Chapter 24 #2
“How about if you pick him up after work? I’ll have all his stuff ready, and it’ll give me time to say goodbye.
” My throat tightens at the thought of not having Winston with me.
He’s been an angel this past week and a half since Beau left, like he knows that I couldn’t have handled his wild ways given the circumstances.
I will miss all the snuggles, but I’m so relieved the shelter is allowing Heather to adopt him.
If it can’t be me, she will be the perfect dog mom for him.
She pushes the paperwork across my desk.
“You are going to be okay,” she tells me.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing.
I know leaving Winston behind is going to be hard, but you only meant to foster him in the first place, and you need to spend this time doing what’s right for you and Beau. ”
I glance down at the copy of the Leave of Absence request form I’d filled out a couple days earlier, now complete with both Heather’s signature and that of the HR Director.
“And if you end up back in Park City, there will always be a place for you here,” she tells me.
“Thank you,” I say, wanting to tell her how much I needed to hear her say those words.
I’m positive I’m making the right decision for now, but I’m not sure what the future will hold.
Could Beau and I end up back here? It’s presumptuous to even consider it, given that I don’t really know how he’s going to react to me showing up in Laax this weekend.
In all of our planning this past week, Jackson was insistent that it won’t be like when I showed up in Aspen.
Petra and Lauren have reminded me that this is exactly the type of plan that will ensure Beau knows I value our relationship, that I value him.
It’s the brilliant plan we tried and failed to develop over margaritas nearly two weeks ago—turns out we needed Jackson’s help too.
And I needed to come to terms with letting go of what I’d built for myself here in Park City.
“You should go home early,” Heather says, standing up and brushing a piece of lint off her joggers. “I imagine you need some time to pack.”
“I do.” I take in the two boxes of my personal belongings that I packed up earlier today. I’m about to say that I’ll need to make a couple trips to get my stuff out to my car when Heather offers to carry a box for me. “I feel like you’re trying to get rid of me,” I joke.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I just want to help.”
We walk down the hallway with my boxes, but it’s surprisingly empty.
Most of the office doors are shut, but there’s silence—no one on the phone, or in meetings.
Not even the sound of clicking keys on a laptop.
Then we round the corner to the reception area, and I’m greeted by a shocking chorus of “Surprise!”
The room is decorated with balloons and a banner that reads “We’ll miss you!”
I turn toward Heather. “Go home early, huh?”
“We’re not letting you leave without a proper goodbye.” She sets her box down and takes mine from me, before I’m swept up in a small crowd of people who have been my work family for years. Leaving them is going to be hard, but knowing I’ll be missed makes it a little easier.
Two days later, I’m standing in the lobby waiting for the car service that will take me to the airport.
Outside, the snow has started falling with flakes so large I can hardly see the other side of the street.
I glance down at the large suitcase, the rolling bag with both pairs of my skis, the boot bag filled with all my other ski gear, and my overnight bag.
Then I glance back outside and wonder if my plane will actually leave with this storm blowing in.
As of right now, it’s still showing an on-time departure for late this afternoon, so I’m still heading to Salt Lake City and hoping for the best. But if I make the trip there with all this gear and my flight is canceled, I’m going to be pissed—not only because it’ll mean at least one additional day until I see Beau, but also because I’ll be stranded in Salt Lake City and have to get myself to a hotel room with all this luggage.
A big black SUV pulls up to the curb directly in front of the building, and the driver gets out. I push open the glass door and stick my head out.
“Sierra Lemieux?” he asks.
“Yes, and I have kind of a lot of luggage,” I say, gesturing to the bags behind me.
“Let’s get it loaded and on the road before there’s too much snow to go over the mountains.”
I roll the big suitcase and the ski bag over to him, and he takes the handles on each and rolls them to the trunk, where the lift gate opens like magic.
As he loads those in, I throw my boot bag over one shoulder and pick up my overnight bag.
The snow falls in fat flakes around me as I walk toward the back of the car, and the driver meets me halfway.
“Here, miss, I’ll get these for you,” he says as he takes the boot bag from me.
“I’ll hold on to this one.” I nod toward the overnight bag in my hand. The purse I picked up for traveling is tucked in the top, ready to access when I need my phone, passport, money, and any other essentials.
I watch him pack my bags into the back of the SUV and things feel more real now than they ever have.
My stomach drops every time I stop long enough to think about what I’m doing.
That I left my job and am packing up my life to be with Beau, and I still don’t know how he’ll feel about that.
Jackson insists that this was never just a fling for him, and knowing that does make some of his actions and reactions make more sense.
But she’s been wrong about him before—I pray that she’s right this time. Either way, this is the turning point.
New snow is accumulating quickly on the packed snow left over from our last storm a few days ago.
The fresh flakes crunch under my snow boots as I walk around the car to the back passenger door.
I toss my overnight bag on the seat and am about to step in when another large SUV comes careening toward us, honking and flashing its high beams. I jump back in surprise and the driver rushes from the back of the car around to the side, putting himself between me and the car that’s now pulling up behind us.
“What the hell?” the driver mumbles under his breath. The headlights from the other SUV are shining in our faces, and I put my hand up to shield my eyes as the brakes squeal and the back door opens.
“Sierra!”
I gasp at the sound of Beau’s voice. I must be imagining things.
I look up as Beau springs from the back of the car, and then he’s running toward me.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as he skids to a stop in front of me. It’s an awkward welcome, but I’m so taken aback by his presence. I’m supposed to be flying to him . . . in Laax.
“Sierra, I’m so sorry,” he says, taking both my shoulders in his hands.
He leans his head toward mine and rests his forehead against my knit hat.
“I owe you such a monumental apology that I don’t know where to start.
I’ve spent the last sixteen hours of flying trying to figure out how to explain why I screwed things up between us so badly. ”
“Beau,” I say, tilting my head up to look him in the eye. “I’m the one who owes you an apology. And an explanation.”
My driver clears his throat. “I’m sorry, miss. But if we don’t get on the road, I may not get you there in time. The snow’s going to make travel over the mountains really slow.”
I glance from him to Beau.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“To the airport,” I tell him. He raises one eyebrow and I know what he’s asking. “I was coming to Laax. To see you.”
“I don’t think that flight is going anywhere,” he says to me, and glances at my driver.
“The flight attendants on my flight into Salt Lake City were talking about how we were lucky our flight wasn’t getting in a few hours later, because they’ll definitely be closing the airport.
This storm is supposed to dump two feet of snow. ”
“So, what do we do now?” I ask him.
“We go inside and figure this all out.” He kisses the bridge of my nose and then turns to talk to my driver while I step under the overhang outside the building to get out of the snow.
Ten minutes later, Beau drops the last of our collective luggage in the living room of Jackson’s condo and turns to face me.
“Hey,” he says as he steps toward me. His fingers take mine and he squeezes my hand while he dips his head and plants another kiss on the top of my hair.
His proximity is lighting me on fire. Even though I’ve taken off all my outerwear, I’m burning up with need for him.
I wonder if it will always be like this.
“Hey, yourself,” I mumble into his chest as I lean toward him. I circle my arms around his waist and breathe him in.
“I’ve missed you so much,” he says as he wraps his arms around my shoulders and holds me to him.
“Beau, I need to apologize. I need to explain about Aspen.”
“Me first,” he says, and so I nod, swallowing down my protests.
He toys with the ends of my hair and lets out a shaky breath. “I knew I was pushing you away in Aspen, and I did it on purpose.”
Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s an admission without an apology, so I wait to see what else he’ll reveal.