By the time we landed back in Boston, the rumors had already started.
I heard the first version of it from one of the equipment staff, a offhand comment about "you and the captain" that he clearly assumed I already knew everyone was saying. I smiled through it, said something noncommittal, and spent the rest of the walk to my office replaying the airport, wondering exactly which moment had been witnessed and by whom.
By the second day, the story had grown legs of its own. Someone claimed they'd seen us holding hands at the gate. Someone else insisted they'd overheard an actual conversation about "us" from Sawyer himself, which wasn't true, but truth rarely slowed a locker room rumor once it started moving.
"You're being weirdly calm about this
