Blown Away (19 page)

A speck of sizzling bacon grease flew out of the pan and hit my arm. I swore and took a step back, wishing I'd remembered to buy one of the screen things to keep that from happening.

I cooked for myself in the camper, but never anything elaborate. My first dinner date with Drew called for more than chicken wings or burgers, though.

It was also the first time I'd used the kitchen in the cabin, which was a hell of a lot bigger than the one in the camper. This six-burner stainless range was no comparison to the small one I was used to. When I'd put it in, I'd only ever imagined my mom using it, impossible as that was.

“Okay,” I said to myself, reading the pasta carbonara recipe again. “Cook this, crumble it, make the sauce, and mix.”

The doorbell sounded and I straightened. Another first. I smiled, liking that Drew was the one to christen it.

I wiped my hands on a dish towel as I crossed the open kitchen and great room to open the door for her. She wore jeans and a sleeveless black shirt, her golden skin glowing and her light blond hair loose around her shoulders.

“Hey,” she said, reaching her arms around my neck. “I missed you.”

I closed my eyes and took in the honeysuckle scent I loved so much. “Missed you, too. You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” She reached into her big black bag and pulled out a bottle. “I brought wine.”

“Ah, good. I've got three bottles, too, so we're set for a few dinners.”

I took her hand and led her into the cabin's great room. Her gaze wandered up to the two-story ceiling and she drew in a breath.

“Aiden…this place is incredible. I had no idea it would be this beautiful.”

She took in the stone fireplace and the wall of windows overlooking the lake. When she got to the kitchen, she grinned and shook her head in disbelief.

“It's like a magazine,” she said. “Just spectacular. I can't believe you built this place yourself.”

I'd hired subcontractors to help with different projects here and there, but she was the first person I was actually showing it to. Her happiness flowed into me, filling me with a sense of accomplishment I'd never felt over building this house.

“I still have finishing work to do,” I said. “And it's not furnished. I bought a card table and some folding chairs so we could have dinner in here tonight.”

She set the wine down on the island. “It smells amazing. You didn't have to go to all this trouble, you know. I would've been just as happy with pizza in the camper if that's what you wanted.”

“I know. But it's our first date.”

Her smile lit up the whole room. I couldn't believe how amazing it felt to have that smile directed at me. Sometimes it still didn't feel real that we were together now.

“It is our first date, isn't it?” She walked to the stove and turned the heat off on the bacon, moving it to a back burner to cool and switching on the exhaust fan.

“Guess I forgot about the food when you got here,” I said, approaching her from behind and wrapping my arms around her waist.

“I'm nervous,” she said, pulling my arms tighter around her.

“About what?”

“Telling you something. Let's finish this and we can talk about it while we eat.”

I put a hand on her hip and eased her around to face me, tipping her chin up so I could study her eyes. “What is it, Drew?”

She sighed, uncertainty swimming in her pretty blue eyes. “Let's finish this first, okay? Then I'll tell you.”

“I don't like to be kept waiting and now I'm worried. What is it? Is this about us?”

She considered. “Not exactly…though it may affect us.”

My mind was sorting through all the possibilities. “Someone you told about us gave you a hard time over it, didn't they? Who was it?”

She shook her head and waved me into motion with her hand. “It's not that. Come on, let's get this pasta put together.”

I drained the fat from the bacon and then strained the pasta, still trying to figure out what this was. Drew was lost in thought as she stirred the cream sauce.

“Hey,” I said softly. She looked up at me. “Are you pregnant?”

Her lips parted in shock. “Aiden, no. I wouldn't do that to you. I said I was on birth control, and I am.”

“Sometimes it fails,” I said, shrugging.

“Why are you so calm right now? Wouldn't you launch into orbit if I was pregnant?”

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. “No. I'd be good with it. I mean, I wanted to marry you first, but…”

“You would? Be happy? And
you do
?”

I took the spoon from her hand and set it on the counter, turning her to face me. “Yes, yes, and yes. I love you, Drew. So
are you
?”

She was giving me a dreamy look. “Am I what?”

“Pregnant. You're killing me, babe.”

