“I apologize for the dela…,” he began speaking, but his words froze in his throat. She looked up, and their eyes met. The half-empty cup of coffee in his hand slipped from his grasp, splashing its contents everywhere as it dropped to the floor. His uniform and the woman’s book were left with a nasty stain, but he didn’t even notice. All he could do was stare at her in utter disbelief.
Jack’s mind spun, struggling to grasp how his wife could be on this flight, alive and right before his eyes. He remembered vividly the heart-wrenching pain of her funeral, the sight of her coffin being lowered into the ground. Every day since had been a battle with grief, his life turning into a shadow of its former self. Sleepless nights, loss of appetite, and a pervasive sense of emptiness had become his new normal.