Page 85 of His for the Holiday

“I’ll miss you,” I replied honestly, my gaze flicking up to take in our family home one last time before I left, heading over to see Sutton.

My flight was leaving in three hours, which meant I was running out of time, but I hadn’t said goodbye to Winnie, David, or Mindy yet and I definitely needed at least one more kiss from Sutton. As I parked the rental in front of their house, Winnie ran out of the apartment dressed for playing in the snow.

She smiled when she saw me, racing down the stairs and not stopping until she was only a couple feet away. “It wasn’t nice of you to give my mom cooties.”

“Cooties can be a good thing sometimes,” I said, crouching down in front of her so I was at her eye level. “I’m sorry I have to leave, Win.”

She sighed, suddenly looking everywhere but at me. “Mam says you’re coming back soon.”

“I am.”

“When?” She suddenly brought her gaze to mine again, and I hated the fear I saw shimmering in it. “Why are grownups always leaving?”

Fuck.

“Well, in my case, I have to go back to California for work, but I also have to go pack my things so I can bring them back here.”

“How long is it going to take you?”

“I’ll be home for Christmas,” I promised, which meant that I was now officially on the clock. “Speaking of which, you’re going to have to give me a list of what you want.”

Winnie rattled off a whole laundry list of things I assumed were toys but that I’d never heard of. I made a mental note of the names, but I couldn’t help but notice that she still seemed slightly more reserved than usual.

“Hey,” I said, opening my arms and pulling her in for a hug. “I will be back, Win. As soon as I can be, but definitely by Christmas.”

“You’ll call me?”

“Every day if you want me to,” I said, knowing that I was going to have to keep every last one of these promises I was making her. “You can call me anytime too.”

“Can we do video calls?” she asked, pulling away from me with a thoughtful expression on her face. “There’s a girl in my class and her daddy works far away sometimes. They do video chats.”

My heart stammered before it grew about ten more sizes. “If you want video calls, we’ll do video calls.”

A slow smile finally started appearing on her lips. “Can I text you?”

“Yes.”

“Funny pictures and stuff?”

“Absolutely.” I grinned before I straightened up again. “Whenever you’d like to talk or get in touch with me, just do it, okay? Sometimes, I might not be able to talk to you right away, if I’m in a meeting or something that I can’t get out of, but I’ll always call you back.”

She nodded, wrapping her fingers around mine and starting to pull me toward the house. “Grandpa and Grammy want to say goodbye.”

“Of course.” I followed her in, noticing a soft smile on David’s face when he saw me walking in with her.

Good. I knew I’d get under his skin eventually.

Happy that he finally seemed to realize that I was serious about them and that he had accepted it, I shook his hand. Then I was enveloped by one of Mindy’s bear hugs before I left them to go find Sutton. She was in the apartment alone, standing near the door waiting for me.

I walked over to her and wrapped her up in my arms, wishing I never had to let her go. “I love you, Sutt. I’ll be back, okay? Maybe I can even fly you guys over to Cali one of these weekends and we can see if we can get Winnie her first leading role in a movie.”

Sutton laughed wetly, in tears as she hugged me back, nuzzling my neck and holding me tight. “I love you, too. We’d love to come visit, but we’d have to see about Winnie’s class schedule.”

“Of course, but think about it. Either way, I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I doubt that,” she murmured. “I already know it, but I also know you’re going to be on the first flight back just as soon as you can be.”

With that, she pulled herself out of my arms and gave my shoulders one last squeeze. “You should go before I lock you in my bedroom.”

“I have no problem being locked in your bedroom.” I touched the tip of my nose to hers, grabbing her hand when she tried to turn away from me. “Hey, Sutt?”

“Yep?”

“Thanks for giving me a second chance.” I tugged at her hand until she willingly came back to me, rivers of tears streaming down her cheeks as her eyes met mine. “I’m going to keep working hard to make sure I deserve it, okay?”

She nodded, giving me another hug before she dragged in a shaky breath and pointed at her door. “Go. Now. I’m serious about locking you in my bedroom and I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to resist.”

Finally letting go of her, I walked backward to her front door, my eyes on hers until the very last moment. The ache in my chest was suddenly awful, but I forced myself to walk away even if everything in me was begging to stay.

I had to go if I wanted to come back—and I had to go now, before I let her lock me up and stopped giving a shit even if the world burned to the ground around us.