“Oh.” She shook her head to clear away the daze. “No, I'm not. Let's mix this and eat.”

I threw everything into a big mixing bowl, stirred it for a few seconds, and set it on the table.

“So tell me,” I said, turning to her.

“Let's pour some wine first.”

“Drew.”

She fiddled with the corkscrew on the wine. “I'm nervous, okay? Give me a second. Open this, will you?”

“You haven't changed your mind about us, have you?”

She laughed as she handed me the bottle. “Of course not. Who else would have me in this boot, anyway?”

“Don't joke about it.”

“Sorry.” She wrapped her arms around my waist from behind, pressing her cheek and chest to my back as I poured two glasses of wine. “I missed you so much today.”

“Me too. I don't like waking up without you beside me.”

“I'll stay tonight, if you want me to.”

“You know I do.”

She let go of me and took the glass of wine I handed her. We sat down and I dished up a plate of pasta and handed it to her, waiting.

I could tell she was working up the nerve to tell me whatever it was as I filled my plate with pasta, so I stayed quiet. When we both had our food in front of us, she took a bite of hers and closed her eyes, giving a hum of satisfaction.

“So good, Aiden. Thank you for making this.” She took a sip of wine and a deep breath. “Before I went on the storm-chasing trip, I was feeling restless. I love Jackie and Shayla, but I was starting to feel like maybe I wanted to do something besides shampoo hair with my life. But
what,
you know? I only have an associate's degree and I didn't even know what I wanted to do.”

I just watched and listened. She was getting more nervous as she continued, licking her lips and looking down at her plate often.

“When you brought me that little girl in Adelia, I sat beside her and felt the most overwhelming sense of helplessness. She needed help, and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to help her so badly.”

I fought the urge to cut in and tell her she'd done just what she should have by putting pressure on the wound, but I didn't want to break her flow.

“And it came to me the next day. I've been thinking about it a lot since then. It's completely crazy, I know, and you'll want to laugh at me.
I
want to laugh at me.”

“What is it, babe? Just tell me.”

She let out the breath she was holding and spoke in a rush. “I want to be a doctor.”

Her eyes searched mine, waiting for a reaction. It reached something inside me that brought a lump of emotion to my throat. I mattered to her. In this world we all needed a safe place where we could bring our wild ideas and expose our vulnerability, and I was hers. God knew she was mine.

“I think you should do it,” I said. “You'd be an amazing doctor, Drew.”

“But I don't even have a bachelor's yet.”

“So you start there.”

“And medical school costs a fortune.”

“We'll work it out.”

Her eyes widened. “I didn't tell you because I want help paying for it. I don't want that.”

I reached for her hand and held it in mine. “I know that, babe. But I'm hoping that by the time you finish your bachelor's, we'll have a joint bank account and the same last name.”

She squeezed my hand. “I might not even make it. I could flunk out.”

“You'll make it.”

“I could go to the U of I medical school and commute,” she said. “I looked it up online at the salon today.”

“Wherever it is, we'll make it work.”

She looked around. “But…this house…you've worked so hard on it. And it's only been a few weeks for us. I feel like I'd be asking a lot of you.”

“Slow down. First, finish your bachelor's.”

She relaxed into a smile. “You're right. I can go part-time and stay at the salon or take out a loan and go full-time. I'm leaning toward the loan because I have so many years of school ahead of me and I want to get these first two done as fast as I can.”

“I really don't want you taking out a loan.”

“You think part-time would be better?”

I stroked my thumb over her knuckles. “I think that even though it's only been a few weeks for us, I've loved you for a very long time. I don't have any doubts, Drew. You're the one. So let me help.”

I saw the struggle in her eyes.

“You're not used to anyone helping you,” I said. “I know you're used to taking care of others and yourself. But this is what love is. We're supposed to chase our dreams together. Don't run off without me, woman.”

She smiled. “What about your dreams?”

“I'm living the biggest one right now. And I can work from anywhere. We can do this.”

“We can, can't we?”

I drew her hand to my mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Life's only just begun for us, baby. Let's kick its ass hand in hand.”

