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“If you’ll excuse us?” Joshua smiled as he stood and took my hand. Without another word, he led me out the back door toward the wooden railing overlooking Lake Michigan.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as he watched a boat off in the distance.
“That’s my question to you, little one. The minute I offered to take you to the airport you tensed and started shaking. I want to know why?”
“You didn’t offer. You told me you were going to take me.”
“Oh, so we’re back to that again? Come on, Mellie, I thought we’d made some headway.”
The man was nothing if not direct. I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes, aligning my thoughts. Turning to face him, I ran my fingertips along the crease of his brow.
“I’m not good at saying goodbye, Joshua.”
“But we’re not saying goodbye, Mellie. We’re simply saying, see you soon.”
Maybe. Maybe not.
“I need to warn you, my job goes in spurts. There are times when I’m flying from one side of the world to the next, not even sure what airport or city I’m landing in. It’s hectic, and stressful. Usually, one phone call from a client leads to another. I don’t know for sure that I’ll be able to come back in three weeks.”
“So, based on past experience, you’re anticipating a slew of clients will call and book you up for what? Weeks? Months?”
“It’s a possibility.” I nodded.
“I see. Were you going to tell me all this? Were you going to wait and tell me in three weeks, or whenever you got your laundry done?”
That icy edge was back, and so was the impenetrable wall. There was no way in hell I was going to end this—whatever this was between us—in a nasty fight.
Pausing, I mentally smoothed my hackles down and put my temper in time-out.
“I’d planned to tell you once we were alone, Sir.” My calm demeanor and stress of the honorific took the starch out of him. “I’m sorry you thought I was trying to keep details from you, Master Stephen.”
A self-loathing smirk curled the side of his mouth, and he nodded. The man had a touchy Dom switch. I seemed to flip that sucker nearly every time I opened my mouth.
“So you’d rather Dylan, Nick, and Savannah take you to the airport in the morning?”
“No, Sir. I’d rather take a cab.”
He cocked his head and stared at me. “That seems like a rather cold and impersonal way to leave your family.”
“Yes, I suppose it is.” I nodded.
Out of nowhere, tears filled my eyes and streamed down my cheeks. I knew I had to explain my visceral reaction, but I wasn’t altogether sure I could speak. I tossed my head back in an attempt to stem the flow, and sniffed.
“If something should happen to me, and I never come back home, I don’t want my sister’s last memory of me to be waving goodbye in a throng of strange faces. I want her to remember my smile, my hug, the kiss I left on her cheek, and me saying, ‘I’ll see you soon’ before I climb into a cab and drive away.”
Chapter Nine
Joshua wrapped his arms around me and held me lovingly. “Who did you lose that you never got a chance to say goodbye to, pet?”
“Our parents,” I choked on a sad sob.
“Then, I’m staying here with you tonight. And in the morning, I’ll stand on the porch, hold you in my arms, savor your kiss, and drink in your beautiful smile, and before you pull away in the cab, I’ll tell you, see you soon, but make no mistake, I’ll be here when you come back.” He kissed my forehead, sealing his vow.
His acceptance of my fears was all but crushing. He took my hand and led me toward the lake. We walked for what seemed like miles as I told him about the death of my parents, about raising Savannah, and finally confessed the toll Davis Walker had claimed on my self-confidence.
We touched briefly on the tragic accident that claimed his wife and daughter, but he wasn’t ready to share the hell he’d lived through after his loss. I suspected he was still living it to a degree, but then, weren’t we both? You move on and live your life, but the emptiness left behind never goes away.
When we arrived back at the house, Sanna wore a sly, little smirk on her lips.
