Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Harlow doesn’t say much as we head to the airfield, and I don’t push—much.
I do reach over and gently take her hand, which, much to my delight, she wraps her tiny hand in mine without a moment of hesitation.
We ride in silence even though I have a million questions about what happened tonight to make her sad.
Is she okay? Did someone hurt her? Did she get the bidding thing figured out?
Where are her parents? Do they know she left?
But I don’t ask any of those. I can see that’s not what she needs.
She needs steady, calm, and peace. I can be those things for her.
The car drops us off near the jet, and we board without much conversation.
“I wasn’t sure if you would have time to change, so Savannah put this together for you,” I tell her as I hand her a duffel bag with a change of comfortable clothes and basic toiletries.
I point to the rear of the plane. “There’s a bathroom back there off the bedroom with a small shower if you want to get cleaned up or anything. ”
Her eyes widen as she looks from the bag to me and the back of the plane.
“Or you can ignore all of that and just have a seat. Whatever you need. Although I think if you want to shower, you’ll have to wait until we are in the air.
But I don’t know how it all works, it’s Jack’s jet.
” I shrug. My brother is a billionaire, and I’ve been on this jet multiple times, but usually with him.
I know he doesn’t mind if we need to borrow it—a fact my sisters used regularly when Vivian lived in Chicago, and Savannah was back in Forrest Falls.
The flight attendant walks through the safety measures as we take our seats in two captain’s chairs seated next to each other. I reach over and take her hand again, and she squeezes it slightly.
“I still can’t believe you did this and came for me, Ryan. Thank you. This might be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” She sounds better than earlier, but her eyes are still sad, and I hate that.
“I said if you needed something, I would handle it, right?” Harlow nods. “Plus, this way, I didn’t have to wait another few days until I saw you.”
“Oh, so the entire thing was actually selfishly motivated, huh?” She gives me one of the few smiles I’ve seen tonight since she walked into her parents’ building lobby.
“Even split, probably.” I grin at her. “And I wanted to ask you if we could revisit the dinner conversation.”
She scrunches her face. “To Spoon and Smash? They won’t be open when we land in Nashville.”
“Well, no. I just meant I wanted to ask you out on a proper date, and this plane is going back to Forrest Falls tonight.”
“Wait, what?”
“It felt a little too casual before, so I wanted to make my intentions crystal clear here,” I tell her as I give her hand a gentle squeeze.
She lifts the hand I’m not holding and swirls a finger in the air. “I think the jet made things pretty clear.”
“Good.”
“So … are you going to ask?” She smiles up at me.
“If you wanted to go back to Forrest Falls?”
“That … and the date,” she quietly adds as she looks down at our conjoined hands.
“Well, the flight path is already set, but you have multiple options when we get there. It’s going to be like one in the morning, but I’ll drive you back to Nashville if you want. You’re welcome to stay in one of my guest rooms, or Savannah said I had to offer you one of her guest rooms as well.”
“Okay. So, ask.” She bumps my shoulder with hers.
I don’t fight the grin that spreads across my face. I take my other hand, and with two fingers, I raise her chin so she’s looking at me. “Harlow, will you go on a date sometime in the near future with me? And also, will you spend the night in Forrest Falls?”
She rolls her lips before her smile comes back.
And for the second time this evening, Harlow makes my day with a single word: “Yes.”