31. Suzie
Suzie
“A ll done.”
It was Sunday afternoon, a day I usually spent relaxing and preparing for another busy week at the hospital. Instead, I’d spent all morning removing the items from my home office because tomorrow, Teddy would start work on converting the room into a functional nursery—for two. After lunch, I would get started on emptying the future guest room.
Lunch was a white lasagna with salad, made by the housekeeper that Gavin still paid to show up and make my life a little bit easier. I appreciated the small gestures that showed he cared, that showed he would be a presence in the lives of our daughters, if not a full-time dad. I missed him and wished he was here with me, but in lieu of that, the extra help was nice.
That was what I told myself and it was what I believed, until it came time to lug the treadmill out of my office without any help. It was an impossible feat, and ultimately, I decided to leave it for Teddy and her crew to remove in the morning. I focused instead on the weights and resistance bands, along with the television on the wall that sometimes played aerobics or kickboxing videos. It would have to go somewhere else, but for now it was all piled in my dining room until I could spare the energy, or the muscle power, to get them moved to the basement. Then again, maybe the dining room would be better served as my exercise room—at least, it would when all the loot Gavin had sent to me was put where it belonged.
Though I suspected that chasing after twin toddlers would be sufficient exercise.
The sun was starting its final descent by the time I had the place back to something that resembled order. I heated the rest of the lasagna and curled up on the sofa for an evening of holiday-themed movies. It wasn’t the most exciting night of my life, but I wasn’t looking for excitement. I just wanted to relax after an exhausting day. And I wanted to see Gavin. To hear his voice and see his sexy smirk when he was being charming and playful.
Which was pretty much always.
I was halfway through a royal holiday romance when the doorbell rang, pulling me from the gold-plated fantasy of Christmas with a prince. I glanced at the time on my phone and frowned, because nearly everyone who would stop by unannounced was snuggled up with their significant others. Drew was probably at the hospital, doing a horrible job at ignoring the highly competent and endlessly energetic Zola. And Gavin was somewhere on the east coast, promoting his number-one album.
That all made me even more curious, and worried, about who would show up on my doorstep on the late side of a Sunday evening. Slowly, I pushed my feet into fuzzy slippers and stood as the doorbell rang out again. There was no cause for worry—this was Jackson’s Ridge, for crying out loud, the safest place in all of Oregon.
I pulled the door open, expecting to see Granddaddy with another casserole, but it wasn’t the older man. It was the man I wanted to see.
“Gavin.” I sighed as a smile spread across my face. “Shouldn’t you be in New York or Atlanta or some other east coast destination?”
He smirked and leaned in. “You been keeping tabs on me, Suzie Q?”
I rolled my eyes, because there was no way I would mention that I memorized the schedules he sent me at the start of every week. “Only because your face is everywhere these days.”
He laughed and the sound was deep and rich, honeyed. It was a sound I didn’t get enough of these days.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you.”
My knees wobbled at the admission. “Come in. You look dead on your feet. Want some lasagna?”
Gavin took a step inside and then another, invading my personal space with his size, his scent, and his overwhelming presence. “Exactly the words every man longs to hear.” He laughed and took a step back to retrieve a duffel bag from just outside the door.
“You just got to town?”
He nodded, flashed a seductive smile. “You are my first stop, Suzie Q. My only stop, really.”
Dammit, his words flattered me, touched me and made me feel special. “Any reason in particular?”
He shrugged and fell in step beside me. “I’ve been thinking about you nonstop. You’re in my dreams, Suzie.”
The confession shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. Not just his words, but the intensity and the rawness of them. And the look in his eyes. “Yeah?”
Gavin nodded. “Oh, yeah. Want the dirty details?”
Hell yes. My body pulsed with heat, throbbed with need that took a full minute to tamp down. I swallowed and shook my head. “Not while I’m eating.”
“Too bad.” He shrugged and dropped the bag. “Since you’re eating for three, I guess I’ll let you eat before we get into all the details.” He dropped down on the sofa and crossed his legs at the ankles.
“How generous—but not as generous as I am for sharing my delicious lasagna with you.” I nodded toward the kitchen and Gavin was on his feet in a flash.
“Okay, fine. You are more generous than I am.” He laughed and it echoed in the kitchen. “I’ve really missed you, Suzie Q.”
