Page 116 of Feel It in the Air

EPILOGUE

MARGEAUX

Nine MonthsLater

My phone buzzesin my hand, and I don’t even have to look at it, annoyance coursing through me with the vibrations of the small device. I turn to glare at Gus, my lips pursed, the thunder clapping in the background highlighting my irritation.

We should have driven to New Orleans…

“Don’t even say it,” Gus mutters.

I bite my lip, trying to hold it in. But it’s not easy. The din of groans and curses around us from our fellow passengers confirms what I already know. Our flight is delayed. Again. Because of a thunderstorm.

I am not sure how this became my lot in life, but I’d like to know who I can speak to about exchanging it for something else.

Gus reaches over, placing his hand on my thigh and gently sliding it to the inside before giving it a squeeze. The gesture is both comforting and exciting at the same time, sending a zing through me, and I’m grateful he’s here with me. Because if I’m going to be stuck in an airport waiting out a storm, there is no one I’d rather be with than him.

For that matter, there’s no one on this earth I’d rather do anything with.

Still, for the three hours it took to drive to Atlanta, to be here two hours early, to now be three hours delayed, we could have already been in New Orleans.

“We should have driven,” I comment, unable to help myself.

“Why? So we could then fly to Seattle for the conference, to have to fly back to New Orleans to drive back to Hickory Hills?”

“Your logic has no place here,” I quip.

Although, right now, his point doesn’t feel very logical. New Orleans to Hickory Hills is only four hours more in the car than Atlanta to Hickory Hills. Four hours I would gladly spend in a car if it meant not being in this airport.

“Now who’s the grumpy one?” Gus laughs.

“Still you.”

Turning to face me, he levels me with the trademark Hayes smirk, and my insides do somersaults. I don’t know that I will ever get used to that look. Doesn’t matter the occasion, it floors me every time.

“Any reason you’re all worked up?”

I shake my head. “No, I just want to get there. See everyone.”

Gus narrows his eyes at me, studying me, and I can tell he’s trying to tell if I’m lying. Which, I’m not. At least not completely.

I do want to get there. See everyone. I just also want to make sure we’re there in plenty of time for Papa Duck’s birthday party. It’s not every day a man turns eighty after all.

Squeezing my thigh again, Gus leans in and kisses me, stealing my worry.

“I promise, if we reach a point where we’re pushing it, we’ll walk out of here, get in the car, and head straight there. I won’t let us miss Papa Duck’s birthday.”

I sigh, my heart ready to burst that he knew exactly what I was thinking without my having to say it. No one can read me like Gus, and this last year with him in my life has been incomparable. Sure, we got off to a very unconventional start, but looking back, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s what makes us…us.

And now that we’ve had a chance to settle into life as Gus and Margeaux, power couple, things have been even better. I never thought I’d like having my significant other working at the same place. Turns out, mixing work and pleasure is a lot more fun than either of us realized. Especially since we both love what we do so much.

“Let’s head to the bar,” Gus says, nodding in the direction of the concourse. “We have some time to kill. Let’s get something to eat and have a drink. You’ll feel better.”

“Will I?”

“Okay, I will. I’m hungry.”