Page 78 of His for the Holiday

36

SUTTON

Calen had been here. I knew it, even if I hadn’t seen him. There was a gnawing feeling in my gut as I helped my mom clean up after dinner, both of us quiet as we wondered why my dad and Henry weren’t back yet.

Laughter and chatter echoed from the living room while Hawk entertained the kids, but Emery finally glanced at me after sliding a few more plates into the dishwasher. “Do you think they’re okay?”

“They’ll be fine,” I said, but I didn’t sound particularly confident. I sighed, rinsing the cutlery before passing it to her to add to the load in the dishwasher. “At least, I hope they will be. They have to be, right? It’s two against one.”

“Two older men, one who’s pretty frail, against a young, healthy, and strong Scotsman. I don’t know if I like those odds,” she mumbled, worry in her eyes as she took the cutlery from me. “Where on earth do you think they went?”

“No idea,” I said, then shot a pointed look at my mother. “Do you know where they might’ve gone?”

Her features were drawn with worry of her own, her face only slightly ashen as she wiped down the counters. “No, but they willbe fine. They’ve both been wanting to say a few things to Calen, and Hawk mentioned he was three sheets to the wind. I’m sure they just didn’t want him around the children.”

My stomach churned with fear, but there was also gratitude deep in my soul. Winnie had loved the day so far and it would’ve destroyed her if Calen had come in and made a mess of the whole holiday. Unfortunately, she was far too familiar with him being intoxicated and I knew how embarrassed she would’ve been if her new friends had seen him that way.

Mom, Emery, and I all fell silent again, working quietly. Finally, Dad and Henry walked back in. As soon as they did, Mom raced over, but Emery and I exchanged a glance and she arched an eyebrow at me. Both the older men were looking smug as hell, but as Mom approached them, she suddenly sucked in a sharp, loud gasp.

“David! What on earth have you done to your knuckles? Is that blood?”

I blanched, but when I focused on my father’s hands, I saw that he did, in fact, have bloodied knuckles. Emery’s eyebrows shot up and she raced over to her father. “Daddy, are you hurt? What happened?”

“Relax.” Dad chuckled, hugging Mom, but he shooed her away when she tried to get another look at his hands. “We’re both fine. Just had a little errand to run. Is there any food leftover?”

“I made you each a plate,” Mom said, not looking happy about it but obviously deciding to let them eat before she launched into her inquisition.

As she and Emery backed off to go warm up their food, Dad strode over to me, a soft smile on his lips as he leaned in to speak quietly and discreetly into my ear. “Calen is going back to Scotland. We took him back to the inn to get his shit and then dropped him on his ass at the airport. He won’t be bothering you or Winnie anymore.”

My heart stammered. “You did what?”

“You know, Hawk isn’t as bad as I thought.” Dad winked at me as he started backing away. “I need to get Henry another beer. I owe him one.”

Spinning around, he headed over to the fridge to grab some more drinks, then strode into the dining room with Henry, Mom, and Emery so the men could finally eat. Disbelief made my head feel hollow. I finished cleaning up by myself, happy for something to do while animated conversation started up in the dining room.

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but when the Brunsons got ready to leave, I snapped myself out of it. I wasn’t letting Hawk go home tonight before I knew what the hell he’d meant when he’d told my mom he was going back to California.

I’d known it was coming, of course, but after hearing everything about him taking over his father’s company, I’d hoped that would mean he was staying. Or at least splitting his time between the two states.

As I strode out of the kitchen to find him, I saw him heading toward me. He shot me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Can we talk outside for a minute?”

“Sure.” I inclined my head toward the kitchen. “Let’s go out back. Everyone else will be on the front porch soon.”

“Good idea.” He fell into step beside me, his hands sliding into his pockets as I shut the door behind us.

We stood a couple feet apart, but neither of us moved to close the distance. I wrapped my arms around myself, my heart hammering against my ribs as I tried bracing for the inevitable. “So, you’re really going back, huh?”

“I have to go handle all the details of buying my dad’s company and incorporating it into mine. I’ve done as much as I could from here, but at some point, I need to be in the room with my people to put the final pieces of the puzzle in place.”

“Of course. Yeah. I understand.” Cracks began running through my heart, preparing for it to split right open.

I knew what was coming next. He would say something like, Well, this has been fun, but this is it. He’d probably give me a hug and then leave, going back to his glitzy life in LA first thing in the morning without looking back.

My jaw locked as I tried to fight the emotions rising up within me. I felt the urge to yell at him that I didn’t understand why he’d pursued me in the first place, making me fall in love with him all over again if he was just going to walk away.

“Obviously, I want to keep seeing you,” he said, eyes burning into mine. “I’m not sure exactly how long I’ll be gone this time, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I blinked hard, confusion ricocheting around inside me. “Uh, I’m sorry. What?”