Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
I didn’t mention that I seemed to be what he was most absorbed with from the way he couldn’t stop touching me. Not that I was complaining.
The international airport in Burlington, Vermont, looked like many other airports I’d traveled through in my life. What changed was what was sold in the shops throughout the terminal. In San Francisco it was sourdough bread, Alcatraz key chains, and cable-car magnets. In Vermont there was maple syrup, Green Mountain Coffee, and, of course, Ben & Jerry’s merchandise. The shops went by in a blur as I followed everyone else.
Cord said, “You look nice, by the way.”
Glancing over at him as we walked, I wondered if this was how it was going to be from now on. Would he simply blindside me with compliments? I knew I looked ordinary in slim-fitting chinos, a sweater vest over a long-sleeved button-down, and a brown leather jacket topping it off.
“I like all the stuff too,” he added.
My new watch compliments of Evan, the brown leather cuff bracelet on the opposite wrist, he was noticing it all, and I stumbled for a second because I didn’t even know the stranger walking beside me.
“You all right?” He checked with a hand on my shoulder, the concerned look in his eyes not completely foreign. Now that I was clear of my detritus where Cord was concerned, I was noticing things as well. The affection on his face had always been there; I had just seen something else. I always thought the worst of him. Now that I wasn’t, he had dropped his guard. Everything was brand-new between us.
“I’m fine,” I told him, catching his hand before he withdrew it, squeezing tight for a moment.
“Stay close to me,” he ordered, and clear as day I heard the possessiveness in the tone. How had I missed that?
“I will.”
My simple words drew a smile I had never seen before from the man, and I was reminded again that yes, Cord Nolan was into me. I needed a little time alone to process it, but I wasn’t going to get any.
When we walked out through security into the main terminal, I heard several people call Breckin’s name. The crowd there was a surprise, as was seeing his parents. His mother was a stunning blonde, and his father just as gorgeous with his gray hair and piercing blue eyes. They were straining to see their son, and that was confusing to me. I didn’t expect that.
In the two years we’d spent together, we’d never visited, and he’d never mentioned them to me other than to say they weren’t close. They weren’t estranged, there was no bad blood between them, simply the distance as far as I knew. He never wanted to discuss them, and I saw no reason to push.
Now, though, once he was close enough, Michelle Alcott threw herself into her son’s arms and covered him in kisses. His father watched them, waiting his turn. I saw his tense posture, his anxious anticipation. Breckin emerged from his mother’s embrace and went quickly into his father’s waiting arms. Everyone standing there clapped—Breckin was at the center of his family. I saw his sister, his brother. It was amazing how similar they all looked; easy to spot any of them anywhere.
He was eventually released from the cocoon of homecoming, and for the first time, everyone saw us: Cord. Celia. Me. Breckin introduced us without a moment’s hesitation.
“This is my wife, Celia,” he said, looking right at me as he spoke.
A month ago, perhaps even a week ago, that would have hurt. But it was strange how clarity came at odd times. There wasn’t even a twinge of pain. But that made sense because just from when I was in the hospital to now, everything was different. The months that had passed, and then learning about Celia, had changed me. I didn’t even feel like the same person, and I was pretty ecstatic about the new me. I felt so terribly healthy and grown up.
As expected, Breckin’s family surged around Celia, putting hands on her stomach, on her back and shoulders, Michelle crying now, smiling through her tears and hugging Celia tight. They loved her. Loved her! You could have put it up in neon lights. She was, after all, the ideal of feminine beauty, and she had come bearing the greatest gift: his child.
They remarked on the fact that she didn’t have a ring, and Breckin said her hands were swollen with the pregnancy, but that they had one at home with a small diamond. His mother promised him the ring she had at home, retrieved from a vault in hopes that he would want to give it to Celia.
“Wow,” I said, impressed.
“What?” Cord asked.
I gazed up into his face, as always leaning my head back to see him. “They certainly got their stories straight on the plane. That’s some slick lying he did there.”