Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
ARLAND
T he week went by in a flash, and before I even knew it, Mariam was flying out for her girls’ weekend in Gatlinburg with her childhood friends. She sat in the passenger seat of my car, furiously typing emails on her phone and scowling at the screen every so often.
I smiled and reached over to take her hand. “Give it a rest, Mimi. You’ll be back next week and we’re on track for the opening. None of what you’re doing right now is so urgent that it can’t wait until Monday.”
She sighed, finally lifting her gaze away from her phone and glancing at me. “I shouldn’t be leaving right now. Maybe I should just call and tell them I can’t make it. I want to go and it’s a tradition I don’t want to break, but the tables are being delivered today for the restaurant and?—”
“And we know where to put them.” I squeezed her hand, taking a quick look at her before returning my gaze to the snowy road. “We’re a team. All of us. We’ve got this. I know how much you love your friends and I want you to go and enjoy your tradition before the craziness that will be next week. Just relax, okay?”
“I’ll try.” She paused for a moment before she turned her hand in mine and wound our fingers together. “Thanks. I know we’re a team. I trust all of you completely and I mean, obviously, you and Brian are the real masterminds here, but I’m just not used to leaving things unfinished.”
“You’re not leaving anything. It’ll all be here next week.” I took the off-ramp to the airport and glanced at her again. “It’s just a weekend and this is important to you.”
“The Chalet is too,” she murmured, but then she inhaled deeply, held the breath for a beat, and shook off her concerns. “You know what, though? You’re right. Everything is under control. The arrangements for all the events next week are on track and I’ll be back before any of us know it.”
“Exactly.” I brought her hand to my mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “You’ve been working practically around the clock. I’m glad you’re taking a break.”
“Still, it feels like I just took one.” She leaned back in her seat and turned her head toward me. “What are your plans for the weekend? Please don’t tell me you’re going to be working.”
I chuckled. “My sister is hosting a sibling game night tonight, but I’ll be back in the office for at least a few hours tomorrow. Brian and Gabby are meeting me there and Elizabeth is sitting down with some reporters. We’ve also got to get ready for the other staff members who are starting on Monday.”
She groaned. “I really shouldn’t be leaving.”
“Yes, you should,” I said. “You’ve put in more hours this week than all the rest of us combined. Besides, even if you stayed, you wouldn’t have anything urgent left to do because you’ve already done it all.”
Seriously, the woman’s work ethic impressed even me, and I was notoriously difficult to impress with hard work on account of how hard I’d always worked myself. Mariam was in a league of her own, though. She was always the first to arrive and the last to leave, she spent her days ticking dozens of tasks off her to-do list, and her approach was so systematic that nothing ever slipped through the cracks.
“There’s always more to do,” she said, sitting up a little straighter when I drove into the parking lot at the airport. “Gosh, I can’t believe we’re already here. Are you sure you’re going to be okay without me this weekend? It’s not too late for me to stay.”
“You’re going,” I insisted as I pulled into a vacant parking spot. After turning off the engine, I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned to face her. “Don’t stress about us or about Everwood. I promise you that we’re not going to allow any of your hard work to go up in flames while you’re gone. It’s only a couple days.”
She unclipped her own seatbelt and gently let it slide back before she took both of my hands. Those cornflower blue eyes locked on mine. The expression in them was soft but the corners of her eyes were tight with worry.
“I just don’t want to disappoint you,” she murmured, her thumbs sliding across my palms. “Let’s be honest for a minute. I just started working at the Chalet and I’ve already gone home for Thanksgiving. Now I’m leaving again. It’s not a great way to start a new job.”
“It’s this time of year,” I said. “December is always really busy, but we also knew about your trips back to Austin for Thanksgiving and Christmas before you even told Brian you’d come here and we knew about this trip as well. It’s all good.”
She thought it over for a beat before she allowed a small smile to break free. One of her hands came up to cup my cheek in her palm. “Thank you for understanding. If you need me while I’m gone, I’ll be available on my phone, okay?”
“You got it, and I’ll definitely need you, but not for work.” I leaned forward and slid my arms around her waist, pulling her closer until my forehead touched hers. “Go and enjoy yourself, and then come back to me. Strange as it sounds, I’m going to miss you.”
“Same here.” She breathed me in. Her eyes closed as she looped her arms around my shoulders. “Enjoy your game night.”
“I would’ve enjoyed it more if you were there, but I’ll do my best.” I pressed my lips to hers and kissed her, winding my fingers into her loose hair and holding her for as long as I could.
When we finally broke apart, her lips were a little swollen and her eyes were shimmering with moisture, but she smiled and climbed out of the car. After grabbing her bag from the back seat, she waved goodbye. I’d offered to walk in with her, but we’d both decided it was probably safer to say our goodbyes right here.
Once she’d disappeared into the building, I stayed right where I was for a few long minutes, sorting through my feelings for her. They were growing rapidly and sometimes they were nearly overwhelming in their intensity.
Meeting her had irrevocably changed something deep inside me, like she’d been the key to unlocking parts of my soul that I’d chained up behind gigantic gates decades ago. She’d come into my life so suddenly and so unexpectedly, and now, here I was, considering things I hadn’t even thought about for years.
This is nuts.
Shaking my head at myself, I finally turned over my engine again and drove back to Everwood. Things really were under control, but there was also a lot that needed to be done and we couldn’t afford to lose any time.
