The next few hours passed with agonizing slowness. I helped Mama finish the cookies, tried to focus on Daddy’s attempt to explain his woodworking project, and checked the flight tracker roughly every three minutes.
“We’re going with you,” Mama announced when it was finally time to head to the airport.
“You don’t have to?—”
“Basil James, that boy is about to walk off a plane having given up everything he’s ever known to be with you. The least we can do is be there to welcome him home.”
Home. The word hit me harder than I’d expected. Eddie wasn’t coming to visit, but to stay. Maybe not here specifically, but those were details we’d figure out over time. But he was coming home. To me, to us, to the life we were going to build together.
Asheville Regional Airport was a small airport, so it would be easy enough to see his plane arriving. We parked near the general aviation terminal and waited. Through the windows, I could see the runway stretching into the darkness, lit by rows of white lights that looked like a path leading straight to our future.
“There,” Dad said, pointing toward the sky where landing lights had appeared, growing larger as they approached. “That’ll be him.”
My heart hammered against my ribs as the sleek private jet touched down and taxied toward the terminal. This was really happening. Eddie had actually done it—walked away from everything to choose love, choose me, choose us.
I headed inside while my parents stayed in the car, offering me the privacy of greeting Eddie by myself. It took longer than I had expected for him to walk through those doors, and I started to panic. What if it was the wrong plane? What if something had gone awry?
Then Eddie stepped into view, and every worry disappeared.
He looked exhausted, rumpled from the long flight. His hair was a mess, his usually perfect posture slightly slouched with fatigue, and yet he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. He spotted me and his whole face changed, exhaustion replaced by joy so radiant, it was like watching the sun come up. I was moving before I’d consciously decided to, and we met halfway, crashing into each other.
Eddie’s arms wrapped around me so tightly, I could barely breathe, his face buried against my neck, and I could feel him shaking—whether from cold or emotion, I wasn’t sure.
“I chose you,” he whispered against my ear. “I chose us. I chose love.”
“I know,” I whispered back, holding him as close as physically possible. “Jesus Christ, Eddie, I know. I’m so proud of you, so fucking proud.”
We stood there clinging to each other in the middle of a North Carolina airport tarmac on Christmas Eve, and I had never felt anything more perfect in my entire life.
When we finally managed to let go, both our eyes were a bit misty, and we’d drawn quite some attention. I wrapped my arm around him, taking the small bag he’d brought with my other hand. “Come on, my parents are outside waiting for us.”
“How did they react?”
God, we had so much catching up to do. “Better than I had expected. Mama is on board, but my dad will need a bit more time.”
“We have time,” Eddie said, and he was right. We had all the time now.
My parents got out of the car when they saw us coming, and Eddie straightened himself into his more formal posture. “Mrs. Puller, I hope you don’t mind an unexpected Christmas guest…”
“Oh, honey, no…” Mama pulled him into one of her fierce hugs before he could even finish the sentence. “You don’t need to be formal with us anymore. You’re family now.”
I watched Eddie’s face crumple slightly at the word ‘family’, a painful reminder that he’d lost his own in choosing to come here. Whatever relief and joy he was feeling, there had to be grief mixed in too for what he’d had to give up.
“Welcome back, son,” Dad said gruffly, extending his hand with the kind of awkward formality that meant he was trying his best even if emotions weren’t his strong suit.
Eddie shook his hand gratefully. “Thank you, sir. For welcoming me, for… for everything.”
“Ain’t no thanks necessary,” Dad replied. “You’re Bash’s boy, which makes you our boy too. Simple as that.”
My throat tightened all over again.
The drive back to the house was quiet, Eddie’s hand clasped tightly in mine while he stared out the window. I could practically see him processing the magnitude of what he’d done, what it meant for his future, how different his life was going to be from now on.
“You okay?” I asked quietly.
“I’m perfect,” he said, squeezing my hand. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”
It was after midnight when we got back, and this time, Eddie and I weren’t staying at the motel. I’d made my bed fresh this morning, and he’d be sleeping with me. Where he belonged.
