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“Maddie, I love you.”
Everything in me went still, hearing those words.
“I didn’t mean to just blurt it out,” he continued softly, his gaze holding mine.“But it’s been there at least a few days.Maybe longer.”
I should have given him those words in return.But I was scared, scared that once I went back to London, he’d forget about me, and so I just cupped his dear face in his hands and kissed him, and tried to give him the words that way.
And he made love to me, slowly and tenderly, until the sun came up.
ChapterThirty-One
He took me to the airport the next day.We spent the longest time just sitting in the truck, holding hands, kissing, watching people walk past towards the two-level terminal.
“I don’t want to go,” I said in a very small voice, cuddling into him, fitting my cheek into the slight hollow of his chest.
He smiled against my hair.“If you miss me enough, you’ll come back.It’s a strategy.”
I hiccupped a laugh through eyes brimming with tears.“I’ll miss you.You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Never had a long-distance relationship before,” he said at length, playing with the ends of my hair idly.
“Oh?I thought a lot of soldiers did.”
Hehmmmed.“Yeah.A lot of guys in my unit had sweethearts, and families.Twice I started seein’ someone while on leave, but both times they never wrote once I went back out.”
“I can’t say I’m sorry.Their loss is my gain.”I leaned up and pressed a kiss to his jaw.“You’re special, Rick.I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I don’t want to lose you.”
He squeezed me tightly.“Maddie, I’ve waited half my life to find you.I’m not lettin’ you go now.Not for anythin’.”
After he finally walked me into the terminal, I held him as tightly as I could, as if I could press the memory of his body into mine.We snapped a photo so I could have one more picture of Rick.
He waited while I checked my enormous suitcase.Then, I took the escalator up towards security, and at the top I leaned over the railing and waved at him, blowing him a kiss.
Rick caught it, tucked it into the front pocket of his shirt.And then I watched as he walked back through the automatic terminal doors.He turned as they opened, gave me one last searing look, and then he was gone.
The flights back were uneventful.
The next day, Mum and Dad collected me from Heathrow, took me back to my childhood home, a beloved, drafty terrace in Holborn, and made me tea as I told them everything.
That night I settled down in my childhood bed, called Rick to tell him I’d arrived safely.His handsome face filled the screen, and behind him was bright sunshine.I missed him and Redwing Falls so much that I had to resist buying a ticket back.
Instead, I threw myself into work.
I had over twenty orders for cakes and bakes.
I didn’t get in touch with the co-op shops and markets I’d written to months ago, because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do long-term.Was I staying?Or would I try to make a go of things across the pond with Rick?
I couldn’t ask him to move here.His dad was still recovering from the stroke, and Jenny and Toby needed him.
Emma and I had a couple of movie and ice cream nights.Meanwhile, I continued to make my social media baking tutorials, teaming up with a few other local bakers, including one who’d become a friend, Lacy, an Anglo-Korean baker who made cake pops decorated to look like K-Pop band members.
However, after being inCake Away,my heart wasn’t in vlogging anymore.I didn’t get the same kind of rush as selling my bakes to actual people.
Jenny and I texted regularly, and she sent lots of pictures of Toby.
I posted a care package of British chocolate to their house, to Aunt Laurie, and to Jess and Connor.
Rick and I texted every day and video-called twice a week.Usually, one of those sessions involved us getting naked for each other on screen.During those moments, I drank the broad lines of him in, caressing the screen with my fingers, wishing I could touch his warm skin.