I couldn’t help the smile that tugged up the corners of my lips, or the warmth that stole over me at the sincerity in his voice. “You said that already.”
Gavin strolled back in the room with the casserole dish on an oven pad and a smile. “Because that’s how much I missed you. I took the jet, leaving my band stranded for the night because I couldn’t wait to see you again. Is that all right?”
I nodded, feeling myself becoming emotional, only this time I couldn’t blame the pregnancy hormones. It was all Gavin and his words. It was the man, not the rock star.
“Gavin.” His name came out on a whisper, thick with emotion.
“I’m done, Suzie.”
Of course. He’d already found someone else.
“I’m done playing games. I can’t stop thinking about you. I love you and I want to be with you, for real.” He turned to me and set the casserole dish down. “I’m in love with you, Suzie. For the first time in my life, I am in love with a woman, and I don’t know how she feels. And you know what? It’s scary as hell. But the thing is, I’ve sat on it, because I wanted to be sure. Because the last thing I ever want to do is cause you harm, but I am sure, and I’m here now. For you. I want to be your man, your best friend, your lover, and your partner in crime on occasion. I want to rub your back in the delivery room and look over your shoulder while you breastfeed our children. I want it all, Suzie.”
“Gavin.” I choked on his name through my tears. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “I’ve never been in love before, never even thought I could be in love with a woman. Not until you, the girl with the glasses.” He smiled and chuckled at my checkerboard frames. “You make me want to be better as a human being. Smarter and funnier. Wittier. You make me laugh and you force me to look at things from a different perspective.” Gavin reached out to me and traced a line down my jaw. “You have completely changed my life, Suzie.”
Never been in love before. That was a stunning admission from a man who’d been seen in the company of starlets, royals, and CEOs. Suddenly, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I didn’t want to hold back.
I scooted to the edge of my seat and cupped his jaw in my hands. “You’ve changed my life, too, Gavin. More than once. You saved my life before I ever met you in the flesh. Then again when you helped me discover that I was more than smart and capable Suzie. You helped me discover the woman I was meant to be.”
I pressed my forehead to his and sighed because I didn’t know how to do this, how to bare my soul to one of the most famous men on the planet. But I wanted this man, this chance. Right here and now.
“You gave me the family I longed to have, Gavin. You gave me back myself, and now I’m giving you my heart. I love you, too. With everything I am, everything I have to give, I love you.”
“Suzie,” he growled and leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine.
It was like we were kissing for the first time. His lips felt new, his tongue against mine was like undiscovered territory, new and exciting. A revelation.
I leaned into his kiss, accepted the love he poured into me and gave it back ten-fold because I knew, deep in my heart, that this was what it was supposed to be. Love. It was supposed to be exciting and all-encompassing. It was meant to make your heart feel so full you thought it might burst. But I knew it wouldn’t, because it was in the very strong, incredibly capable hands of one Gavin Ross.
He pulled back with a slow smile that heated me from head to toe. “I have something for you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need fancy gifts, Gavin. All I need is you, as much of you as I can get.”
Gavin chuckled and tapped the tip of my nose. “That’s another thing I love about you, Suzie Q, you make me work hard as hell to impress you and I’m better for it.” He leaned back and dug into the duffel bag and produced a medium-sized box. “But it took me some time to track this down and I’m pretty sure you’ll love it.”
“That confident in how well you know me, rock star?” I removed the lid and groaned. “I hope this isn’t a little black dress that I’m at least a year away from being able to fit into.”
Gavin snorted. “Give me a little credit.”
I pushed away the tissue paper to find an envelope. I didn’t know what to expect, but the look on Gavin’s face forced me to slow my movements. I flipped open the tab and frowned. It was a photo or a document. I smiled up at him. “An autographed photo of my favorite musician?”
His lips pulled into a smile even as he rolled his eyes at me. “Guess again. Or, better yet, pull it out.”
I didn’t pull it out, I turned the envelope upside down and let the heavy paper slide out. “Gavin,” I gasped and put my hand to my mouth as the photo fell on top of the tissue paper. It was two faces I barely remembered. A wedding photo of a young couple, their features played along the outskirts of my memory. “Gavin, this is…” I had no words to describe what I was feeling.
