Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
MARIAM
I wrapped my arms around Arland’s neck and pulled him closer, knowing he was everything I’d ever wanted. All my doubts and worries about where he stood on our age difference had vanished while he’d been explaining why he’d said what he had the other night.
I still would have preferred if he’d stood up for us and I still felt like he should’ve known I never would have wanted him to deny our relationship, but I had also forgiven him for both of those things.
Could I have made him grovel a little more? Probably, but I wasn’t the type of person who needed dozens of apologies, heaps of flowers, and all sorts of fancy gestures before I’d forgive. Forgiveness, to me, was an intentional decision to let go of the anger and the hurt in order let the healing begin. I didn’t have any space in my soul for bitterness and no intense desire to “make people pay.”
Arland had looked me in the eyes and apologized. He’d explained what his thought process had been. While I didn’t agree with all of it, I did understand where he’d been coming from. That was enough for me.
He’d apologized and he’d meant it. As far as I was concerned, he’d done all I’d wanted to earn my forgiveness and I’d given it to him. Freely, willingly, and eagerly.
As his lips moved against my own, I smiled, completely comfortable with my decision not only to forgive him, but to be with him. A lot of those challenges I’d been worried about facing were still coming for us. I wasn’t as naive as Brian seemed to think. I knew there would be questions about whether he was my father and I knew we’d certainly receive our fair share of judgment, but with this man by my side, I also knew we’d get through it all as long as we stuck together.
I didn’t care what my parents thought and I didn’t care about Lisa or Smith either. I wanted Arland and now I finally had him.
Not in secret. Not in the shadows, but out in the open. We were finally going public and being honest about our feelings and nothing had ever felt so good.
“I love you,” I murmured against his lips, breaking the kiss. My nose was still touching his as I looked up into his eyes. “Let’s go home, shall we? It’s freaking freezing out here.”
“Your wish, my command, and all that, but which home are we going to?” he asked as he slid a hand along the length of my arm and twined his fingers around my own. “Have you got everything you need from your office?”
“It’s already in my car,” I replied, glancing up at his gorgeous face, his striking features awash with the warm colors of the Christmas lights. “Let’s go to your place for tonight. I’ll throw together something for us to eat and we can keep talking?”
He nodded, sending me a teasing smile. “All of that sounds good except for the part about throwing together something to eat. We might need to pick up some food on the way. I haven’t been home much, so I have no idea what I’ve got in the kitchen, but I do know that it’s not much.”
I chuckled. “Fair enough, but if we pick up food on the way tonight, I’m cooking for you tomorrow night. I’ll have groceries delivered.”
“Let’s go shopping together tomorrow,” he suggested, his voice strangely hopeful and excited. “We’ll buy whatever you say, but we don’t need to get it delivered.”
I frowned, but as I stared up at the genuine joy on his face at the prospect of going shopping together, I felt my frown morphing into a smile. “You are a strange, strange man, Arland Stone, but fine. We’ll go shopping together tomorrow.”
And we did.
The next week went by in a flash, but I was having such a blast that I was the happiest I’d ever been. Arland and I ran the Chalet together with Brian. We enjoyed snowy nights and Christmas lights, getting to know people from all over the town when they came to see Everwood or when we went out together.
To my surprise, we drew far fewer stares than I was expecting, with most people barely sparing us a second glance when we walked hand in hand down the street. Brian was coming around too, apparently accepting our relationship and doing it much faster than I would have thought.
He grinned as he waved goodbye to us one night, his gaze moving from mine, to Arland’s, and back again. “You two have a good one. I’ll see you in the morning. It’s really coming down out there tonight. I’m glad you’re not driving.”
I rolled my eyes at my brother but released Arland’s hand to go over to give him a hug. “Contrary to what you might believe, I’m a great driver. I would’ve been fine.”
“Maybe, but driving in the snow is very different to just driving.” He hugged me tight. “You might have a boyfriend now, Mims, but I’m still your big brother. It’s still my job to protect you. I just have backup in that job now.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my head against his chest, listening to the comforting, even beat of his heart. “Thanks, Bri. I love you.”
“I love you too,” he murmured against my hair, then let me go, waved at Arland, and took off back to his office.
