Taking Something (21 page)

“A couple days.”

“What if Sadie finds out?”

“What if she doesn't?” I quickly rebutted. “Gia, if this is what I think it is, do we really care if she does?”

“Come on, Nick. We have to be honest with ourselves about this.”

“That's what I'm trying to do,” I said, hearing my voice quiver. She reached out and took my hand in hers. “I just need two days with you. After that, we can decide together where to go from there.” I all but dropped to my knees and begged her for a chance. It might have been wrong of us in so many ways, but in just as many ways, it felt right too. We needed a change of scenery. A fresh perspective on whatever was going on between us.

“Give me ten minutes,” she said, squeezing my hand in hers. She finally let her lips curl up into a smile.

I wanted to throw my hands up and take a victory lap around her neighborhood. She was coming with me. To my home. To meet my family. The only thing that would make this better was if she came naked.

Don't push your luck.

I chuckled to myself as she ran off to grab her things. I went ahead a let myself have the mental image of her with nothing on.

“Just tell Audrey that I had to go out of town for work,” she told Paula. “And you better leave now to get a good spot in the pick-up line. I'll call tonight when we land.”

“You forget I live here too?” Paula laughed. “We'll be fine. Go figure out your life.”

Gia ran over a list of dos and don'ts with her sister and wrote out Audrey's entire schedule for the next two days. I made a mental note of Audrey's school's name.

Climbing into the cab, I told the driver to stop by Briarcrest Elementary while Gia hugged her sister goodbye. The look on her face when we pulled up to the school was worth the stress we’d have of running through the airport to make sure we didn't miss our flight.

“What are we doing here?” she asked.

“Thought you might want to see Audrey before we left,” I replied, extending my hand to her and helping her out of the car. I'd planned on waiting for her while she ran inside and said her goodbyes, but she didn't let go of my hand as she started to walk up the sidewalk.

“I can wait.”

“Don't be silly.” She looked over shoulder and smiled. “I'm sure she'll be excited to see you.”

My gut fluttered a little, and I wondered if it was those so-called butterflies I had heard people talk about. Not the nervous ones—the lovey-dovey ones. The ones that make you get all mushy and sentimental about seeing a little girl or holding her mother's hand. I was walking into uncharted territory. Hell, I was running into it, and I couldn't say that I minded one damn bit.

The fight through traffic and then airport security gave us little time to chat, but Audrey had been so damned excited that we’d pulled her out of class for a hug and a quick explanation of why I was whisking her mother away that it didn't matter.

“Audrey is pumped that you told her you'd bring her back a picture of the baby,” Gia said as we walked up the ramp and to our seats on the plane. “She gets all crazy about babies. I think she wants a sibling.”

Normally, this was the point where I'd make some sexual comment about being happy to help out in the conception department, but suddenly, I was not in the joking mood.

I kept my perverted comment to myself and just smiled at Gia and the hypothetical, unknown future that was ahead of us. The idea of becoming a family and possibly expanding it one day had those butterflies taking off again.

I'd never really thought about becoming a father. Kids always seemed like such a pain in the ass to me. They demanded attention and cost a lot of money. But then I met Audrey. I didn't seem to have a problem giving her my undivided attention, and if I’d had a million dollars, I would have spent every dime to see her big blue eyes light up.

Maybe kids aren't so bad.

As soon as we were in our seats and taxiing onto the runway, I leaned over and whispered, “Thank you for coming with me.” I placed my hand on her knee and squeezed gently.

“We have a lot to discuss,” she reminded me.

“I know. And we will,” I agreed. “But first, I need to do this.” I leaned over and pressed my lips to hers. Our row of seats was empty besides us, and the plane was only about half full. I hadn't seen any familiar faces on board, and it was already dusk outside. The inside of the plane was lit only by the row of lights lining the aisle. I was fairly certain no one would bother us.

The heat between our mouths increased as the pilot announced that we were next in line for takeoff. I waited for her to pull back to lean back in her seat, but she didn't. I tangled my fingers in her hair, wanting to keep her as close as I could. My stomach dropped as the plane inclined, but I wasn't sure if it was the takeoff or her lips on mine causing it. Our kiss continued until we were well off the ground.

“Glad we got that out of the way,” I said, finally taking a breath.

“It was really just a distraction technique,” she giggled against my lips. “For me at least. Did I not mention I hate flying?”

“Glad I could be of assistance.” I grinned. “Let me know if you feel the fear coming on again?” I added, waggling my eyebrows and causing her to laugh again.

“I will,” she agreed, pulling her iPad from the bag under the seat in front of her. “But right now I need to book Sadie's flight to Cabo.”

“Thank you for agreeing to come with me.”

“You're welcome.”

“I hate to ask at the risk of ruining our so-far perfect flight together, but what made you agree to come?”

She eyed me evenly. “You.”

“Well, obviously.” I chuckled. “I mean besides that. You were so adamant about us not being together that I figured I was shooting in the dark by even asking you in the first place.”

“I've been thinking about what you said about Sadie and me,” she confessed. “Truth is…we are far from best friends, and what happened between us years ago should be in the past. You know she never once asked me how I felt about Landry back then? Just staked her claim and told me to stay away from him. Like she was the queen or something. I decided today when you showed up on my doorstep that I was going to start thinking about me for once. I've been so worried about Audrey and Sadie for so long that I need to do something for myself.” She paused. “I know that nothing I just said justifies what we are doing, because let's be honest… I'm the woman who's helping you cheat on your girlfriend, Nick.”

