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“Jane’s coming back,” Cass said.
“For a few days,” Harrison said, trying to gently remind her that Jane’s gypsy soul still hadn’t been healed or satisfied.
“Yes,” Cass murmured.“For a few days.”
“So I can kiss you when we get back to your place,” he teased, and that made Cass look over to him with one eyebrow cocked.“I can’t?”
“Fine,” she said as if kissing him would be a great burden.“You can kiss me when we get back to the house.”
A couple of days later,Harrison once again found himself at the airport to pick up Cass.As he eased his truck next to the curb, he found the tall, lithe, gorgeous woman smiling—at him.The first time he’d met her, he’d nearly dropped her luggage.This time, he jumped from the truck and laughed as he rounded the hood.
He swept her into his arms as if he hadn’t seen her a mere two days ago, and he lowered his head to kiss her right there on the curb.
“Aw, you guys really do like each other,” Jane said, and Harrison broke the kiss though it hadn’t truly had room to grow yet.
He grinned at her and said, “Let me get your luggage.”
“This is all I have,” Jane said, patting her shoulder strap.“Everything I own is on my back.”
Harrison blinked at her as she stepped around him.He’d gone on fifty-mile hikes as a Boy Scout with more stuff than Jane had in her significantly smaller backpack.
Cass, in contrast, had two suitcases, one large and one small.“You can get mine, cowboy.”She patted his chest.“And then kiss me properly.”
“At your house,” he murmured, because he wasn’t supposed to park on this curb for long, and the last thing he needed was an airport attendant yelling at him and interrupting hiswelcome backkiss again.
He wanted his next kiss with Cass to be awelcome homekiss anyway, and that definitely required some privacy.
“Come on, Beryl,” he said to the dog.“Load up, and let’s hit the road.”The golden retriever jumped into the back seat with Jane, and Harrison opened Cass’s door for her before going around to the driver’s seat.
The closer to Hilton Head they got, the more his stomach buzzed and the tighter his fingers became on the wheel.Cass reached over and took his hand in hers.“What’s got you so worried?”
“Nothing,” he said, though he could name a fair few things.Her flight had come in on time, and a quick glance at the clock showed him that dinner should be getting delivered in the next five minutes.
He hadn’t told her that he’d taken the whole day off of work, just so he could get into her house and make sure her welcome home party was perfect.
Bea had made a dog-diet-friendly cake just for Beryl, and Grant had promised to have all of the pastries from Gourmet Goods on display.His friend staged rentals for a living, so Harrison trusted him.He hadn’t wanted to get them this morning and have them sit all day, so Grant had agreed to go this afternoon.
Harrison had spent his time cleaning the house, airing it out, spraying that peachy spritzer Cass liked, and arranging the new dog toys he’d purchased for Beryl.He’d been at the house to receive the enormous bouquet when it had been delivered, and he’d set it just-so in the middle of her butcher block in the kitchen.
He’d also set up a record player and by some miracle, had found an old record of the Osmonds to play, as Cass had told him at their one dinner-dance-date in Charleston how much she loved watching her parents dance in their kitchen…to the Osmonds.
Harrison wanted to create that same sort of safety and security for Cass, between the two of them, and he’d told Grant he’d text him when they were five minutes away from the community.Then Bea and Grant could start the record and get the heck out of the house before Harrison, Cass, and Jane arrived.
He swallowed, because he wanted everything to be perfect.For her.For him.For the two of them together.
At the point of no return—a stoplight near the grocery store—Harrison picked up his phone while waiting at the red light.Grant had texted.
The house smells amazing, he said.Blinds open.Dinner and dessert are waiting on the table.Those flowers?AMAZING, Harry.ETA?
Five minutes, Harrison sent to his best friend, and then he put his phone down.He didn’t want Cass to think he was planning something, and he rarely looked at his phone in the car, especially while driving.
“Almost there,” Cass said, the words practically a sigh.
“Yep,” he said, maybe sounding a little too upbeat.He wasn’t sure.Cass looked out her window, the picture of beauty, grace, and…freedom.Harrison smiled at her, but she didn’t see him.
Only minutes later, he pulled into her driveway to Jane going, “Holy Texas longhorns, Mama.This isyourhouse?”
“This is it,” Cass’s voice carried happiness and joy.She looked at Harrison with the same emotions streaming through her.“Leave the bags.Let’s go listen to the ocean.”
He chuckled with her, but he couldn’t get ahead of her.She practically leapt from the truck while it was still moving, despite his protests.In that moment, he had a feeling this was going to be his life moving forward.
Always a couple of steps behind Cass, trying to keep up.And he didn’t mind at all.He let Cass and Jane go ahead of him, Beryl wagging his tail at their side.
He followed, and he knew the moment Cass had seen the gifts he’d put into play for her.She screamed and said, “Harrison, get in here!”
So he did just that.
