No Place Like Home: The Coming Home Series, Book 1 (10 page)

Chapter Eight

Eleven-thirty-five at night wasn’t the ideal time to arrive in Buffalo but at least she’d gotten there in one piece. Trudging up the jetway after she deplaned made her even more thankful that all she had with her was her laptop backpack and Lord Voldemort’s pet carrier.

Checking her other two suitcases was the best decision she’d made all day. No clue how she would have managed it otherwise.

Being bumped from an earlier flight along with most of the other passengers wasn’t ideal. But at least she hadn’t been stranded in Chicago.

Now that could have sucked.

Disappointment tried to take hold but she shook it off. It was way too late to see Cole and Addyson so she’d told them she’d just take a cab to the school. He tried to convince her otherwise but there really wasn’t any point in him asking his mom to come watch his daughter just so he could pick her up.

She was tired. Totally.

And tomorrow was soon enough.

It was.

She told herself again to see if it would stick.

A huge yawn gripped her out of nowhere and her jaw cracked on one side as she stepped into the terminal. The tired part was at least accurate.

It had been only two weeks since she’d accepted the offer to teach at the Academy of Arts. She’d resigned from her other position, covered her two art shows so she didn’t have to attend them in person, hired movers, packed her life into boxes and made the biggest leap of faith she’d ever considered making.

She dug in the front pocket of her backpack for her claim tickets, hoping her luggage had actually been on the plane instead of on the way to Seattle or Fiji.

Lord Voldemort, who’d been almost completely silent the entire trip, let out a tiny meow.

“Just a little bit farther and then you can spread out and get used to your new digs.”

“How in the world did they get past security?” One of the other passengers complained in front of her.

“It’s all about who you know. We’ve been saying that for years.”

Charlie followed where they were looking and stopped dead in her tracks. Other people walked around her, grumbling and grouchy. She was bumped several times and none of it mattered. Because past the row of seats in the center aisle, right there at her gate, stood Cole, holding a sign with a rainbow on it that said “Charlie”.

His handsome face sported a charming smile, which made her laugh and start crying like a total girl.

She moved to him and he looked at the chair beside him and said something, nodding in her direction.

A little head of blonde hair peeked over the seat and Charlie’s heart jumped for joy in her chest. Addyson scrambled out of the chair and ran for her. “Charwee! Charwee!” reached her a fraction of a second before little arms wrapped around her legs.

Charlie set Lord Voldemort down, and scooped up the toddler, holding her close. “I missed you.”

“Did you see our sign? I colored the rainbow! Missed you,” Addyson whispered with a super tight squeeze around her neck.

“Loved the sign. Loved it.”

“What about me? Did you miss me?” Cole stepped forward, encircling both of them.

“More than I can say.” She breathed him in. His scent. She’d wondered if she’d dreamed it. Dreamed him.

“No dream. I’m real, baby.”

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes, you did.” He lifted her chin and kissed her.

His lips.

Perfection.

Addyson giggled and rested her cheek on her shoulder.

“Meow.”

“Kitty!”

Cole and Charlie were jostled apart as Addyson wiggled down Charlie’s body to get to Lord Voldemort.

On her knees right in front of the carrier she repeated, “Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.” Then made the kissy noise.

Charlie didn’t know how he was going to react to Addyson since she was so small but he purred and rubbed his neck on the side of the carrier.

The little girl yawned and asked, “Can he come out to play?”

“It’s already
way
past your bedtime and we still have to get Charlie’s luggage, so let’s head that way. Maybe he can get out in the car?” He raised his eyebrows in question and Charlie nodded.

“I’m sure he would love that.”

“Does he scratch or anything?”

“No, someone had already had him declawed before he made it to the pound. He’s fixed, super sweet and completely a lazy house cat.”

“Spoiled rotten?”

“No comment.”

“Ha! Then it’s a plan. If you’ll get Addyson, I’ll get the Dark Lord and your—”

“Did you just make a Harry Potter joke?”

He wagged his eyebrows at her as he grabbed the pet carrier and shouldered her laptop bag. “Why yes I did. Is that gonna get me laid?” He whispered the rest into her hair, rustling the wisps of hair on her cheek, and she shivered from head to toe.

