“You don’t have to come in. You can just drop me off.”
He looked over at me as he pulled into a space furthest away from the door. “I swear, sometimes you act like you don’t know me at all.”
I laughed, needing the reprieve from the gut-wrenching pain of leaving him behind. “I know for a fact that I know you better than anyone. And I also know we’re both gonna make a fucking scene in there.”
He grinned. “Who? Us? Just like the one when you arrived?”
I laughed at the memory. “No, this one will be much juicier for the lookie loo’s.”
The laughter lightened our moods momentarily until we were out of the car. Carson took my hand and laced our fingers together. He walked with me all the way to the TSA checkpoint.
“Check your phone one more time,” he said. “Maybe something is there this time.”
Humoring him, I pulled it out and checked again. “Nothing.”
He released a heavy sigh and wiped his hand over his mouth. Carson was as frustrated as I was. “I expect texts and phone calls. Lots of updates.”
I smiled. “And you’ll get them. Loads of them.”
He pulled me into his arms. “And I need to know when you board both flights. I’ll be watching on the app that tracks flights.”
I nodded, swallowing hard.
“And I want to know when you land and get to your apartment.”
The lump in my throat was growing. I wanted to be snarky and call him a nosey stalker, but my heart hurt too much to work up the energy. “I will. All of it. And I’ll call when I get home.”
He shook his head. “Nope. We’re not calling it home. Home is here. With me. Your apartment is on the other side of our ocean. Got it?”
Our ocean.
“Home is here. With you.”
His head bounced. “Good. Now say that to yourself for the next seventeen hours. And hurry the fuck back to me because I can’t take doing this again.”
I grabbed him in a hug and swallowed back the tears. “I love you,” I whispered into his ear as I kissed his cheek.
“I love you, to Australia and back.”
I don’t know how long we stood there like that, but it wasn’t long enough. When Carson pulled back and took my face in both his hands, I knew the kiss was going to wreck me. And I was right. We might have been in the middle of an international airport, but the world around us still disappeared when his mouth was on mine. And when I stepped away, I told him again. “Love you.”
“Love you,” he croaked, then released me.
I wiped my leaking eyes and took a deep breath. “Two weeks.”
He nodded. “Two weeks.”
Making my way through the checkpoint, I turned around and looked for him. Carson stayed where I could see him until the end.
I headed off to my gate, eager to get back to Australia so I could come home to Carson. But the road to come back turned out to be more difficult than expected. And I had fucking Leland to thank for that.
Chapter 31
Carson
Istood watching until Colin disappeared from view. Moving to savor every second I could, I knew it was pointless. It was time to face the reality that he was gone for now, even though I knew he was coming back. We hadn’t spent more than a few hours apart in six months.
And I already hated the separation.
