Chapter 26 #2
I didn’t know how long it would last, but it was a start, and I felt hopeful.
I’d wanted to lose my virginity, and I’d done that, too.
With the kind of man women dream of spending a night with. And he’d been all mine all summer.
But time was up, and we were both going to return to our normal lives.
But I’d found my new normal, and I’d loved it.
“I was wrong, you know?”
“How so?” I asked, as he pulled into the lot behind Reynolds’.
“About Dad. He’s different, and I never thought I’d say those words. You were right not to give up on him. I’m not holding my breath that this will last forever, but it’s lasted longer than it ever has in my lifetime, so I’m going to enjoy it.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. “Will you keep your eye on him?”
“I will.”
I nodded. “Thanks for staying at the house tonight. I can get us some takeout, and we can all have dinner together, okay?”
“I’ll get dinner. You get your stuff packed up. I know you love Sunday dinners at the Reynolds’, so if I can give you a Monday night dinner at the Jameses’, I’d like to do it.”
I chuckled and wiped at my cheek before pushing the door open.
Travis followed me inside, and I felt guilty that I’d wished he wouldn’t have.
Hugh was standing behind the bar, talking with Brax, who was sitting on a bar stool across from him.
They looked like they were having a pretty intense conversation.
“Lila, thank God you’re here. I need to talk to you.” Brandy smiled at me as we approached the hostess stand and then raised her brows at my brother, letting him know she didn’t want an audience.
“I’ll be at the bar.” Travis stepped away, and I hated that he was going to be the one to tell Hugh that I was leaving sooner than expected. Maybe this was for the best. There’d be no drawn-out goodbye. No sad ending to something that was supposed to be a summer fling.
“What’s going on?” I turned my attention to Brandy, but my gaze kept moving to the bar, where my brother was definitely filling in Hugh and Brax on my news.
Hugh’s eyes found mine, just like they always did.
His smile looked forced, or maybe I was reading into it.
Maybe he was relieved that this was over.
“Lionel asked me out,” Brandy all but squealed, as she leaned so far over the hostess stand that I had to reach for her shoulders to make sure she didn’t fall over.
“Yes. I knew he liked you. It just takes some boys a little longer to figure it out,” I said. My voice was all tease, but my heart was shattering in my chest, my mind reeling that my time with Hugh was over. And I couldn’t let anyone know how sad I was because the whole thing had been a secret.
Brandy gave me all the details about how he’d asked her out, and I gave her some suggestions for what to wear before my brother called for me.
“I’ll come say goodbye before I leave, but I wanted to let you know that I’m leaving a few days early, and I’m heading back to Chicago tomorrow.”
“What? No! Hugh had a whole surprise party planned for you next week,” she said, before slapping a hand over her mouth. “Don’t tell him I told you. But I think he’s going to take it the hardest of all.”
“He’ll be fine,” I said, shaking my head and processing the fact that he was going to throw me a party. “This place is running so well now you won’t even know I’m gone.”
“Are you kidding? You light up every room you enter, Lila James.” Brandy came around the hostess stand and hugged me so tight I had to fight back the tears threatening to fall. I was going to miss this place so much.
“I’ll be back soon, and I’ll definitely come and see you all.” I swiped at the single tear running down my cheek when I pulled away. Brandy had full-on streams of tears running down her face.
“Well, we can still text every day. I’ll send you a picture of my date outfit, okay?”
“I’m counting on it.” I held up my hand in a wave and made my way to the bar.
“Hugh said he can pack your things up, and I’ll get them shipped to you in Chicago. We’ll just run by the house so you can pack the bags that you want to take with you tomorrow,” Travis said.
Hugh wasn’t looking at me. He wiped down the bar top, his baseball cap tugged down a bit so I couldn’t see his eyes. Brax was looking at me with the saddest expression on his face.
“Okay. Well, the car is picking me up at Hugh’s house in the morning. That’s the address I gave them.” I shrugged.
“Just text them and give them Dad’s address. I was just telling the guys that I never thought I’d willingly agree to sleep at that house ever again.” Travis chuckled.