T
EN
Y
EARS
L
ATER

As soon as I walked through the doorway, my eyes went right to the stone that rose two stories up to the ceiling. That fireplace never failed to take my breath away.

“Still smells like fresh-cut wood in here,” Aiden said, walking in behind me. “Damn, I love that smell.”

“Damn!” our three-year-old daughter, Maura, said, grinning. “Damn, damn, damn!”

I gave Aiden the side eye before scolding her.

“You don't get to use grown-up words,” I said. “And that's a grown-up word.”

“Daddy said it.”

“Well, Daddy's a grown-up.”

Maura took off to run on the hardwood floors in the huge, vacant great room, circling through the kitchen and dining room in a loop.

“She's gonna wear herself down,” Aiden said, nodding his approval.

I approached him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“It feels so good to be here,” I said. “After all these years, we're finally home.”

“I'm looking forward to starting my life as a trophy husband, Dr. O'Neal,” Aiden quipped, kissing my head. “You bring home the bacon and I'll be here watching my stories all day.”

I laughed and nuzzled myself against his firm chest.

“Yeah, good one. You'd go out of your mind on day one.”

He rubbed a hand over my four months' pregnant belly and we looked out at the lake together.

“Still feeling good about living here?” I asked. “You know we don't have to.”

I felt a sigh in his chest as he continued rubbing my bump. “I want to. I wish my parents and sister could've met you and Maura. But this house is as close as we'll ever get. It makes me feel like they're still part of me, moving my own family in here.”

“I love you so much,” I said, tightening my hold on him. “You've given up so much for me to finish med school.”

He pulled back and looked down at me, brow furrowed. “What are you talking about? I haven't given up a thing.”

“Not getting to live here all these years since I went to med school in Boston? Being a stay-at-home dad when Maura was born and putting your career on hold for mine? And parting with two hundred grand to foot the bills?”

“No.” He kissed my forehead. “We're in this together, remember? That was
our
money, and we invested it well. There's plenty more, too. Maybe we'll put Maura through med school one day. And you know I wouldn't change a thing, even if I could. I'd rather be with you and Maura than anywhere else.”

“Well, it's all behind us now. Time to settle in to our home and my practice before this kid comes.”

Maura raced in, making engine noises and holding her arms out as she pretended to be an airplane. She crash-landed on our legs, wrapping her arms around us and looking up with a huge grin. Those hazel eyes got me every time. She was all Aiden, complete with brown hair and a headstrong nature.

“Where's the couch?” she asked us.

Aiden reached down and scooped her into his arms. “The furniture's not coming 'til tomorrow, love. We're staying in the camper tonight. Unless Mommy wants to get a hotel room.”

They turned their matching gazes on me.

“Camper, Mommy,” Maura said hopefully.

“Of course I want to stay in the camper,” I said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It's a very special place for me and Daddy.”

Aiden's gaze was warm as he put an arm around me and we all walked to the door together.

“I checked the forecast earlier,” he said. “I got nostalgic since we're meeting up with the old crew for lunch next week.”

“Oh yeah?” I said, grinning up at him. “Technology's a lot better now, huh?”

“It's come a hell of a long way. Looks like there's a front moving in and we'll get a big thunderstorm tonight.”

“Is it safe to stay in the camper?”

“Yeah, no wind or anything like that. Just heavy rain.”

I thought back to all the nights we'd spent wrapped around each other in the camper after long summer days of storm chasing. Those days were mostly behind us now that we had a family, though we still indulged in the occasional afternoon chase when we could get a sitter.

“We can open the window and listen to it,” I said. “You know how much I love listening to a good storm.”

“Me too.”

I looked up at him, our daughter's face nestled in the crook of his neck as her internal clock realized it was nap time.

“Do you miss chasing?” I asked. “The way we used to? For weeks at a time?”

His lips quirked up in a smile. “Nope. No reason to chase after ghosts anymore. I've already caught what I needed.”

I stood on tiptoe and kissed him, feeling the swirl of excitement he still created in me, even after a decade. With him, I'd chased dreams I never even dared to have. And together, I knew we'd run down many more.