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I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, Cal? I’m tired.”
“I promise not to keep you out past midnight,” he said, swallowing the last of his beer and standing. “You want another?”
I raised my still-full glass. “No thanks. Go get drink number two.”
Cal strolled off, leaving me alone. I fidgeted in my seat, still not entirely sure why Cal had been so insistent on staying out late. Usually, we’d grab a quick beer at Bob’s and then hang out at his garage until ten. While we stopped by the bar occasionally, we always had a good reason: drinks with friends, people coming back to town, tourist season. We didn’t go on random Tuesday nights.
A hand placed a second fruity drink next to mine, a cherry on top.
“I said I didn’t—” I looked up and didn’t find Cal, but Andy.
My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I convinced myself I hadn’t conjured him out of thin air.
“Surprise,” he said, his voice barely carrying over the sound of the music playing on the jukebox behind the booth.
I launched out of my seat, nearly upturning the table in my wake as I threw my arms around him. He caught me, wrapping his hands around my waist.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, pulling away just far enough to confirm that he was really here.
“An appointment got cancelled, so I moved a few things around—”
I cut him off with a kiss, my lips capturing his with no thought of who else could see us or what they would think. He tightened his grip, pulling me flush against him.
“Come on, Nor,” Cal’s voice broke our reunion. I reluctantly pulled away. “I get it. You married the guy. No need to make out in front of me.” He gave me a lopsided smile, finishing the beer in his hand. “Alright, my work is done. You two have a good night.”
“Cal knew you were coming?” I asked.
Andy nodded. “My flight kept getting delayed, and I wanted to surprise you. I thought if I walked into the house after dark, there would be a very real chance you and Trashcan might attack before I could explain myself.”
“So you called Cal?”
He shrugged. “I told you we smoothed things over.”
“You weren’t lying,” I sighed, elated that Andy had unexpectedly come back home. I took him in: soft blue eyes, slightly mussed blonde hair, cheeks red from the chill outdoors. The feelings rumbling underneath the reunion strayed so far outside the bounds of like and into the realm of love that I could barely breathe. “Do you want a drink? You must be exhausted.”
I pulled him down into the booth, only then noticing the two drinks on the table, two vastly different colors. The syrupy red of Andy’s drink made me grimace. “Actually, did Cornbread make that?”
Andy nodded.
“Never mind. Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER24
Andy
“I can’t believeyou’re home,” Nora repeated. She balanced her head on the seat belt and turned to me with a smile that made the missed connections and canceled flights worth the trip. “You should have warned me.”
“But then I wouldn’t surprise you.”
Of course, I anticipated surprising her much earlier in the day. I had an entire plan: burgers and fries from the diner for lunch, an extra patty for Trashcan tucked inside, ice cream, and flowers. I pivoted to dinner after a snowstorm in Detroit canceled my first flight. Then, I ditched the diner altogether when I caught a flight to Baltimore and the connection to Manchester got delayed. By the time I landed, the airport shops had long ago closed and even flowers were off the table.
“And Cal happily joined this plan?” she asked.
“He’s a pushover.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I saw you handing off that bottle in the parking lot before we left. Let me guess: whiskey, something old and expensive.”
“Damn. I told him I would drop it off tomorrow. He couldn’t wait. I think he would have done it without a bribe, though.”
