CHAPTER FIVE ~ GRAEME ~ FOURTEEN YEARS AGO #4
“My parents want us to invite the three of you to Edinburgh. They’re going to pay for your plane tickets, and they’d like you all to stay with them. And before you object to them paying for your flight,” I add because I can see her gearing up to argue, “they said to consider it a thank-you for...”
The words trail away. I was going to say ‘for loving their boys the last few years’. That’s how they worded it, but I can’t bring myself to say it. “For your friendship and how you’ve taken care of Brodie and me.”
Tears flood her eyes. “I think it’s the other way around.”
“We’ve all taken care of each other. We’re family, and that’s what family does.”
She purses her lips and makes a high-pitched sound in the back of her throat.
My heart feels like a lump of lead in my chest. I can’t read her expression or tell if the tears are happy, sad, or something else entirely.
In the next instant, she launches herself into my arms, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to topple back on the couch with her on top of me.
She echoes my breathless laugh, and then we’re both laughing hard.
I can tell from her sniffles in my ear that she’s still crying through her giggles, and I might be shedding a happy tear or two myself.
With her hands flat on my shoulders, she lifts herself so she can see my face.
It hits me that the length of her body is molded to mine.
We’ve always been affectionate with each other, and she often snuggles into me when we’re sitting close, but we’ve never been this close.
Not face to face, with her luscious curves pressed against me and her warm breath tickling my skin.
I force those thoughts away, suddenly acutely aware there’s no way she’d miss it if my body circumvented my brain and decided this would be a grand time to get an erection.
Her smile fades in increments, the joy of a moment ago replaced by something akin to curiosity. I remain perfectly still, barely even allowing myself to breathe as her gaze drops to my lips. A series of emotions flicker across her face, too fast for me to pinpoint or name any of them.
For one blissful moment, I think she’s going to lower her mouth to mine. Instead, she blinks rapidly and heaves herself off of me, backing into the far corner of the couch.
“God, sorry, I got carried away there!” Her chest is heaving, and she sounds as if she’s run a mile. Still breathless, she babbles about how happy she is, how thrilled her grandmother would be, and how this is a dream come true, before snapping her mouth shut with a wince.
“I’m glad you’re excited,” I say. “We’re going to have an incredible time.”
Her cheeks are still flushed a deep pink, but the light returns to her eyes as she slides to the edge of the couch and picks up the pen. She writes ‘go to Scotland’ on her list and underlines it three times, then stares at it for ages with a wavering smile.
“Graeme?” she asks without looking at me.
“Hmm?”
“What if...” She pauses, and it’s the longest ten seconds of my life. I want to tell her that whatever she asks of me, the answer will be yes. “What if we...”
Between her frustrated little grunt and the way her shoulders sag, I know the moment has passed. Whatever she was going to ask, she’s burying it deep, the way I’ve witnessed her do so many times over the years. I stifle a grunt of my own.
“What if we have a sleepover tonight?” she asks. “We have all these snacks now, and it’s been ages since we watched a movie together. Plus...I’ve never been alone in the house before. I’ll have to get used to it when I move to Toronto, but—”
I hold up a hand to cut her off. “Of course you can stay. I’ll put clean sheets on Brodie’s bed, and you can sleep in there.”
She does a happy little wiggle that makes me chuckle.
The strange tension from a few minutes ago has passed, and she seems at ease once more as she grabs a cinnamon twist and sits back on the couch.
As curious as I am about the original question behind her ‘what if’, I always want her to be happy and relaxed around me.
Tonight has been the best night I’ve had in ages, despite the reason we ended up spending it together.
I’ve hated the distance between us these last few months, even though I’m technically the one who put it there.
Now we only have another month or so here in Kingston, and then a couple of weeks in Scotland.
After that, life will get busy, responsibilities will take over, and the miles and time zones between us will likely impact our relationship.
Who knows when we’ll see each other again?
Part of me thinks if I were smart, I’d continue to put space between us now.
I can’t do it, though. I want to soak up every second we have together.
Will it make it that much harder to say goodbye in May?
Undoubtedly. But I’ve never been able to resist the pull I feel toward Abby, even though there have been times when it’s felt like the path to madness.