As he retreated, Arland reached for my hand again and tugged me gently into his side. “You have a boyfriend, huh?”
I felt my cheeks flush, but I shrugged as I smiled up at him. “Apparently so. You alright with that?”
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever been called.” He turned into my side, touching a palm to my face before he groaned and took a step away. “Come on, girlfriend. Let’s go home so we can be alone.”
I giggled and followed him. We bundled up before we walked out into the frigid cold. “Whatever will we do once we’re alone, I wonder.”
He smirked at me. “Cook, of course. We haven’t had dinner yet. Then I suppose we’ll also have to clean up. Maybe do a bit of laundry and wash a few floors.”
I laughed. My cheeks were already stinging from the cold by the time we reached his car. He opened the door for me and waited until I was in before he shut it again, jogging around the car before jumping into the driver’s seat.
As he got the heat going, I turned to face him. “I assume we’ll be doing all of that naked? It doesn’t seem to me that we’d have to be alone for it otherwise.”
“Absolutely.” He pumped his eyebrows at me before he backed out of his parking spot. “In fact, I think we should make that a rule. When we’re at home, we’re naked.”
“Okay,” I agreed jokingly. “How exactly are we going to get anything done if we’re always naked, though?”
“We’re not,” he said immediately. “I’ll hire a company to come do the cleaning and maybe we’ll get a private chef to cook for us so we wouldn’t have to do that either.”
Another giggle bubbled out of me. “Or we could just keep our clothes on while we have to do those things.”
“A much less exciting suggestion, but I’ll take it under advisement,” he said with a big grin. He reached across the center console to rest a hand on my thigh. “When are you leaving?”
I sighed, my chest aching at the mere thought of leaving him, but it was Christmas soon and I had to get back to Austin for the holidays. “On Saturday morning. Are you sure you can’t come with me?”
“My mom has already made plans,” he said, apology and regret in his tone. “I wish I could, though. At least it’s only for a few days.”
I nodded, but as I settled in for the drive to his house, I couldn’t quite shake the sadness about not being able to spend Christmas with him. Ultimately though, my flight was already booked and my friends and I had a bunch of traditions that I wanted to be in Texas for.
Arland and I spent every night that week together at his place, and although I hadn’t officially moved in, it was sure starting to feel like I had. He’d cleared space in his gigantic, walk-in closet for my clothes and I had my own toiletries in his bathroom.
The fridge was stocked with my favorite treats and I’d even had some pictures printed of us together and I’d framed them for his walls. As a couple, we’d settled in fast and well, and that made it so much more difficult to leave him when Saturday morning finally arrived.
Snow drifted gently to the ground outside as I moved around the bedroom, making sure I’d packed all I needed. The scents of Arland’s shower gel and cologne drifted through the air as he came out of the bathroom and started getting ready. Neither of us spoke much as I finished packing and zipped up my bag.
I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest once I was done, with tears stinging the backs of my eyes and the next few days looming ahead of me like a dark tunnel. Sighing, I strode up to him, wrapped my arms around his waist from behind, and rested my head against his back.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” I said softly, my voice just loud enough that I knew he’d be able to hear me. “Is it weird that I’m dreading spending Christmas without you when we’ve never even spent one together?”
He leaned into me. “Nope. I feel the same way. I would’ve loved to spend the day with you. Christmas was one of my dad’s favorite holidays, so it’s always been a special one for me.”
“This sucks,” I said unhappily. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to going home, and seeing my friends, and doing all the things we do every year. It’s just that I also would’ve loved starting a few new traditions with you.”
He turned in the circle of my arms and brought his hands up to cup the sides of my neck. “How about we do our own little Christmas when you get back?”
“That sounds amazing.” I felt a smile creeping onto my lips. “It doesn’t completely make up for not being together on the actual day, but at least it’s something to look forward to.”
“Hurry back, Mimi.” He pressed his forehead to my own, closing his eyes and simply breathing me in as I did the same to him.
Once we broke apart, the time had come for me to fly home. Arland drove me to the airport, kissing me deeply when we had to say goodbye. All around us were couples and families doing the same thing, the departures terminal almost as busy as the arrivals.
