. Erin suggested she meet me at the airport, we’d chat about the tour on the way to the hotel. She’d wait while I got settled in and then we’d have dinner at the little pizza place she knew I loved in the East Village. “I know you’re sitting there, holding Lilly, at the terminal—” she stopped like she was rethinking her choice of words, and I shifted around in my seat, looking for the hidden cameras. “Tara, I know you’re still grieving, but I need you to be up when you get here. So take a walk. Go to the place in the middle of the airport that has all the rocking chairs and play the game you told me about.” Erin was as sharp as they come, but she’d obviously forgotten the game I’d told her about was Jim’s creation.