It was late, and traveling all day could exhaust anyone, but honestly Charlie couldn’t imagine being any happier than she was in that moment. Or hornier.

“Yes. I believe it will.”

“Up, up.” Addyson made the gimme hands at her, so Charlie scooped her up and held her close.

Cole settled his hand on the small of Charlie’s back and they walked down the terminal. Charlie bet they looked just like a family reunited. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions and they really hadn’t talked specifics yet, but now? Now they had time to figure it all out. And not from thirteen hundred and sixty-nine miles apart.

Video chatting could only get a person so far.

“I love your pajamas,” she told Addyson, who reared back to see what she had on.

“Disney princesses are cool. Daddy told me so.”

“Smart man. I’d listen to him.”

“Are you staying this time? Like really
really
staying?” Addyson held her face with a stern look.

“Really really. I’m going to be a teacher at a special school here.”

Addyson smiled and yawned again. “I know. My school.”

Charlie nearly stumbled. “What?”

Cole stole a quick kiss. “Told you I had a vested interest in the teachers they had staffed there.”

“You…surprise me all the time, Agent Johnson.”

“Oh, and speaking of agent.”

“What did you do? Have something to do with how you got through security to get to the gate?”

He smiled big. “Perhaps.”

“Am I a dangerous criminal?”

“Yep.”

“Who carries a cat and has traded him out for a toddler?”

“Exactly. So if you could look dangerous that would really help me out.”

A smile took over Charlie’s face and she couldn’t stop it. “Not the brightest bulbs in the pack, are they.” She said it as they passed the point of no return to leave the terminal, which was directly across from the security checkpoint to get to the gates.

One of the TSA agents gave Cole a thumbs up on the other side of the clear partition and added an exaggerated wink for good measure.

“Clearly.”

Within fifteen minutes they had both of her bags and they were loaded into the SUV. As Cole exited the parking area, Charlie unzipped the top of the pet carrier and Lord Voldemort jumped free to the floorboard.

Addyson squealed and pumped her legs.

“Now you’ll have to be really sweet to him,” Charlie instructed.

“And gentle,” she added. “Daddy told me. Pet, not pull.”

“You got it. He’ll probably explore for a little while so be patient, okay?”

“Otay. So do you want to hear about my doll? Her name’s April and I love her but not as much as I love Daddy. ’Cause he makes me pancakes.”

Charlie stared, transfixed for several minutes as Addyson chattered away. Then she shook her head. “She’s not talking to me anymore is she?”

He downright guffawed. “I wondered how long it was going to take you to figure it out.”

“Upstaged by a cat. Who has jumped in the back to explore, and she can’t even see anymore, and she’s still talking to him.”

“Welcome to my world.” Cole slid his hand onto her thigh and glanced at her. “Where to?”

“Home.”

“I can do that.”

He leaned to the side, keeping his eyes on the road. “Kiss.” A demand. Not a question.

She melted just a tiny bit. Scooting close, she ran her nose up his throat and along his jaw. He held her chin and kissed her quickly. Once. Twice.

Her sigh filtered between them and she finally believed she was really with him again. “Did I tell you about the rooms at the school? They’re so nice.” To keep herself awake, she chattered about nonsense. Holding hands, they talked about all sorts of things.

Being face to face again was amazing. The connection wasn’t a fantasy or something she’d just imagined. It was perfect.

“I didn’t dream you.” His voice said exactly what she’d been thinking.

“Nor I you.”

“Where’ve you been all my life?”

Touching the back of his hand, she closed her eyes. “Waiting for you to find me.” Without pausing for him to comment, “Hey,” she whispered. “It’s quiet.” With the lights from the highway median shining through the window, Charlie could see Addyson’s head lolled to the side in sleep.

And Lord Voldemort?

Curled in her lap in the car seat, as if he knew exactly where he belonged.

“Gorgeous.” Charlie yawned and rested her head on the back of the seat. “My eyes don’t want to stay open.”

“Then close them.”

