O'Hare International Airport is the setting for Brett Bohlinger's return from a trip and her reunion with Herbert Moyer. Its baggage claim offers a brief contrast: Herbert greets her with affection, but Brett's attention is already drawn toward her apartment in Pilsen and a call to Zoë Manson.

Arrival and Return

Five hours after the preceding conversation, Brett's plane lands at O'Hare. She checks her watch: it is 10:35, twelve minutes ahead of schedule. After turning on her phone, she finds a text from Herbert Moyer saying he will meet her at baggage claim. The exchange places the airport at the threshold of her return to Chicago, before she has reached home.

The Baggage-Claim Reunion

Brett finds Herbert Moyer seated in a metal-and-Naugahyde sling chair, apparently reading a textbook. When he sees her, his face comes alive; he jumps up, and she steps into his arms. He welcomes her home and says he has missed her. Brett calls him beautiful and returns the sentiment, and they stand holding hands as the conveyor belt delivers suitcases.

A Welcome That Does Not Settle Her

Herbert's kindness has practical weight: Brett had expected to avoid hailing a cab and carrying her bags alone, and she is glad to see him. Yet she cannot summon enthusiasm. She attributes this to tiredness and thinks instead of reaching her small apartment in Pilsen, climbing into bed, and calling Zoë Manson. The airport reunion therefore holds affection and emotional distance together: Herbert is there to welcome her, while Brett's strongest immediate wish is to be home and speak with her sister.

The final detail keeps the scene in the public space of arrivals. A baby in her mother's arms, wearing a pink headband with a bright green daisy, watches Herbert with wide blue eyes; he leans toward her and smiles. O'Hare frames the reunion not as a private resolution but as a moment among arriving passengers, suitcases, and strangers, with Brett's next destination still beyond the baggage claim.