“I know,” he says.
“Okay, but no worries, baby. We’ll sort something out,” I say, my mind already coming up with various workable go-arounds.
“What a shame it’s February. Spring Break in Florida is something else,” Devon says, and we have a momentary flashback of a very fun week about ten years ago where Lexie managed to get herself on “Girls Gone Wild.”
“There’s more, though.”
“Oh?” I ask, now suspicious.
“After Miami, we are going to various locations in Europe.” He says it quickly and I can tell he is holding his breath waiting for the shitstorm.
“Europe?” I yell in Devon’s face. “Whereabouts?” At this point, I sense CK coming closer as he is probably madly curious as to whether he can go home for a few days. I know he misses Italy, but he chooses now to stay wherever I am.
“Erm, London, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome,” he says the last word in a growl as he knows CK will be thrilled.
“Fuck me, Cole! How long have you known about this?”
“Awhile. I knew you wouldn’t be happy trailing all over the world after me. I was kind of waiting for the right time,” he says sadly.
“Oh, baby, I would follow you to the ends of the Earth and back. I just would have preferred a bit more notice is all. It’s fine. It’ll work. Besides, I wouldn’t mind going home for a few days.”
“Home?” he asks warily, but the relief is evident that I haven’t told him I won’t be following him.
“London,” I say as if he is dense.
“Oh, of course. Sorry. I thought you meant…” he trails off and I pick up that he thought I meant Italy. Idiot.
“Yeah, will be good to see our old stomping ground again,” Devon pipes up.
“Hardly yours, my dear. Although, we could have a day trip up to Helsby,” I say slyly.
He scowls at me and splashes me with water this time. “Not fucking likely,” he says.
“Hey, watch my fucking phone,” I grouse at him.
“You don’t want to go back to your hometown?” Cole asks.
“Oh, please, he hasn’t set foot anywhere near it since we left. Talk about issues,” I scoff.
“Erm, I might recall a certain area that you didn’t want to set foot near since you last left as well.”
“Devon!” Cole snaps, knowing he is referring to Culloden.
“Well, it’s true,” he sulks.
“Maybe so, but I have been back. Time for you to face your music,” I say, not very nicely.
“Humph,” he replies rudely.
“All beside the point,” I say. “When do we leave?”
“I will get Dawn to email you the schedule. Are you sure you will come with me?” He sounds so unsure of himself that my heart breaks.
“Hang on,” I say and climb out of the bath. Grabbing a towel, I dry my hands and pick the phone up, taking it off speaker and wrapping the towel around me. I walk into the bedroom bumping into CK, who frowns at me (at me! He’s the one lurking and eavesdropping!) and say, “Of course, Cole. I’m not going to leave you wandering around the globe on your own. The distance is too far for too long. For both of us. I will be right by your side, wherever you go,” I say softly. The feeling of guilt is almost bringing me to my knees to beg his forgiveness for what I have done but I close my eyes and hold my tongue.
“I love you,” he murmurs.
“I love you. I need to get some sleep. It’s been a weird day.”