After a long workday, I stopped by a grocery store and bought a bottle of my sister’s favorite wine. Then I headed over to her place, intent on just stopping by and not staying too long. I was exhausted, but Lillian would kill me if I didn’t at least show up for a drink.
My sister lived on the outskirts of town, on a huge tract of land with stables out back and a chicken coop where her kids went to collect eggs every morning. She’d always dreamed of living on a farm, but she also wanted to be close to the kids’ school, so this had been her compromise.
I smiled as the double-story home rose up ahead of me. Christmas lights decorated the walls, the garden, and the driveway. Lillian adored the festive season, and ever since she’d had kids, her love for it had grown to frightening proportions.
She went all out, and every single year, she added more decorations. The amount of Christmas cheer in their home was borderline out of control, but I loved it. Driving onto her property felt like rolling up to the North Pole. Smiling as I parked behind William’s car, I climbed out of my own, suddenly glad that I’d come now that I knew my middle brother was back in town.
Lillian opened her front door before I’d even reached it. Smiling, she pressed a glass of wine into my hand and motioned at the bottle I was carrying in the other. “Good. You brought more. We’re going to need that.”
I chuckled. “I thought you said Lisa wasn’t coming this year. Why do you need more wine?”
She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. “Lisa didn’t come, but Smith did. He and William have already gotten into it over the price of eggs.”
I sighed, my head shaking as I followed her into their house. I looked around for the kids, but when they didn’t come running, I realized they must not be home.
Lillian laughed when she caught me looking. “We sent the kids to Charlie’s parents for a sleepover. Granny and Grandpa are having some special time with them while Mom and Dad get the night off. It’s a win-win.”
“But a loss for me,” I lamented. “I’ve been looking forward to the hugs. Are the other kids here?”
She shook her head as she led me into the dining room. “It’s just us tonight. A grown-up games night, if you will.”
“Pity. The kids are so much more fun than you all.” I winked at her when she flipped me off, but then I turned my attention to the others.
Grant and Natasha were there, and they stood up when I walked in. Smith gave me a lazy wave and went back to his drink until William slapped him upside the head. “What are you doing? Say hi, asswipe.”
“Hi,” Smith said, eyes rolling at our brother even though William’s back was already turned to him.
“Arland! I was starting to think you weren’t going to be here.” William grinned and shook my hand before pulling me in for a hug. Then he passed me to his wife, Anna.
I smiled at them. “It’s good to see you guys. How was your vacation?”
“Amazing.” Anna sighed dreamily before going back to her seat at my sister’s expansive dining table. “Next year, we should all go to the tropics together for Thanksgiving. Sunshine and sea, people. It was incredible.”
“Whatever you do, just don’t go to Fiji,” Smith sniped. “Apparently, no one is allowed to vacation there anymore.”
William frowned, casting a questioning look at me, and I shook my head in response. Personally, I wasn’t eager to revive that argument. My brother sighed and went to join his wife at the table. One by one, the rest of us followed.
“What happened with that girl you were seeing at Thanksgiving?” Grant asked. “You did go to see her in Texas, right?”
“I did.” I grinned. “It’s actually going pretty well. We’re seeing each other now, but we’re keeping it hush-hush.”
“Why?” William asked. “Who is she? When did you get a girlfriend?”
“While you were away,” Lillian said with a smug smile. “We need to be careful, though. Her brother doesn’t know they’re together. That’s why they’re keeping it quiet.”
“Who’s her brother?” William asked, exasperation tightening his features. “I feel like I’m missing a lot of relevant information here.”
I laughed but left it to Lillian to tell most of the story. After she’d given him the background, I gave them a quick update on everything that had happened since, reiterating that Brian didn’t know. “It’s not an ideal situation, but we’d like to keep him from finding out for now. At least until we can figure out a few things.”
Thankfully, my siblings got it, and like Grant and Lillian, William was excited for me. They questioned me about her until my mouth was dry and I’d spoken more words than I probably ever had in a day, but I still hadn’t run out of things to say.
Smith was the only one who didn’t seem to be interested, but I knew he was listening. He always was.
I ignored him, though. Honestly, he and I hadn’t really had a relationship for almost three decades. Even before everything had happened with Lisa, Smith had always had a huge chip on his shoulder, and while the rest of us tolerated him, including him in stuff like game night for Mom’s benefit, he hadn’t felt much like a brother for most of our lives.
“I didn’t expect to ever say these words again, but I think I’ve met my future wife,” I said as I finished my first glass of wine. “We’ll have to see how it goes and there are a lot of things we’d have to work out, but I like her. A lot. I can definitely see myself spending the rest of my life with her.”
My siblings burst out in cheers and applause. My sister went to grab the next bottle of wine while Natasha and Anna tried to convince me to let them meet Mariam. They would all be at the opening next week, but it seemed my sisters-in-law didn’t want to wait that long.
If she’d been in town, I would have called her and brought her over, which was no small thing for me. I hadn’t introduced a woman to my family in a long, long time, but somehow, the fact that I hadn’t introduced her to them yet seemed stranger to me than the prospect of bringing her home.
It felt like she belonged here with me, like Charlie did with Lillian, Natasha with Grant, and Anna with William. As I looked around the table, I decided that I would do everything in my power to make sure that she would be here with us next year.
Even if I had absolutely no idea how to go about doing that just yet.