Airports were always loud and emotional at Christmastime, regardless of whether you were saying hello or goodbye. This was the first time I was being affected by it though, and I didn’t like having to walk away from him at all, let alone having to do it now after he’d told me how special Christmas was to him.
All the way home, I wished he was with me, but I also knew that he had to be with his family and that he wanted to be with them just as much as I wanted to be with mine. My parents would be coming to Christmas at Deb’s house this year, but they weren’t who I wanted to be with.
It was my chosen family that I missed, Gemma, and Laurel, and Deb, and all the others who came with them. When my plane finally touched down, I locked the sadness in a compartment in my head and forced myself to smile.
Gemma and Laurel needed me now—and the last thing they needed was even more sadness. Arland and I had made up, but neither of them had done the same thing with their guys.
Something told me things with Laurel and Leif would come to a head now that they were both back in Austin. As far as I knew, he was still coming to Christmas at Deb’s with his family, but Noah…
I had no clue what to expect from him. I didn’t even know if boybands had time off over Christmas. It was entirely possible that even if he wanted to come here and win her back, he might not be able to.
And Leif…
Well, as much as I suspected things would come to a head, there was no guarantee that he and Laurel would finally get their happily ever after.
Meanwhile, Arland and I were back together and happy, which meant that missing him for a few days was nothing in comparison to what my friends were going through. The forced smile became very much real when I disembarked to find Gemma waiting for me.
Her eyes were a little watery and still slightly swollen, but at least she looked a little better than she had every time I’d video called with her. She grinned when she saw me, wrapping her arms around my neck and squeezing me tight.
“Oh, my gosh. You are a sight for sore eyes, Mimi. How are you?”
“The better question is, how are you?” I asked against her hair, giving her a long hug before I finally took a step back. Worried as I looked her over, I reached out to squeeze her hand. “Well, I have to admit that you look better than I was expecting.”
“Just a little war paint,” she confessed. “I couldn’t leave the house looking as bad as I felt. Besides, it’s been long enough. It was about time that I took charge, and at this point, the only thing I can really control is what I look like.”
I chuckled. “It hasn’t even been a week, babe. But sure, I hear ya. At least you made an effort. You are going to get through this, you know?”
“No, I actually don’t know,” she said. “I mean, obviously I know that I’m going to literally survive effectively being dumped by a popstar, but I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to move on. Noah was just…”
She trailed off and when I realized she wasn’t going to finish her sentence, I did it for her, knowing that she felt the same way about Noah as I did about Arland. “Everything you’ve ever wanted?”
She shrugged. “Sure. Let’s leave it that. How’s Laurel?”
“You probably know more than I do,” I said.
We left the airport terminal together, only stopping on the way to Deb’s to pick up some drinks and snacks. We were having our big girl sleepover tonight. Even though it was only the three of us, Gemma and I bought so many snacks and treats that we would have been able to feed at least a dozen people. But it was called comfort food for a reason and my friends desperately needed comfort. Actually, so did I.
When we got to Deb’s house, we found Laurel teary eyed in the kitchen with her mom, who smiled when we walked in. Coming over to greet us, she gave us hugs and then left us to talk.
Gemma and I set out some drinks and snacks, then both took Laurel into our arms. My chest squeezed when I realized they were both crying.
We finally broke apart. I sighed, looking from one of my friends to the other and feeling the sudden urge to smack both those men over the head with a frying pan. “It looks like it’s going to be a sad girl Christmas.”
“I’m swearing off men for the rest of the year,” Laurel said dramatically.
Gemma chuckled through her tears. “Count me in for next year too.”
As Laurel and I giggled, Gemma inhaled a deep breath and then gave each of us another hug before I saw her rallying. She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and took charge like only she could. “Okay, that’s enough of this. We have a lot of food to eat, a lot of drinks to drink, and a lot of catching up to do. Let’s go.”
Even though I still missed Arland and still wished I could smack Noah and Leif upside the head, I smiled. As long as these two girls were in my life, there was nothing I couldn’t get through. They’d always been there for me, through thick and thin, and now, it was my turn to be there for them—and I would stop at nothing to make sure the smiles were back on their faces before I left here.