“Your mother and father on their wedding day. The photographer, thank goodness, was a bit of a hoarder and when I told him what I was looking for and why, he dug into his collection and found it. Eventually.” His sheepish smile was adorable. It was absolutely heart-melting.
My eyes landed on the photo once again, my heart so full I could barely breathe. “They look so young. So happy and in love.” I could barely remember them, but this photo brought back the little bit I could. “I can’t believe you did this, Gavin. This is special and amazing, and it tells me you are exactly the man I think you are.”
“Aww, shucks.”
He was so silly and sweet and charming. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed tight because I never wanted him to think he wasn’t worthy of my heart, my love. “I mean it. This is the most thoughtful gift I could have ever imagined. And the fact that you listened, well… I love you and I’m never letting you go.”
He flashed a satisfied smile and pushed his chest against mine. “I’m gonna hold you to that, Suzie Q.”
“Hold me however you want, Gavin.”
He smiled and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek, keeping one arm around me as he nodded for the box. “It’s not empty yet, is it?”
“You tell me.” My heart raced as my mind took off, thinking of all the possibilities of what was underneath the tissue paper. It was too soon, I knew, to expect anything as extravagant as a ring, but my heart was ever hopeful.
He smiled and whispered in my ear. “The box is not empty.”
Buried underneath a pile of even more tissue paper was a lone box, and this time, there was no doubt about what was inside. The small baby-blue box with a big white bow sat at the bottom, staring back at me.
“Open it up.”
My hands shook as I reached inside and plucked the box from the tissue paper. It was heavier than it should have been in my hand, and I took my time, pulling off the bow-capped lid with a loud gasp that cut through the silence. A gorgeous oval-shaped diamond sat there, looking beautiful and shiny and tempting.
“Gavin?”
He smiled. “Surprised?”
“Hell yeah, I am.”
His laughter broke the tension in the room. “Good. I have to keep you on your toes.” Where I thought he might release me and run a hand through his thick blond hair, Gavin tugged me closer and pressed his lips to my forehead. “It’s not an engagement ring,” he sighed. “Not yet, anyway. It’s a promise ring, Suzie. As soon as this tour is over, I’m coming home to you. To you and our baby girls. For good.”
“Gavin.” I wanted to stop the rush of promises that he couldn’t possibly keep.
“I’m going to write and record as much as I can from here in Jackson’s Ridge. I’ll still have to travel for interviews and performances, but I hope it won’t always be alone. Sometimes, we can load up the jet with car seats and bassinets and baby bags, and bring the whole family.”
His joy, his excitement was contagious, and I couldn’t help but smile right along with him as he laid out his plans for our life together.
Our life. Together. It had a wonderful ring to it.
He gathered my hands in his and kissed each knuckle. “You have to say something, Suzie Q. Don’t leave me hanging. If that sounds too much for you, I’ll hang up the mic.”
“No,” I practically growled at him. “You won’t. I love you for offering, but that is not on the table. Got it?”
He nodded slowly. “Is it wrong that bossy Suzie is kind of turning me on?”
“It is totally weird. Good thing I love you already.”
He sighed. “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”
“Good, because I promise that I’ll never get tired of saying it. And you’re not hanging up the mic or the guitar until you’re ready. I love all the parts of you: the rock star, the man, the goofball, the guy who loves his granddaddy to pieces and lets his stepsister move into his guest house. I love that you’d be willing to give it up, but it’s an important part of you. We’ll find a way to deal with the distance.”
“We will? Really?”
“Yes, really. I told you, I want as much of you as I can get, and if that means video calls and texting, I can handle that.” It wasn’t ideal, but I knew Gavin would come back to me as often as he could.
“You get all of me, babe. Every inch,” he said with a saucy wiggle of his eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes. “Promises, promises.”
“I plan to fulfill each and every one of them. And you?” He held the ring up between his thumb and forefinger.
I swallowed. This was the moment of truth, and I did what any sane woman would do when the man of her dreams, the man she loved, offered her a stunning diamond as a promise for the future. I held out both hands and waited for him to slide the ring on my finger. “I promise to love you and support you and to always be your biggest fan.”
His smile was so wide I nearly lost his beautiful green eyes. “Now that is music to my ears.”
Then he kissed me, and it was like the world opened up again; the sun came up and birds chirped their songs.
It was perfect.
Just perfect.
* * *
THE END