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“You don’t want company?”
“Thank you, but no. I think I need to be alone.” Her smile died before it stood a chance. “I should probably get used to it, right?”
He wanted to say something helpful, something profound and wise that would keep her from making the same mistakes he’d made, or at least let her know she wasn’t alone if she decided to make them anyway. But if someone had said something like that to him when he’d been in her shoes, he wouldn’t have listened to them. He only ever listened to his heart. So he pivoted to his never-fail strategy for making Becks feel better, hoping it would work on Davis too. “Can I bring you back some pastries from Glazed? Mira made huckleberry danishes this morning.”
“Oh, sure,” she said, placating him now. “That would be great.”
Gaining his feet, he walked to the window. “She’s gone. Kev must have gone back to his cabin.”
“She might not be on the mountain anymore,” Davis said behind him. “But I think we both know she’s not gone.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
MIRA
“Areyou sure you’ll be okay?” Mira asked, looking nervously between her mom and Ian. “I don’t have to go.”
“Oh, yes you do,” her mom said, playing solitaire at the dining room table. “A sexy, single man offers you a free trip to Seattle on a private jet, you go.”
Her mom calling Colesexywas not on her Sunday morning bingo card, but she couldn’t disagree. He was sexy. He was also sweet and kind, and he did things like tuck her in and plug in her twinkly lights. It had made her think about his wedding speech, how someone could be the light for someone else when their world went dark. She’d wondered if he could be that person for her.
“You’re only gone for the day,” Ian said from the couch, his thumbs clicking over his remote. “I think we can handle it.”
It wasn’t that Mira thought the bakery would burst into flames the second she buckled up in Cole’s passenger seat. It wasn’t that she hadn’t left her mom alone for an entire day before. And it definitely wasn’t that Ian couldn’t fend for himself. But she’d never left the state. Because she didn’t do things like say, “See ya!” and zip off in a private jet for the day. She was too busy dunking her feet in cement and chaining herself to every responsibility within a twenty-mile radius.
So why shouldn’t she go? What was she actually risking? She knew what she was risking by not going: a chance to meet Cole’s people, see his life, maybe have sex on a private jet. It was also a chance to see ifshecould actually visithimevery once in a while, if the ability to see him wouldn’t always depend on him leaving Seattle, if they could really make something out of this relationship she was more and more tempted every day to call it a relationship. Out loud. To other people. To him.
It wouldn’t be easy. It might not work out. But nobody in her life had ever once asked her to stop living because of them. That was something she was doing all by herself. Maybe she could take a chance. Maybe they could find a balance. Maybe she could be his light too.
A car horn honked twice, each one a shot of adrenaline skyrocketing up her spine.
“Your chariot awaits,” her mom said, waving Mira over for a hug, telling her when she leaned in, “And don’t worry about us for one minute. We will be just fine.”
Smiling down at her mom, then kissing Ian on his head, Mira decided to believe it.
* * *
“Wow,”Mira whispered, popping her head out of the jet to a crystal-clear view of Mount Rainier, its snowy peak rising above a thin layer of haze like a diamond hovering in the sky.
“Amazing, right?” Cole asked, joining her on the airplane stairs.
“It was too cloudy to see it the last time I was here.”
Sliding his sunglasses on, he said, “Not a cloud in the sky today.” He slipped an arm around her waist and smiled down at her. “Absolutely gorgeous.”
She leaned in for a kiss, but a second before their lips met, a red convertible with the top down came screaming around the corner.
“That would be Benji,” Cole said, then he kissed her anyway, so deeply that if he wasn’t holding on to her, she might have fallen down the stairs.
“Get in!” The stocky white man behind the wheel sported a pair of aviators, a trucker hat that said E=MC HAMMER,and a braided goatee. “Cole, we gotta go! Hi, Mira!”
“Hi, Benji!” she called back, following Cole down the stairs, sliding into the back seat of the car despite Cole doing everything he could to convince her to ride shotgun.
“How was the flight?” Benji asked her in the rearview. “Smooth, I hope?”
Watching a corner of Cole’s mouth tip up in his profile, Mira said, “It was perfect,” not mentioning the part of the flight she’d spent on her knees between Cole’s spread legs, her lips wrapped around him while his hands fisted in her hair. “Super smooth.”
As Cole turned to wink at her, his cheeks flushed, Mira couldn’t keep the guilty grin from her face. Her first time on a private jet had been invigorating, the text from Ian waiting for her after they’d landed—telling her they were all still alive—had loosened the tightness in her chest, and the sun shining above her now warmed her skin. Maybe she really could do this. Maybetheycould really do this.
