46. Ava
Chapter Forty-Six
Ava
He’s here. For me.
I read and reread Tanner’s text, my heart racing faster each time. I finally replied.
Me: I miss you and love you too. Can’t wait to hear what happened with our texts.
“Ava.” Slipping my phone into my pocket, I spun around to see my mother standing beside the boxes I’d taped up earlier.
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to miss you.”
My lips curled at the corners. “I’ll miss you too, Mom.”
“I’m happy for you. When do you leave?”
“I just made my flight reservations for tomorrow. I’m taking all this to the delivery place this afternoon to ship up to Alaska.” I gestured to the small stack.
“It’s not very much,” she pointed out.
I looked at the boxes. “I don’t have much, Mom.”
I’d grown up in this house and stayed here through college. When Brad asked me to marry him after we started working at the same company, I’d simply moved into his place. None of the furniture had been mine. I’d lived lightly, mostly because I’d been busy taking care of everyone else.
Boxing up my life felt like such a small task in the grand scheme of things.
I had always been the one organizing everything, tracking the endless ticker tape in my mind of what needed to happen next.
I knew my mom once had that ticker tape too.
Hers had revolved around my sister’s health, while mine revolved around everything else in our family.
Before dealing with the boxes, I ran a few last-minute errands, odds and ends that felt mundanely symbolic, like tying off loose strings on a life I was folding away.
My phone buzzed. Glancing down, I saw a text from my mother.
Mom: Can you stop by?
Me: You know I’ll be back soon.
Mom: I know. But your dad and I need a little help.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. Lord only knew what last-minute crisis required my attention before I left.
You’re moving. You won’t have to fix everything anymore. I gave myself a firm mental pep talk as I drove back to my parents’ house.
“What is it, Mom?” I called as I walked through the front door. No answer. “Mom? Dad?”
My dad shouldn’t even be home yet. I stepped into the kitchen and stopped so abruptly my shoes squeaked against the tile. “Hey, Ava.” Tanner’s low voice rolled through me like thunder. My mouth fell open, and I just stared at him.
“What are you doing here?” I finally sputtered.
“I came to see you,” he said simply.
My heart pounded so hard it felt like applause inside my chest. I let out something between a squeal and a yelp and launched myself at him. Of course, he caught me. He was my personal firefighter-rescue guy after all.
His arms wrapped around me, strong and steady, lifting me effortlessly. “Hey, sweetheart,” he murmured into my hair.
“Oh my God. I missed you so much.” I leaned back just enough to cup his face in my hands, searching his eyes as if I needed proof he was real.
“I missed you,” he said, his gaze somber.
“What happened?”
“I’ll explain. First—this.”
Before I could ask what “this” was, he kissed me.
It was a full-on Tanner kiss. The kind of kiss that vaporized oxygen and every coherent thought in my brain. The kind that made the world narrow down to nothing but sensation and him. I lost myself in it completely.
Until I heard my mother clear her throat. We broke apart abruptly. “My mom’s here.”
“Well, yeah.” Tanner’s lips twitched. “She let me in.”
He eased me back down to my feet, but kept his hands on my waist. I stared up at him, memorizing every line of his face, my heart still galloping. He flew here. For me.
My mom just beamed at us.
“Is this why I needed to rush home?” I asked, my cheeks burning.
“Of course. I like your Tanner.”
“Oh, he’s my Tanner?” I glanced up at him.
He held my gaze, the promise in his eyes making my heart do cartwheels and my belly shimmer with sparks. He dipped his chin without saying a word, and suddenly I felt breathless.
“So this is why you’re moving to Alaska,” my mom said.
I took a quick breath. “Well, Tanner definitely sweetens the move,” I admitted honestly. “But I fell in love with Alaska when I went up the first time.”
“I know,” my mom said, her expression sobering. “You couldn’t shut up about it.” I laughed. “We’ll come visit.”
“Thanks for letting me surprise Ava,” Tanner said a few minutes later.
I had already started organizing my boxes to carry them out to the car. “I know you just got here,” I said, flashing him an apologetic smile, “but I have to get these to the shipping place this afternoon.”
“I’ll help.” Green flag for Tanner. Not that I needed another one. The man might as well wear a green flag. He rescued people. He was kind, steady, good with his hands in more ways than one, and he never hesitated to pitch in.
Helping with something boring wasn’t in Brad’s wheelhouse.
He just wasn’t that guy. Tanner, on the other hand, had the boxes loaded into the back of the SUV he’d rented in a matter of minutes.
I must have thanked him too many times on the drive over because when he pulled up in front of the shipping place and turned off the engine, he angled toward me. “Ava?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to keep thanking me. You thanked me once. That’s enough. I know you’d help me carry boxes if I had boxes to carry.”
“You’re right.” I wrinkled my nose, feeling heat rising in my cheeks.
“I’m happy to help move boxes or anything you need.”
“Okay,” I said softly.
It was so difficult for me to accept help.
I hated feeling like I was asking for something extra.
I was used to taking care of everything, making sure no one had to go out of their way for me.
It wasn’t my sister’s fault. I would never think that.
She’d had a complicated medical condition, and she needed care.
That was reality. But it had shaped me. I learned to stay quiet, to stay out of the way, and not to need too much. Even now, I still struggled with that.
On the drive back to my parents’ house, Tanner reached across the console for my hand. I savored the feel of his palm, warm and slightly calloused, strong and steady around mine. “Your mom said I could stay at the house,” he said.
“Of course.” I sighed lightly. “It’s just not…” I hesitated, my cheeks heating again. “The most romantic place.”
He let out a low chuckle, sending goose bumps prickling over my skin. That was how bad I had it. A simple laugh, and my hormones were doing somersaults.
“If you want,” I added, leaning my head back against the seat, “you could stay at a hotel. I’d go with you, but it’s my last night here before I move. I’ve never lived away from my parents’ orbit. I didn’t technically live in their house when I was married, but you know what I mean.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” he said, his thumb brushing slowly over mine. His touch was distracting, very distracting. “We’ll stay there.”
“My bedroom is right next to theirs,” I warned.
“Yeah. She already showed me.” He flashed a quick grin.
“My sister’s old room is across the hall, but it’s become a glorified storage room.”
“Ava, I want to stay there. I missed you. I just want to be with you.”
“The wall is really thin,” I added.
“Appreciate the warning.” He waggled his brows.
The gleam in his eyes told me I might have to practice being very quiet tonight.