“I can take you to the airport if you want.” Hugh looked up at me, and my chest squeezed. His lips turned up a little bit in the corners, but those sage-green eyes told a different story.
He looked… upset.
Sad.
Wounded.
That couldn’t be right. He’d known I was leaving this whole time. I was probably making something out of nothing.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice just above a whisper because I was fighting back the big lump that had lodged in my throat.
“Dude. She’s got this big, fancy company sending a car for her. She’ll probably get champagne on the drive over.” Travis waggled his brows.
“Ahhh, that’s hard to compete with. Well, I’ve got your check downstairs. You want to come down with me and grab it?” he asked, his voice calm and steady as his eyes locked with mine.
“Sure, yeah.”
“Hurry it up. Then I’ll run you over to Hugh’s to pack what you need for now,” Travis said, and I nodded before following Hugh to the back room and down the stairs to his office.
I stepped inside, and he closed the door behind me. I wanted him to pin me to the door and kiss me senseless, but he didn’t do that. He walked around the other side of his desk and sat down. I moved to the leather chair across from him and did the same.
He fiddled with some paperwork before looking up at me. “I’m happy for you, Snow. It sounds like they’re excited for you to get there, huh?”
My bottom lip quivered, and I bit down hard to stop it from shaking. “I didn’t know Travis was going to offer to sleep at my dad’s house. That wasn’t my idea.”
“Hey, you have nothing to explain. This was what you always wanted, right? And it’s all because you didn’t give up on your father.” His eyes softened, and he smiled.
“But I didn’t plan on saying goodbye to you like this,” I said.
“It’s all right. We always knew this was going to end, didn’t we?”
My vision was blurry as my eyes overflowed with tears and trailed down my cheeks. Hugh was up on his feet and bending down in front of me. He used the pads of his thumbs to swipe away my tears and then scooped me up and settled me on his lap, his arms wrapped around me.
“I wasn’t ready to say goodbye,” I said, my voice cracking as I couldn’t hold back all that emotion any longer.
“But this is what you want, right? This job? Chicago?” he asked, and he pulled back to look at me, his eyes searching mine. I didn’t know what he meant. Why he was asking that.
“It’s a good job.” I shrugged.
“Well, then, you go out there, and you kill it. They’re lucky to have you.
And you accomplished everything you set out to do here, so you should be fucking proud of yourself.
I’ll keep an eye on your dad for you, okay?
You’ve got my word on that. Don’t worry about a thing.
” His mouth was so close to mine, and now his eyes were welling with emotion, too.
I love you.
I wanted to say it. Needed to say it.
“Hey, hey, Trav, wait up!” Brax’s voice startled me, coming from the other side of the door out in the hallway, and Hugh reluctantly moved to his feet, setting me down in front of him before we heard Brax’s loud voice again. “Are you sure they’re down here?”
“Why the fuck are you shouting?” Travis asked, and Hugh stepped to the other side of his desk, and I sat back down in the chair.
Brax was giving us a warning that my brother was coming. He definitely knew something was going on between us.
But now, none of that mattered, did it?
I was leaving, and he was going to let me.
“It’s open!” Hugh yelled, as we heard them approaching the door.
Travis pushed the door open and was still laughing at something Brax said before turning his attention to me. “We need to get going. Shay’s craving ice cream, and we need to go get your bags.”
“Yeah, of course.” I pushed to stand.
Hugh grabbed an envelope off his desk and handed it to me. “Here’s your last check. Thanks for everything you did for me this summer, Snow.”
“It was the best summer I’ve ever had.” I wanted him to know that it was all because of him. But I couldn’t say it. Not now. Not here.
I reached for the envelope as he came around the desk and wrapped his arms around me.
“We’re all going to miss you,” he said, before leaning down against my ear. “So fucking much.”
My brother and Brax were already out the door, and I shook my head frantically, keeping my voice low. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I wanted to say goodbye.”
“It’s all right. You go enjoy this time with your family, okay?” He leaned down and kissed me hard before pulling away quickly.
It felt final.
It felt like goodbye.
And my heart shattered into a million little pieces.