“I don't love her, Gia. You know that. I know that. And Sadie’s beyond delusional if she doesn’t know it.”

“That's beside the point. You're still with her.” I could see her talking herself out of being here with me and I started to panic. I didn't want to lose her. Hell, I didn't even have her yet.

“You think she wouldn't do the same thing to you?”

“Oh, I know she would.” She covered her face with her hands, slowly dragging them down to the bottom of her chin to reveal a look of panic in her eyes. “This was a mistake. I can't do this.” She looked around like she was looking for an escape route off the plane.

“You can't jump off the plane.”

“What are we doing? I'm not a cheater. I shouldn't have agreed to come with you.”

“Calm down.” I grabbed her hand in one of mine and used the other to turn her face to mine. “It's going to be okay,” I promised, looking deep into her eyes. “I'll call Sadie as soon as we get on the ground and end it.” She let out a deep breath as she listened to me. “Then no guilt. Just me and you.”

“I'll lose my job, Nick.”

“So will I,” I said, smiling. In that moment, I didn't care one bit about my job. All I cared about was her.

“We're such a mess.” She shook her head, letting the stress relax from her face.

“We sure are,” I agreed. “But we are a mess together. Look, if it makes you feel better, until I clear things up with Sadie, nothing has to happen between us.”

“Okay.” She nodded and took a deep breath.

“Until then, you're just my friend, accompanying me to the birth of my niece or nephew.”

“I can handle that,” she sighed in agreement. “Just friends. And how excited are you that you're going to be an uncle?”

“Pretty excited I guess.” I shrugged.

“I'm sure it's hard to see Lila move on with her life in such a big way.” She placed her arm next to mine on the armrest and grabbed my hand. “I think it's really great that you two are still close.”

“She didn't really give me a choice,” I said, chuckling. “I tried to leave, you know? After things went down—when she told me she was choosing him. I tried to leave and never look back.”

“What happened?”

“They wouldn't let me.” I remembered the day Lila called and begged me to come back to Chicago. It wasn't that long after I’d sped away in my father's car, vowing never to look back. “Lila called and said that life was too short to be alone. She told me that I was her family and she and Tucker were mine. Pretty much demanded I get my ass back to Chicago.”

“That was sweet.” She laughed.

“It took some time for us to figure out how to be around each other. It took me and my brother a while to start getting along, but Lila was right there the whole time, fighting for us to be a family. And her.” I let out a sigh. “It was hard for me to let being
in
love with her go and just love her. If that makes any sense.” I gave her a confused smile. I felt like I was talking in circles.

“Makes perfect sense.”

“I'm really happy that she made me come home though,” I confessed. “I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have them.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” she said with a look of understanding. “I can't imagine my life without Audrey.” Her face practically lit up at the mention of her daughter. I let myself imagine for just one second what it would be like to be a family with Gia and Audrey. What it might be like to bring them both home to Chicago to have Christmas or Thanksgiving with Tuck and Lila.

A real-life, honest-to-God family of my very own.

But could I do the happily-ever-after thing? I wasn't sure if I even deserved one.

W
HEN WE
hit the runway at O'Hare, I pulled my cell out and quickly called Tucker. I'd been out of touch for a few hours and I was sure I'd missed the baby being born. Not that I wanted to be in the room when that happened, but I would have paced the waiting room while the newest Kline came into the world.

I waited through three full rings before he finally answered.

“Did I miss it?” I asked as soon as I heard him pick up. “Is it a boy? What's he look like?” I was so anxious to hear what I was sure I'd missed that I didn't let my brother get a word in.

“Would you relax?” he said, laughing at my excitement. “No baby yet. Doctor says it's going to be a few more hours.”

“Good.” I smiled at Gia and shook my head, letting her know the baby hadn't arrived.

“Good?” Tucker scoffed. “Good for you who's not sitting here getting your hand squeezed off every time she has a contraction.”

“Sack up, buddy,” I joked. “Can't hurt that bad. Rae's a lightweight.”

“I thought that too until she grabbed me with her talons of death.” He started to laugh, but I heard Lila call out in the background. “Yeah, it's him. I'll tell him,” he answered her. “Lila said there is no sense in you rushing up here, just to sit and wait.” Then his voice quieted to a whisper. “What she's really trying to say is she doesn't want any witnesses to her craziness.” He chuckled. “I'll give you a call when the baby is almost here and you can come up to the hospital. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect,” I agreed, hearing Lila shout something that sounded a lot like “I'll show you crazy!” at my brother.

I was relieved that I wasn't going to have to actually sweat it out in a waiting room. Besides that, today was about Tucker and Lila and the baby becoming a family. They needed their time alone. I could be the doting uncle after the little one arrived.

“We are going to head over to my place and drop off our bags.”

“We?” he questioned. “Don't tell me you brought Sadie Sinclair to the birth of our baby, Nick.”

“Not a chance,” I asserted. “Gia is with me.”

“Ahhh, Gia. Can't wait to meet her.”