Chapter 50
Theo
Stepping outside Harbor House was like taking that final step off the high diving board and free-falling through the air with excitement and fear swirling in your gut. I had been looking forward to this day for weeks, but now that it was here, I was inexplicably nervous.
My journal was clutched in my hand and I wondered how Dawson would take reading the contents.
For as much as I fought the idea that first day in group, I ended up writing in it daily, sometimes two or three times depending on what was going on in my head.
I was surprised by how much it had actually helped, so it was something I’d carry over into life outside the center.
My group therapist had given me a smug, affectionate look when I’d come clean about that in our last session.
Meryl had gifted me a fancy leather-bound journal for a combo Christmas/Discharge Day present.
She had become my surrogate mom during my stay, talking me through some of my hardest days here and even switching a shift around to be here on my last day.
It was something I didn’t know I was missing.
My own mother hadn’t reached out or said a word to me since shipping me back to Austin, but I couldn’t even be mad at her.
I just didn’t care enough and in the end, that decision was the best one of my fucking life: it brought me back to Dawson.
Being two days away from Christmas felt a bit strange.
I hadn’t been out in the world in a month, so I hadn’t been immersed in the typical holiday shopping music and over-the-top decorations that were everywhere.
It felt like I had skipped over the last couple chapters in my book and I was trying to catch up to the storyline, not exactly sure what I had missed.
My veins thrummed with need as I impatiently waited for Dawson to arrive. Dad told me after our family therapy session yesterday that Dawson would be picking me up after discharge and I had lit up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.
I checked my phone for the time and saw he was almost fifteen minutes late. I mean…it wasn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things, but this was important, damn it! I needed to feel his lips on mine and his arms around me more than I needed oxygen.
A grunt of frustration left me when I called and only got his voicemail, but just then, I saw Dawson’s black truck turning onto the entrance road down the hill.
I was damn near levitating by the time he pulled around the circular driveway and I raced around the back of the truck before he’d even stopped.
I was about to fling myself into his arms when the door opened, but it wasn’t Dawson who stepped out of the driver’s seat.
“What the fuck?” I blurted as I stumbled back.
“You know, I take offense to that,” Nate said, crossing his arms. “Is Dawson the only one allowed to get a hug? I mean, I drove all this way to pick you up and deliver you to your man and I don’t even get a thank you or bro hug. I get a horrified curse. Nice.”
“Hold up, I thought Dawson was picking me up? What do you mean you’re ‘delivering’ me to him?”
“It means I’m cheaper than UPS. Where’s your stuff? You’ve got stuff, right?” Nate walked around the truck before I could answer and picked up my small suitcase to toss in the back seat.
Disappointment swamped me as I realized something must have come up to prevent Dawson from being there. Why hadn’t he at least called and let me know so I could have tempered my excitement and maybe not almost attacked his friend’s face with my tongue?
I climbed into the front seat and buckled up as Nate did the same, shooting me a happy grin. “Alright, let’s boogie!”
He started down the drive, but slammed on the brakes not even two seconds later, pitching us forward.
“What the hell, man? What’s up?” I grumbled, rubbing my sternum where the seatbelt dug in from the force.
“I almost forgot!” he cried, leaning over to open the glovebox and grab something. He gave me a small square of black silk that unfurled in my hand.
“A blindfold?!”
Nate grinned wickedly. “Yep. Dawson says it’s payback time.”
I probably owed Dawson an apology. After wearing the offending blindfold the entire way back to the house, I was highly annoyed and a little bit queasy. At least he’d had a delightful date night playlist to listen to.
I had Nate.
Finally, I felt the car slow to a stop. I reached up to free my eyes, but was thwacked on the hand.
“Ouch! For why?”
“Hands off! The blindfold has to stay on until we get to our destination.”
I groaned like a toddler having to wait for dessert as Nate came around and helped me out of the truck. He led me by my elbow several feet before coming to an abrupt halt.
“Woah, why did we stop?”
“Uhh, well…shit. I don’t think they thought this through.”
“Thought what through?”
“You see, part of the surprise is here, but Dawson said you had to keep your blindfold on a little longer.”
