Chapter 42
MILES
My truck sways side to side as I pull off the main road and down the old, cracked driveway. Hanna’s hand grips the flowers in her lap a little tighter before they go tumbling to the floor.
“I really need to get out here and repair that,” I comment. She softly laughs from the passenger seat.
Pulling up the drive we see that several cars are already here, including Coop’s cruiser and two cars I’ve never seen parked here before.
“Oh good, they found it okay,” Hanna says joyfully, smiling wide as she looks out the front windshield.
When I park, she waits for me to come and open her door for her and steps out, giving me her hand so I can help her down.
It’s the fourth Sunday in March and we’re back at my childhood home for family brunch.
Today’s special though because it’s Carter’s return home from rehab.
After having surgery to repair some of the damage from his burns, they moved him to a rehab facility to help him get back on his feet and start moving again.
Two weeks later, he’s finally able to come home.
He’ll have to continue with out-patient physical therapy and has a long way to go, but it’s a start and he’s motivated to get back to a new normal.
“Got everything?” I ask her. She uses her hands to brush the bottom of her skirt down and looks up at me with a smile. With the bouquet of flowers in her hand, she looks too pretty to not take a picture of.
“Wait, stay like that,” I say and take a step away, holding my phone up.
“People are inside waiting on us,” she protests, still smiling at me. When I lift my phone up, she tips her head to one side and poses for me. I snap the picture and take a few steps closer, looping an arm around the small of her back and pulling her in.
“They can wait. I had to take a picture of my girl so I can look at it when you aren’t around.”
“Which is rare, seeing as how we practically live together now,” she replies.
“Are you asking to move in with me?” I ask with a sideways smirk. I’ve presented the idea a few times and while she hasn’t fully agreed, she also hasn’t said no, either.
“I’m coming around to the idea.” She shrugs with a smirk.
“I’m ready whenever you are, doc. Any minute away from you is a minute wasted if you ask me. And nothing makes me happier than knowing you’ll be there at the end of the day when I come home from the firehouse.”
“We’ll talk,” she says, nodding. Leaning in, I press my lips to hers and kiss her hard. The taste of her on my lips scrambles my brain a little and I almost take things a step too far until a voice barks at us.
“Hey, enough of that, you two. Our families are inside—you don’t want them to see you making out, do you?”
We turn to look at the voice and find Carter stepping out of Willow’s car.
She offered to pick him up and bring him home since he isn’t back to driving yet.
He leans on a cane as he walks towards us and she hovers close behind him in case she needs to step in to help him.
I never asked him about what I saw between them a few weeks ago in the hospital, but I have my suspicions.
She’s been by his side every step of the way and when she isn’t working, she’s checking in on him to make sure he’s okay.
“Look at you.” I beam at him, taking his hand in mine and giving it a solid shake. He isn’t going to be coming back to work anytime soon but the sight of him up and moving gives me hope. “You look good, man.”
“Thanks,” he chuckles. “The crazy ass physical therapist at the rehab center didn’t let me rest very much.
I guess I can’t complain, though, if it weren’t for her I’d probably still be needing someone to help me get around which is arguably more annoying than being treated like a circus monkey forced to perform at someone’s command. ”
“Ivana is the best P.T. in town; you’re lucky she was willing to work with you,” Willow comments, stepping up next to him.
“She only worked with me because you’re friends with her,” Carter snips, glaring at her.
“Which is why I requested that she treat you as such. You aren’t one who needs to be coddled. The more she made you get up and move, the faster you would recover. So you’re welcome for getting this far.”
“You’re such a pain in the ass, you know that?” he sneers.
“Me? You. Do you know how annoying you are to drive with? You back seat drive the entire time,” she barks back.
“Okay, okay, please no arguing once we’re inside, okay? Let’s act like adults for once in our lives, shall we? We have guests,” I remind them, trying to calm the storm before they really get going.
“I wouldn’t get so annoyed if he wasn’t so bossy,” Willow scoffs, shooting daggers in Carter’s direction.
“And I wouldn’t have to argue with her if she wasn’t such a pain in the ass,” he groans.
“Oh, sweet Jesus.” I sigh.
Hanna slips her hand into mine and smirks up at me, pulling me towards the door.
We walk together, hand in hand, and when we reach the porch, we wait to make sure Carter makes it up okay.
I lend him my shoulder as he uses his hand on the banister to pull himself up, still suffering from a lot of weakness in his right leg.
Then, he and Willow go in first, followed by me and Hanna.
“After you, beautiful,” I say, bowing my head and waving my hand out in front of me, signaling for her to go in ahead of me.
“Why thank you,” she says, returning the partial bow.
Stepping in behind her, I close the front door and take her hand again. We walk down the hallway towards the kitchen and when we make our way in, the room erupts with cheers and celebrations.
“Welcome home, my son,” Ivy says, stepping forward to hug Carter.
Willow beams at him, smiling ear to ear and I can’t help but notice how she seems to be looking at him differently now.
When she sees me, Ivy steps around them both and pulls me into a hug.
“And you, my other son. I’m so glad to see you. ”
“I’m glad to see you, too, Mama.” I give her a peck on the cheek and squeeze her hand before she heads back to where she was standing at the stove.
“Hey, everyone, I’m so happy you’re here!” Hanna gushes, moving towards her own family who’s sitting around the dining table.
Richie, George, and Mel are all here as we asked them to join us in Carter’s homecoming breakfast. The three of them and Ivy hit it off while he was in the hospital and on a few trips to visit with him myself, I’d find one of them sitting in his room chatting with Ivy as if they were old friends.
There’s even been a few times since he was discharged that I called to talk to her and she hurried me off the phone because she was out to lunch with them or they were here, enjoying a cup of coffee together.
“Of course, honey bee, we wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Mel says, standing from the table and pulling her daughter into a hug.
“Plus, Ivy asked us to bring George’s famous biscuits and we couldn’t say no to that,” Richie says, leaning in and giving Hanna a quick peck on the cheek. She moves to George last and embraces him.
“Who made the banner?” Carter asks, squinting up at the banner that says ‘Welcome Home Carter’ in bold painted letters. It clearly wasn’t left to dry long enough and some of the paint had dripped down to the bottom of the craft paper.
“That would be me and some of the guys at the fire station. We aren’t very crafty but we tried.” Coop shrugs. He isn’t one to be so in touch with his feelings so his show of emotions makes me smile.
“It looks good.” Carter smirks at him while nodding his head.
“How are you feeling?” George finally speaks, looking at Carter.
“Good, some things are still hard and I get tired quickly but,” he pauses and looks around the room, “I’m lucky to be able to be tired. I’m lucky to be alive at all and I will never take that for granted again.”
“Cheers to that,” Richie exclaims, raising a glass. Everyone raises whatever glass is near and cheers along with him.
“Alright, family, soups on,” Ivy announces, turning off the stove and scraping enough eggs to feed an army onto a large serving platter.
People line up and grab their plates, ready to fill their bellies to the brim.
Standing behind Hanna, she hands me a plate.
I take a step closer to her and plant a kiss on her cheek which wins me a smile and a happy humph.
Looking around the room, I can’t help but be grateful too.
For getting to live a life I could only dream of as a kid.
For getting more time with Carter.
For witnessing my family grow by four people who couldn’t be kinder.
And most importantly, for being lucky enough to have someone like Hanna in my life. And to have her love me the way she does. To get to love her like I do.
And I promise to love her loudly, proudly, and intentionally.
As long as she’ll have me.