Page 137 of Christmas in Coconut Creek

Karl unwound the ticket and shrugged at it.

“What about now?” Frankie dug back into his pocket for a wallet and cash.

Karl finally stood and swiped the small fold of bills out of Frankie’s hand.

“You’re insane.” I huffed a sigh of disbelief as he dropped down next to me. “What are you going to do? The job, your mom—”

“I don’t care. I don’t care about anything right now but this, O. I care about you, and being with you, and figuring it out one day at a time. But what I don’t need to figure out anymore is—” He cupped my face gingerly, battling with his next thought. I got lost somewhere in his eyes waiting for it. “Fuck it—I’m in love with you.”

An atom bomb must’ve exploded inside my body. The waves of that confession ricocheted from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I lit up like a firework. “You’re…”

“I love you,” he repeated. “I love you, Ophelia. I said I wouldn’t get attached. I said I wasn’t ready for anything serious. I lied, okay? I lied about every last bit of it. Because I knew the second I met you I was fucked forever.” Frankie’s thumb swiped gently down my jaw over and over again. “Forever.”

My throat was so dry it took several seconds of swallowing around the lump stuck there to whisper out those three profound and necessary words. “I love you.”

“Yeah?” he breathed, as if worried I wouldn’t feel the same. Stress evaporated from his face and his fingers slid into the hair at the nape of my neck. Something was shaking—his hands, maybe.

“Yes,” I confirmed eagerly, brushing his nose with mine. “What the fuck, Frankie. Yes.”

All that love poured out of the two of us in a desperate kiss. I wound my arms around him, pulling him closer, my hip digging into the armrest. My head still throbbed, but every single thing was right in the world despite it. I was in love. And I knew that before Frankie ever said it. I was in love with a man who chose me over everything else—his fears, his family, his past—and he was in love with me, too.

A crescendo of applause broke out and all eyes were on us around the cabin, peeking over seats, hiding behind cell phones. The flight attendants waited enamored, but impatiently, for the show to be over. I laughed into the crook of Frankie’s neck and the bill of his hat hid us away as he curled over me, picking up the forgotten bag of ice and running it over my head tenderly.

“Can’t leave you alone for five minutes, Trouble.”

“I agree.” I said. “You should never, ever leave me alone again.”

“I’m glad you said that, because I am indireneed of a place to stay.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out.” I shrugged casually. “You did share your bed with me in my time of need.”

Frankie leaned down and kissed me softly again. “You think they’d notice if we snuck off to the bathroom?”

Heat flecked my cheeks and I bit back a grin. “You never quit.”

“Never,” he said. And that was a promise.

The deafening beat of helicopter wings whirling above the cockpit stuck my already terrified body to the copilot’s seat like glue. I couldn’t hear myself think, let alone Frankie shouting at me from across the landing pad as he hopped into the humming aircraft with a round green helmet and placed it snugly over my head.

“How’s it fit?” he asked.

I tugged the buckles down on both sides, fumbling with the snaps while my ever so helpful and impatient boyfriend batted my hands away and secured the heavy helmet effortlessly. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I shouted back. Frankie patted my head and knelt down between my knees so we were level. “Does your boss know you’re doing this?”

“Calm down, co-pilot. We’re in the clear.” He tightened a harness around my chest. “Do you trust me?”

I relaxed as he ran his palms up and down my thighs. “Of course.”

“It’s gonna be great.” He beamed, leaning forward to place a reassuring kiss on my lips. “And remember, what goes up must come down.”

“Fuck off,” I groaned.

Frankie buckled himself in beside me and started flipping switches. It’d been months since he started flying again. Training at the base had begun almost immediately after he was hired at the end of January. I watched his first flight from the sidelines with a rock in my stomach and he nailed every single spec like we all knew he would.

It was amazing to see that shine of confidence back in his eyes, his reinvigorated love for his career and the talent that had been shrouded in shadow rise to the surface again. I was so proud of him and the progress we were making, both apart and together. Still learning new things about ourselves and our relationship every single day.

Bringing home a complete stranger after a few weeks away was an…adjustment for my family, to say the least. Dad was skeptical picking us up from the airport. It was a long, interesting ride, but he softened easily to Frankie’s mature station and infectious personality. They got along like best friends in no time, my brothers clung to him like a hero, and my sisters batted their lashes and had him in the palm of their hands.

My mom knew right away that Frankie was my person. She told me she could see it in the way we found one another in every crowded room. He put me first, and continued to, and we fell further and further into the deep cushion of life mixed with love until they became the same word. There wasn’t one without the other. There wasn't me without him.

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