“Can I take the blindfold off real fast to see this part and then put it back on?”
Nate seemed to think that over for a second. “Yeah, okay, that works. But it goes right back on afterwards or Dawson will sic Stella on my nuts.”
With a sigh of relief, I peeled off the silk and blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
Large, car-shaped cardboard pieces were affixed to either side of the golf cart, painted to look like a black limousine. My brain worked overtime to figure out exactly how this worked into any surprise Dawson had planned, but at least I had the location pegged.
“Okay, all aboard! Or whatever the fuck they say when you climb into a limo.”
“I think ‘get in’ pretty much covers it.”
Nate shoved me and instructed me to slide my blindfold back in place once I’d carefully maneuvered through the door cutout to sit down. We took off towards the woods, but soon I caught the sound of cardboard ripping away and felt the jarring bumps as we drove over it.
“Fuck…my bad. I’ll get that later. Umm, maybe don’t mention that when we get there?” Nate rambled.
Within a minute, we came to a stop and Nate held my arm to keep me in place. I heard him typing something on his phone real quick and then he was hopping out and coming to help me as well. I gingerly stepped off the cart and my ears perked up at music filtering through the air.
Something was different though. This wasn’t just Dawson strumming on his guitar for me. Other instruments joined him, creating an upbeat, melodic loop that felt like the intro to a song I should know.
Nate walked me a little closer to the barn and the blindfold fell away, my heart nearly bursting out of my chest.
Neverland had been transformed, making the clearing look like some kind of fairytale forest with lights strung from the rafters out to some of the surrounding trees, streamers wrapped around the support beams and hanging from the ceiling, and a huge silver and blue balloon arch curved over the low, makeshift stage where the band was.
Dawson’s mom had an acoustic guitar slung over her shoulders next to an older, tattooed guy with a bass guitar while an attractive, black-haired guy about my age sat behind the drums.
And at the center of it all was Dawson, the man who had the power to start and stop my heart on a whim, standing under a massive banner hung on the front of the barn.
Homecoming 2025
Tears sprang to my eyes and I blinked to clear them, not wanting to miss a second of this.
I was vaguely aware of a small crowd of our friends and family scattered around, parting for me as I started towards the stage, drawn in like a moth to Dawson’s flame.
The music slowed and faded to only Dawson and his guitar as he started singing into the mic, his eyes pinned on me.
The first lines of Alex Warren’s “Carry You Home” struck me like a blow to the chest and I froze on the spot as he serenaded me. The rest of the improvised band joined in, the two guys providing backup vocals that perfectly complemented Dawson’s rich, warm voice as the song kicked up.
As the song built, the people around me converged near the stage with me, whistling and cheering as though it were a real concert.
When the chorus hit, everyone started clapping in time with the song and laughter burst from me at the surreality of the scene around me.
Dawson’s smile split his face even as he continued singing, flawless and mesmerizing as always.
His eyes never left mine for a second, every lyric and chord a love note to me in a way that was purely Dawson. His intense gaze was radiating love and desire, promise and purpose. It was more than I could ever deserve, more than my heart could bear as it pounded painfully behind my ribs.
The band and noise from our friends faded out as Dawson crooned the last lines alone, baring his heart on the stage for me and pouring every last ounce of his soul into the final notes.
Applause and shouts burst out around us as Dawson lifted his guitar off his shoulders and handed it off to his mom.
A flurry of butterflies took off in my stomach as I watched him jump down from the stage and stride over to me, looking sexier than sin in his dark jeans, black button-up, and cowboy boots.
He pulled up short, leaving only a few inches between us and it took an immense willpower I didn’t know I possessed not to throw myself at him, but the expression on his face told me to wait. He held a hand out and in my periphery, I saw Aly hand over a clear plastic box.
My heart lurched into my throat and those goddamn tears reappeared while Dawson carefully pulled out the white rose boutonniere and leaned in to pin it on my shirt.
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Dawson’s grin widened until his eyes crinkled on the sides in that way I loved so fucking much, and he slid his hands over my jaw and into my hair.
“Happy Homecoming, baby.”