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His lips tip up in that gorgeous shy smile I’ve always loved.
“I’d ride the plane all day if I could spend just a few minutes sparring with you,” he teases, reminding me of the words that swept me off my feet fifteen years ago.
Though back then, he was talking about a forty-minute commute from Providence to Boston. This time, he really will travel all day just to have more time with me.
“Jonathan Hanson, I love you,” I say, sweeping my tongue across his lips.
He moans as he kisses me back. God, I’ve missed him.
Pulling away, he holds me at arm’s length. “Fuck, wife. I’ll go away more often if that’s the welcome I get. Je t’aimerai jusqu’à mon dernier souffle.”
I will love you until my last breath.
I smile up at him. “I see you’ve been practicing. Show off.”
If losing Frank has taught me anything, it’s that I don’t want to live in the grief. I want to focus on the good. So when Jay suggested we spend Christmas in Paris with Cynthia and his brothers, it was a no-brainer. The Sienna Langfield show will start filming in the spring, but starting fresh in Paris as soon as possible feels like a necessity.
We put it off long enough. This trip has been years in the making.
My relationship with my brothers still hasn’t completely recovered. I wish they were as close with my husband as I am with Jay’s brothers, but it’s possible that will never happen.
We’re still trying to figure out how to tell Chase that he and Jay are brothers. But for now, we’ve decided to save that truth for another day. So many secrets have been exposed. So much loss. So much grief. And our hearts need time to heal.
I don’t want to live under the weight of it all anymore. We deserve to be happy. And I’ve finally recognized that some relationships will never be the same. People change. We make mistakes. And that’s okay.
Jay kisses my forehead once more and smiles down at me. “You ready, Kitten?”
Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and let go of Boston.
79
RIPTIDE BY VANCE JOY
Jay
Ican’t get close enough to either of my girls. After finally reuniting with Cat and building a solid relationship with Chloe, only to come so close to losing everything all over again, when I say that I’d fly back and forth all day just to make sure that I’m traveling with them, I mean it. It may sound morbid or insane, but if anything were to happen, I want to go down with them. The idea of living even a day without them is too painful to bear.
Too many near-death experiences will do that to a person.
So will loss.
We’ve had too much of that in our lives. I couldn’t be happier to say goodbye to Boston and set out on a new journey with my girls. Only a year and a half ago, Chloe lived half a world away from Cat and I had no idea she even existed. But now, she’ll have all her parents in one place.
It’s what’s best for her. And I firmly believe it’s what’s best for Cat.
My wife needs this change. A fresh start. It’s the adventure we should have had fourteen years ago.
“I can strap myself in, you know,” Cat says with a smirk, though she doesn’t fight me when I buckle her seat belt.
“I fucking missed you, Kitten,” I growl, bringing her hand to my lips. “I’ll never get enough of taking care of you, even if you are the strongest woman I know. So get used to it.”
She rolls her eyes, but a smile lights her face. Turning her attention to our daughter, she asks, “What do you think of the plane, Chlo?”
“It’s okay.” She shrugs. “I think the James plane has softer leather, though.”
“Excuse me?” I bark as my brothers and Cynthia groan.
Cynthia pokes our daughter, who has dissolved into a fit of giggles. “Don’t tease him. I don’t want to sit through an oration about why all things Hanson are better. I heard enough the first fifteen times.”
