Page 46 of Lost
Two hours in and he needed to stretch his legs.
He walked back and forth, up and down the middle of the plane. He couldn’t resist giving his hands a quick shake every few minutes, one of his nervous habits. He did it before shows to release the tension in his fingers, to force his hands to relax. There was no need for it here, but it made him feel like he was at least doing something productive.
Three hours along and they were almost there.
The closer they got, the more Zack’s nerves began to fade and give way to anticipation. He could see the same feeling in Lysander, in the way that he couldn’t still his hands. Even Georgia was more alert, her back straighter and her hands unable to keep from playing with her hair every few minutes. Zack grasped her hands. She smiled by way of thanks, pecking him lightly on the lips.
“Still nervous?” she asked him softly.
“A little,” he admitted, “but more excited now.” He rubbed circles into the back of her hand before asking, “You’re okay with this?”
“Of course. I’ve always been okay with this. I just didn’t expect you to want me to tag along.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Zack raised an eyebrow. “You’re my wife, Georgie. I want you to be a part of this. I want us all to be a family.”
He knew what she wanted to say — that she would never truly be their mother; that they would never accept her as such. But she knew what he meant and she nodded all the same. She wanted them to be a family, too. He knew this. And he knew that she was going to try her hardest.
“Well,” Georgia said with a small smile. “I hope she likes the real me, too.”
Three and a half hours after first taking off, they were touching down at Dane County Regional. From there they had another hour of driving to go, but there was nothing to be done for that. Dane County had been the closest airport to where they needed to go. They were just going to have to be patient.
Maria needed an entire world of thanks, Zack decided. She had organised all of this for him faster than he ever would have believed possible — the plane that had taken them completely unscheduled, and the driver that was waiting for them the moment they arrived in Wisconsin. He was going to give her a bonus. A big one. A holiday wouldn’t have gone astray, either.
It was a new experience for Zack to arrive at an airport and not have an onslaught of fans waiting for him, but he was glad for it. It meant that word of his sudden travels hadn’t got out. Maybe they would even be allowed a little bit of privacy. It was more than he had dared to hope.
There was nothing much to do on their drive except admire the scenery. Columbus was quieter than Mapleton Beach. It was a place Zack would have liked to take his time with, to explore every avenue and look under every stone. If there was anything he’d learned from his travels, it was that towns like these often contained some of the most interesting places. It didn’t hurt that he was less likely to be recognised while out in public, either.
“So I’m guessing you guys came to the Madison shows?” Zack asked Lysander, turning to the boy as their driver drove on.
“Madison. Green Bay. Illinois.” Lysander shrugged. “We went to any of the shows that we could reach. Mom didn’t like it, but she never tried to stop us.”
It wasn’t an unusual story for Zack to hear. Fans told him all the time that they followed the band to a number of their shows, but coming from Lysander it made him sad. How many times had his children been so close to him? How many times had he failed to notice them after a show?
“I’m sorry,” he said in earnest. “All those times that you were both right there, and I never knew. I feel like an idiot.”
“Don’t,” Lysander said. “It wasn’t your fault. And it doesn’t matter anymore.”
It mattered to him. He would make it up to them somehow, and make up for all the time they had lost together. Maybe he and Georgia could bounce some ideas off each other. He was eager to get both her opinion and her help with the matter. But he would ask her later. They had more pressing matters at hand now.
It seemed to take an age to reach the hospital.
Zack looked out at it. Somewhere in that building, his daughter was waiting for her brother to come back to her. Somewhere in the building, she was ready to meet her father and his wife.
Zack’s nerves came back at full force.
He wished he’d had the common sense to look in the mirror before they’d rushed out of the house. How did he look? Was he dressed appropriately for this? How was his hair? He tried to shake these thoughts from his head, knowing that now was not the time for them. He was about to meet his daughter, and she’d probably been through hell — she wasn’t going to care how anybody looked.
He, Georgia and Lysander made their way inside in silence. Zack immediately fixed his attention on the receptionist working behind a cobalt counter.
“Hi,” she greeted him brightly, flashing him the thousand watt smile that she was required to give all visitors. “How can I help you today, sir?”
“We’re here for Dakota Maverick. Could you tell us where we might find her?”
Immediately the woman was typing away on her computer, searching up the information.
“Are you family?” she asked suddenly.
“Yes. I’m her father.”
