CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE ~ ABBY ~ NOW #3
“Stay. Once the tenants leave what will be Brodie’s and my flat, Mum and Dad are bringing someone in to clean the place and fix it up a bit.
After that, you could stay there. Make it your own for a couple of months while you figure things out.
” She pauses to take a sip of her coffee, wrinkling her nose at the fact it’s gone cold.
“When Brodie and I came up with this brilliant plan last night, we had no idea about you and Graeme. So...if you two are ready for such a big step, you could just stay with him.”
My brain falls back on its usual failsafe: scrambling for reasons this won’t work. “What about my stuff?”
Drew scoffs and rolls her eyes. “You mean the two suitcases’ worth of stuff you arrived from Toronto with? You came to Scotland for two weeks with nothing but a carry-on, so I’m guessing there’s hardly anything left in Kingston anyway. I can handle packing up the rest and bringing it in July.”
I think about my purchases yesterday and that foreign feeling of wanting to collect things, paired with the idea of having a permanent home to put them in.
After my conversation with Graeme yesterday, I felt so grounded and sure.
Drew telling me she and Brodie are moving here should cement that certainty, and yet doubts are creeping in once more.
“This feels too...easy. Too neat.” My leg is bouncing uncontrollably under the table, and the napkin in front of me is now a shredded pile of paper.
Drew’s face softens in sympathy. It’s an expression I’ve seen plenty of times over the years, and one I’ve given my fair share of. It’s that ‘I see you, I understand you, I get where this fear and pain and resistance are coming from because I’ve felt it too’ look.
“Do you remember shortly after I met Brodie, I started to panic because he seemed too good to be true, and I was worried he’d turn out to be an asshole?
” Drew asks. “You were the one who talked me down and convinced me I didn’t need to maintain that vigilant mindset.
You said, ‘That’s your trauma talking. You’re not used to things being effortlessly good’. That really stuck with me.”
I remember that conversation; it was a month or so into their relationship.
Even I was wary about Brodie being too good to be true, but I’d never seen Drew that happy, and all I knew was that Brodie was the cause of it.
Now here we are, sixteen years later, and Brodie has proven himself to be a rare and beautiful unicorn among men.
I guess it’s something that runs in the MacKinlay family.
“I’m going to say the same thing to you now, Abby. Things get to be good. You deserve good things. Your job is to allow it and accept it.”
Whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye.
Graeme’s voice floats through my mind. An image of his face follows, making me melt inside.
Cerulean eyes, tousled hair, the perpetual five o’clock shadow that drives me wild for some reason.
That man—every beautiful inch of him—is mine.
After letting a life with him slip through my fingers twice before, I refuse to do it again.
Drew’s squeal jars me back to the moment. “We’re moving to Scotland, aren’t we?”
I laugh breathlessly. “After keeping all these separate secrets, I think The Crew needs to get together and have a serious talk about the future.” The words are barely out of my mouth before I gasp. “Fern! What about her? Are we all just going to move here and leave her behind?”
“Well,” Drew says, drawing out the word and waggling her eyebrows.
“You know Ailsa, the woman Fern met at the pub the night of your birthday? Last night, when we got back from dinner, Fern oh-so-casually mentioned that Ailsa was looking for a business partner for her new yoga studio. She said she could see herself living and working in Edinburgh.”
Now it’s my turn to bark out a laugh. “So we’d all be here?”
“The entire Crew, just like the good old days,” Drew says, grinning wide enough to show nearly all her teeth. “Same chaotic vibes, different country.”
We move in unison, rising from our chairs and throwing our arms around each other. I won’t lie, that annoying little voice continues to whisper ‘this is too easy’, but I tell it to shut the fuck up. It’s well past time I stop standing in my own way and accept that I deserve to be happy.
After a long hug that draws the attention of nearly everyone in the restaurant, I excuse myself to use the bathroom. When I return, our plates have been cleared, and there are fresh cups of coffee on the table.
“I didn’t think you’d mind that I asked the waitress to take away the rest of our breakfast,” Drew says. “I felt bad for hogging a table for so long, so I ordered more coffee and fresh toast.”
I’m slathering raspberry jam on my toast a few minutes later when the door to the restaurant opens, and Graeme and Brodie step inside.
“I called them to join us while you were in the washroom,” Drew says.
Graeme spots us first. The smile that overtakes his face leaves me dazzled, as if I’ve just stared directly at the sun.
Drew makes a high-pitched noise in the back of her throat, but I can’t pry my eyes away from Graeme as he and Brodie cross the room. “How did I never see it before?” she says softly. “He’s always looked at you like that. It was staring me in the face this whole time, and I missed it.”
I stand as Graeme reaches us. That dazzling smile is still in place, and I swear I nearly swoon as he cups my face and stares into my eyes before lowering his mouth to mine.
My skin prickles with the knowledge that after loving each other all these years, this is the first time we’ve kissed in front of our friends.
As I return to my seat, my gaze meets Drew’s. Tears are swimming in her eyes, and her hands are clasped under her chin. “You two are so cute. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“What?”
The tears that linger in her eyes don’t hide the mischief gleaming underneath. “We’re going to be sisters for real.”
My mouth pops open as my gaze darts in Graeme’s direction. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I say with a nervous laugh.
“I think we should, in fact, get ahead of ourselves,” Graeme says.
He’s sitting beside me now, reclining in his seat like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“I meant it when I said I’m in this for the long haul.
” He sits up and mimics Drew’s posture, leaning on the table until our faces are only inches apart.
“My ultimate goal is to make you an official MacKinlay.”
Drew and Brodie’s reactions are drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in my ears. For a moment, I mistake the sudden dizziness and racing heart as anxiety, but it’s adrenaline. Excitement. Certainty. An official MacKinlay. A real forever family made up of the people I love most in the world.
Graeme’s brow creases. “Too soon to be making declarations like that? We can take all the time you need, a ghràidh, but I want my intentions to be clear.”
I use my thumb to smooth the divot between his brows. “And I want my intentions to be clear. It took me years to find my way back to you, and now that I have, I’m not going anywhere. This family of ours is all I want. You are all I want.”
Blood whooshes in my ears once more as a smile breaks over Graeme’s face, beautiful and bright. He closes the small space between us, stopping just before his lips meet mine. “I’m yours, Abby. Now and always.”
And then, in a sunny restaurant in Edinburgh, surrounded by our friends, Graeme seals his promise with a kiss.