She takes me to the airport and I’m flooded with the memory of the last time we were here. I was just about to check in, nervous as hell that she wouldn’t show up, that I’d have an empty seat beside me on the plane back home.
And then I felt her behind me, like the sun rising on your back, and I turned around to see her gorgeous face, full of hope and nerves and wonder, pulling a ridiculously bright suitcase.
I fell in love with her at that moment.
And every moment afterward.
Now, now everything has changed, even my feelings for her.
Because that was just a taste of love. What I feel now is the whole spectrum.
“Lachlan,” Kayla says to me while we stand by the security checkpoint. She reaches for my hand, grabbing it tight, her eyes on the floor. “I can’t thank you enough, you know. For everything.”
“No need to thank me,” I tell her, squeezing her hand back. “I’ll always be there for you. I hope you know that now.”
She nods. Sniffs. “I know.” When she looks up at me, her eyes are gleaming with tears. “I want to be ready. I want to be with you again. I just don’t know how.”
I give her a half-smile. “Oh, love. You know where I will be. If you ever need me, want me, you know where I will be.”
“Would you even take me then?”
I shake my head, fighting back tears. “How can you even ask that?”
I pull her into my arms, holding her with as much strength as I can. “How can you even question it?” I whisper harshly. “I love you. My heart is yours.” I pull back, knowing the tears are running down my cheeks. I grab her face in my hands, rubbing my thumbs along her skin as she stares at me with the love I know is buried deep behind her grief.
I kiss her, soft, yielding, never-ending, a kiss that says so much. More beautiful than any kiss before. I whisper against her lips, “Please come back to me. When you can, when you’re ready, if you’re ready. Please come back.”
Then I step back, unable to stand there for one minute more. She’s seen my ruin once. She doesn’t have to see it again. I grab my carry-on, turn, and go.
I wonder if she’ll stay until I’m gone.
Or if she’s already left.
I’m too afraid to look, as if that will give me any indication of our future together.
I show my boarding pass to one of the guards, then quickly look over my shoulder before I disappear behind the wall.
She’s still standing there.
Palm up.
I raise my palm in response.
And smile.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Lachlan
Three months later
My phone rings as I’m walking down Queen Street, barely audible over the barrage of Christmas carols that practically scream from the stores. I fumble for it out of my leather jacket, trying to juggle that, carrying a bag of groceries, and handle Lionel, Emily and Jo as they pull eagerly at the leashes. Even with their muzzles, Lionel and Jo seem to charm the pants off of everyone they pass. Emily is still a snarling little mess, but you win some, you lose some.
“Hello?” I answer it, not really able to check who was calling. It’s hopefully one of two things: one of Britain’s biggest footy players wanting to donate to the organization, or it’s Kayla.
“Hey,” Kayla says, the sound of her voice sounding spring sweet over the air. “Catch you at a bad time?”
“Not at all, just being a superhero, that’s all,” I tell her. “How are you doing? We haven’t talked since…the dawn of man, I’m guessing.”
“It was four days ago,” she says dryly. “And you know on my salary I’m not exactly rolling in the long distance money.”
“I can always call you back,” I tell her as I’ve told her a million times. But she’s stubborn. No surprise there.
“I know, but I like the air of spontaneity,” she says. “So how are things?”