Page 86 of His for the Holiday

EPILOGUE

SUTTON

A Few Weeks Later

Ipaced my apartment, marching up and down and constantly checking my watch between anxious glances at the window. Snow was falling heavily outside and I was starting to worry that I wasn’t going to make it to the airport, but not making it wasn’t an option.

It was almost Christmas and it had been nearly a month since I’d last seen Hawk in person. I couldn’t wait another minute to see him again, let alone another day—or worse, two or three if the weather kept this up.

Fuck it, I’m leaving now.

Nodding to myself, I grabbed my coat and my handbag, deciding that I’d rather wait at the airport for his flight to get in than to hang around here any longer. Hurrying over to my parents’ house, I heard them laughing with Winnie over dinner and I sighed, wondering if I should’ve joined them after all.

They’d invited me, but I hadn’t thought I was going to be able to eat anything. Mom’s roast and potatoes smelled delicious, though. Yet somehow, I still wasn’t hungry. I felt like my entire being was filled with red ants and that the only thing that could soothe me right now was seeing him again.

“Hey, honey,” Mom said when I walked into the dining room. “Are you sure I can’t make you a plate? There’s plenty.”

“Thanks, but maybe later,” I said. “It smells divine, but I’d like to be able to enjoy it, and right now, I think food is going to taste like cardboard and sit like rocks in my stomach.”

She chuckled. “Would you like me to look up the flight for you?”

I dropped my chin in a nod and pulled my phone out of my pocket, too nervous about delays to be able to bring myself to check. As I handed over the device, Mom simply had to have me unlock the screen and refresh the page that had been open all day before she smiled.

“There are no delays on Hawk’s flight. It’s still scheduled to be on time.”

“Right. I think I’m going to head over to the airport early.” I strode over to Winnie’s chair and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Don’t try to wait up. The weather is terrible and I have no idea how long this is going to take.”

“She won’t give us any trouble,” Mom said, smiling as she practically shooed me out the door. “Go get him, baby. We’ll be right here and we’ll make sure she gets to bed on time.”

“It’s the holidays,” Winnie complained with a laugh. “Why do I have to go to bed early?”

“You won’t be going to bed early,” my dad chimed in. “You and I have a date with a Christmas movie, remember? They just mean that you can’t stay up until midnight. You’d be wrecked tomorrow and I’m sure Hawk will want to show you the houses he’s trying to decide between.”

Winnie thought it over for a beat, then shrugged and turned to smile at me. “Tell him I said welcome home.”

“I will, baby. Sleep tight.”

My heart had been racing all day at the prospect of finally seeing him again and it was no better as I climbed into my car and started the slow journey to the airport. It wasn’t snowing so hard that it was impossible to drive, but there was enough of the stuff coming down that it called for a near crawl while all I wanted to do was put my foot down on the gas.

All the way to the airport, the only thing I could think of was Hawk. It felt like my blood was pumping at twice its normal rate and I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, the anticipation so real that it was making it hard to even breathe.

I’d missed him so, so much and I’d been counting the days until he got back ever since he’d left. These last few weeks seemed to have dragged on forever, and I had half a mind to simply drive to the arrivals’ terminal, park right in front of the doors, and race inside so I wouldn’t miss him as soon as he came out.

Since it was an airport, however, I knew I couldn’t do that. The place was a mess when I arrived anyway, making it almost impossible to find even a normal parking spot, let alone a space anywhere near the darn doors.

Thankfully, I was early enough that even the never-ending search for parking didn’t make me late for his flight, and when I finally made it into the building, my heart skipped at all the red suddenly on the board. So many flights had been canceled and I felt sick until I saw his flight number, the board proclaiming that the flight from Los Angeles was landing.

I wanted to cry with joy. He’s here! He’s finally here.

Walking as fast as I could without breaking into a full run, I waited outside of security, watching families reunite for the Christmas holidays while I waited for the other half of myself to return. I knew this wouldn’t be the last time we’d be apart, but I really hoped he didn’t need to leave again anytime soon.

Hawk had been gone since Thanksgiving and it’d turned out that Winnie and I hadn’t been able to go see him in LA. The only weekend she had nothing going on at school, Hawk had had a bunch of stakeholder meetings that he hadn’t been able to get out of unless he scheduled them for the week after Christmas, which would’ve meant he’d be gone for longer.

As it was, we’d both been afraid he might have to leave again immediately after Christmas. Between putting everything in place to purchase his dad’s company as well as moving some of Gold Star’s operations to Portsmouth, he’d been so darn busy that even just last week, I hadn’t thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell he would get it done in time for Christmas, but somehow, he’d pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

We’d talked every day and we’d texted back and forth all the time, but I still missed the heck out of him. Winnie did too, even though he’d spoken to her at least as much as he’d spoken to me. I’d even bought her a cheap little phone with only his number and mine on it to keep in touch, and she’d sent him hundreds of photographs in the time he’d been gone, taking pictures of just about everything she did and sending them to him.

I’d sent him pictures too, but mine hadn’t been nearly as innocent. Neither had the ones he’d sent back to me, and it’d been fun for a week or so. Exciting and kind of naughty, but the novelty had worn off fast.