AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let me know when you land safely.”
“Of course.” I didn’t know how to say goodbye, so I stepped out of his embrace and put my hand up in a small wave. “Bye.” Without another word, I hurried out of the room and down the hall. I didn’t want to delay the inevitable any longer.
I was quiet on the ride to the airport, but nobody seemed to mind. They all gave me my space to feel sorry for myself, chatting amongst themselves about the best parts of the week. We got through security quickly and soon we were sitting at the gate, waiting for our flight to start boarding. We’d made it through security quickly and had plenty of time to wait. I connected to the airport wifi and turned on my favorite playlist, blasting it through my earbuds while I checked my email obsessively and tried not to dwell on everything that had happened.
Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice anyone sit next to me until I felt a tap on my arm. I paused my music and glanced up to find Oliver sitting next to me, a huge smile on his face.
“Hey there,” he murmured.
I furrowed my brow, confused. “What—”
He took my free hand in his, the touch warm and comforting. My stomach lurched. “Do you have a minute to talk?”
I looked around, my breathing tight, and scrubbed a hand over my face. “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to tell you something.”
Over the loudspeaker, our boarding group was called. “I can’t—I mean, I have to get on a plane to Virginia, like, right now.”
He grinned and held up a piece of paper that looked like a boarding pass. “Me too.”
Sure I was on some kind of hidden camera show, I looked around. The guys were already in line to board, but they were all looking in our direction, watching us.
Parker was rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “Come on you two.” His tone was warm and fond.
Still confused, I took a few deep breaths to center myself. “What are you doing here?” I repeated.
Oliver stood and offered me his hand. His wedding band glinted in the harsh overhead lighting. I took his hand and stood up in a daze, noticing the large duffel he had over his shoulder.
“Going somewhere?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He nodded toward the slow-moving line to board the plane. “I’m going to Virginia to see about a restaurant.”
“Is that all?”
He shook his head. “There’s this guy…” Oliver pulled me behind him and we got in line to board. “I’ll explain everything once we’re on the plane. We’ll have plenty of time to talk.”
Once on board, Oliver sweet-talked a grandmother type into swapping seats with me, so she had my seat closer to the cockpit and we sat together in the last row of the plane. I was sure Levi wouldn’t mind having a new seat mate and we had as much privacy as was possible on an airplane by sitting in the last row—far away from my friends.
I turned to Oliver when we were in the air. “So really, what are you doing here?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I couldn’t let my husband travel alone.”
Chapter Seventeen
Oliver
“Icouldn’tletmyhusband travel alone,” I said quietly. “The idea of letting you go back to Virginia without me was too much to stomach. I needed to see you again. To see if we can make things work out for real.”
“Really?” Cam shook his head slowly like he couldn’t believe what I was saying, his eyebrows rising as he spoke. “Really?”
“Really.”
“What about Hidden Cove? And Tenderloin?”
I reached out and stroked his cheek with the backs of my fingers. “Hidden Cove will be fine. My staff has it handled. And Grant is looking after Tenderloin for as long as I need him to.”
Cam took my hands in his, a smile on his face. “I can’t believe you’re really sitting here with me. How long are you staying?”