“But we’re talking, and I kind of missed you.”

Cole lifted her hand and kissed the back of it before glancing over at her. “Ditto.” He rested their clasped hands on his thigh.

A sigh passed her lips and she mushed them together to keep from doing it again. And again.

“I’ve got a question.”

“Anything.”

“You and Kia had to work really close together with the whole application shenanigans you pulled.”

“Yep.”

“And you worked with her at the carnival, too. When did you guys get to be close? She was actually already talking you up to me before I came to town to help out for the carnival, so it was before that. You weren’t close in school. When did you guys start being friends? She tries not to show it but she most definitely adores you.”

“When she saved Addyson’s life.”

“What?” Charlie sat up and clutched his hand tighter. “When?”

“When we got her home she was put through a regular physical to check on her from head to toe. She was so tired. All the time. They found what they thought was a strange heartbeat. Kia found a hole in her heart. She’d dealt with it since birth, and very well, but it wasn’t something that could be ignored. She had open-heart surgery two days later. I was terrified.”

“Kia never told me any of that.”

“She’s not one that takes praise all that well. Just in a day’s work for her. She is a rock star in my book.”

Twisting in her seat a bit, she stared at the sleeping little girl. “She seems so perfect you’d never expect her to have been through that.”

“She is perfect, thanks to Kia. A scar on her chest is the only tell. She shouldn’t have any more trouble out of it and all follow-up sonograms are perfect.”

Charlie faced forward again, convincing herself Addyson was okay and she could calm down. She took a breath and decided now or never. “I have another question. And I need you to be completely honest with me.”

“Shoot.”

“When you found out who I was in high school—”

“You’re still the same person.”

“You know what I mean, Cole. The wallflower, the unpopular girl. Did you freak out?”

“You’re asking me a hard question. Are you certain you’re ready for the answer?”

Blinking her eyes open, she twisted a bit in her seat to face him. “Yes, I am.”

“Then here goes. I knew you were going to ask me this. Well. Something like this, so I wracked my brain during the carnival trying to place you. And honestly? I really couldn’t do it. I finally had to pull out my yearbooks to look you up.”

“Ugh. The yearbooks.” She made a face, trying to be funny, but in all honesty she was upset he didn’t remember her.

“I liked getting to see you then. Especially knowing who you are now. That was awesome. And I loved seeing your same eyes. Your smile. So carefree. But even seeing you in that, I could only vaguely remember who you were then. So no, I didn’t freak out. Just felt lucky to have met you. Met you when I think we were supposed to really meet.”

“Even being remembered for the wrong reasons is better than not being remembered at all.”

“I disagree.”

“Says the popular guy.”

“You have the same issues with popularity as you do with being a wallflower. Well, sometimes the same and sometimes the flip side of it.”

She thought for a second. “I’m not following.”

“Preconceived notions of you are hard to erase. Rumors grow rampant. A certain reputation can sometimes be cultivated by others; whether it’s accurate is normally not people’s biggest concern. Sometimes lots of friends but not for the right reasons and sometimes none at all if people don’t think they can approach you.”

“I never thought about it that way. I just didn’t have all that many friends in school. Made me feel like an outsider.”

“I get that. But think about Kia. You met her when? Eighth or ninth grade? You guys have been best friends for what? Thirteen or fourteen years now? That’s incredible. I don’t really talk to any of the guys from high school. Some never grew up and most of the rest are just assholes. You may not have had a stadium full of friends, but you made lasting friends. I’d take that any day.”

He kissed her hand again. “We didn’t get together then for whatever reason and I for one am not going to question it. Why? Because I have you now.” He glanced in the back seat. “And I have Addyson. If we were already together before she walked into my life then where would she be? Do you see what I mean?”

Charlie choked back tears, thanking her lucky stars that someone up above or fate or her invisible fairy godmother led her to him. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

“I don’t think so.” But a cocky grin appeared and he winked at her. “But as long as you do, then I’m completely okay with that.” He pulled to a stop and put the vehicle in park. “We’re here.”

Wiping tears from her eyes, she blinked, wondering why the school looked like— “Cole, this is your house.”