He kissed me once more on the lips, dropped a kiss to my forehead, and then released me. I followed him out to the porch and watched as he loaded Princess into the passenger seat. He stopped, his hand resting on the driver’s door. “Goodbye, Holly.”
I smiled up at him, blinking away the tears. “You mean, see you soon.”
Jack nodded. “You’re right. See you soon.”
He saluted me and got into the car. I stood on the front steps, paralyzed as he drove away. My muscles were weak and tingling, like the feeling after a long workout, all the energy sapped. When his Camaro rounded the corner and drove out of sight, I collapsed down onto the top step.
A scratching sound startled me, and I twisted around to see a brown paw poking through the front door that I’d left cracked open. Hunter’s nose popped out next, and he waddled over to sit next to me, offering a lick on the cheek as I wrapped my arms around him.
“It’s okay, Hunty. He’ll be back.” I nodded to myself. “He has to, because I’m pretty sure I’m in love with that man.”
I hadn’t been able to say it to him when he was in front of me, the words still too large to say out loud, but as I stared up the road, I knew it was true and when I was back in his arms—I might be ready to let him know.
21
Holly
Leaving Holiday Cove was far more difficult than I’d anticipated. As I drove back down the 101, the sun was overhead, and each bend in the road revealed breathtaking glimpses of the warm sand and the sparkling Pacific Ocean.
The weather was perfect and serene. But inside, my heart had never been darker and stormier. Every mile tugged at me, amplifying my emotions until there was a physical ache in my chest. The problem wasn’t that I was leaving behind the picturesque beachside town that I’d been staying at for the past two weeks. Or even that I’d be back to my daily grind the next day and picking up where I’d left off before hitting pause on my life to take a two-week vacation. It was more than that.
So much more.
As I watched Holiday Cove fade from sight in the rearview mirror, the assortment of memories that Jack and I had created there were also fading, leaving me wondering if what had happened was real—or if it had all been some kind of waking dream.
Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stay focused on the road ahead or the gorgeous ocean view to the right. My mind remained engrossed in the small beachside house and the early morning goodbye with Jack on the front porch.
Surprisingly, those whispered goodbyes had been one of the hardest moments of my life. I’d prepared myself the best I could, but in the end, there was nothing I could’ve done to brace for the impact of the overwhelming sadness of watching Jack drive away.
Hunter whined from the back seat. The low whimper pulled me from my musings, and I flicked the rearview mirror down to check on him. I smiled at the soulful blue eyes that met mine in the mirror. “Don’t worry, boy. We’ll be okay.” He put his face down between his front paws, his eyes still shifted in my direction. “You miss Princess?” I asked. The sound of her name hitting me in the chest, as a memory of her running beside Jack on the beach the first day we met, popped into my mind.
Hunter whined again and my heart twisted. “Me too, buddy.”
I sighed and adjusted the mirror back up and refocused on the road. After a little while, I turned on the radio, in hopes that a little music would ease both of our minds. A few songs in and the radio cut out, a soft beep alerting me of an incoming call. I glanced down at the touch screen display on the dash and smiled at Jack’s name and number in bold print.
“Hey handsome,” I answered with one push of a button.
“Hey pretty girl,” Jack’s smooth voice filled the car through the Bluetooth speaker system. My body warmed at the smile that was audible in his tone. “Whatcha doing?”
“Hunter and I are still on the road.” I glanced in the mirror and smirked as Hunter struggled to sit up on the backseat. He wasn’t opposed to car rides, but he was definitely clumsy when the car was in motion. It was something like the doggy equivalent of finding one’s sea legs out on a boat. “Are you back at the base?”
“Just checked in with my Commander and getting settled back at home. I have about a thousand things to do in the next two days.”
I laughed softly. “I hear you. I’m dreading that first attempt to clean out my voicemail back at the office tomorrow morning. That’s gonna be a hoot.”