“Hi,” she says shyly. “Is he ready to go?”
“Mama!” Conner squeals as she bends and picks him up, hugging him and peppering his cheek with kisses.
“I missed you so much, baby boy!” she coos. “I hope Santa was good to you!”
“He was,” Conner confirms and hugs her hard. “I wish you were there.”
My chest tightens with guilt on that one.
“Maybe next time,” Ashleigh replies calmly and catches my eye. I look away.
“Hey. Umm…I need a favor,” I say quietly as I hand over Conner’s suitcase.
She looks stunned but nods. “Okay, sure. What can I do?”
“Can you drive me to the airport?” I ask hopefully and run a hand over my messy hair, which I haven’t bothered to style. “My parents are driving Luc and Rose and I didn’t want to squish in with them. If you can’t, I can just take a cab.”
“No, of course I’ll drive you!” Ashleigh says with a bright smile. “You can tell me all about Christmas. I want to know how it went.”
No, you really don’t, I think to myself. Or at least I don’t want to relive it. I give her a tight smile and a nod instead of saying my thoughts out loud. And then I grab my suitcase and jacket and lock the front door.
As Ashleigh pulls out of the driveway she peppers me with questions. What did Conner get? What did Cole get Leah for their first married Christmas? What did Jessie get Jordan for their last unmarried one? Did my mom make her pecan pie?
“Remember when you wrapped up that vacuum cleaner box?” She laughs at the memory and her big blue eyes glint in the sun bouncing off the snow and through the windshield. “And everyone was so horrified that you would buy me a vacuum for our first married Christmas.”
“Yeah.” I can’t help but smile at the memory. “I thought my mom was going to slap me upside the head until she saw the car keys hidden inside.”
“Remember as soon as we got back to our house the car was sitting in the driveway with a big bow and we took it for a long drive out to the middle of nowhere?” Her smile turns softer and pink rises to her cheeks. “And you convinced me to christen the car out on that deserted dirt road.”
I laugh, remembering how nervous she was about having sex in the car on that deserted road. “Yeah, and you kept freaking out, saying that this is how people get killed by murderers.”
She bursts out laughing. “Well, it’s true! In the movies the people doingyouknow whatin the woods never survive!”
I glance back at Conner, who is humming to himself and staring out the window, oblivious to us. “You’re still alive.”
We fall silent for a moment as we get closer to the airport. I can see the entrance just down the road.
“Have you thought about what I said a few days ago?” she asks quietly.
My heart fills with dread. I don’t say anything for a long few moments.
“It’s all I’ve been thinking about,” I admit because, thanks to Callie’s reaction, that’s the truth. If it had been up to me, Ashleigh’s request for reconciliation would have been nothing more than a passing thought, but Callie leaving me because of it made it impossible to forget.
“Any thoughts you want to share, good or bad?” she asks in a vulnerable voice that says she’s terrified of what I’m thinking. “I can take it. I promise.”
She pulls to the curb by the departures door. I glance out the passenger window and see my family is two cars in front pulling their luggage out of my parents’ truck. I open my door and move to the back door, unhooking Conner from his car seat and carrying him to the sidewalk.
“Luc!” I call out and my brother turns. “Can you take Conner for a second?”
He nods and jogs over, taking him from me with a big smile. “Come and say bye to Rose, little man.”
I slip back into the passenger seat and shut my door. Ashleigh is looking at me with an expectant stare and wide eyes. She has no idea what’s coming but she knows it’s big.
“I’ve been involved with someone,” I tell her frankly.
She looks like she’s been slapped but tries to recover. She swallows and nods. “Is it…I mean…I…who…how did you meet someone so quickly?”
“It’s Callie,” I admit without a shadow of guilt. “I’ve been seeing Callie.”
