Page 90 of Long Road Home

Toby stuck up his thumb. “You got it!”

I gave them another round of hugs. Quickly. Fiercely. When Allison and I were about to dissolve into more tears, Drake whisked her away. Toby met me at the front door to the house and I slid my arm around his shoulders, pulled him to me.

Together, we waved goodbye to the best friends I’d ever had. We stayed there until their taillights disappeared and then I smiled a tear-filled smile down at my son.

“So. Are we ordering pizza or Chinese for dinner?”

He looked down at the black screen on his phone and shrugged. “Pizza’s good. Whatever.”

Almost an hour later,I’d spread out the few remaining dishes and drink glasses I hadn’t loaded into the moving van. In our bedrooms were two air mattresses I’d bought for the night and blankets and sheets that also needed to get loaded. I spread my comforter out on the living room floor and had everything set up for a picnic.

Toby had been antsy. He’d wandered back and forth from his spot on the floor to peeking out behind curtains by the front door.

When I asked, he said he was hungry, but something was going on with my boy.

I was in the kitchen, grabbing a can of root beer for Toby and a bottle of white wine for me. I’d loosened up my strict drinking rules a bit since being back in Carlton. I’d never been a huge drinker, the fear of my mother’s addiction too large to ignore, but in the few times I drank when I was back in Kansas, I’d learned I actually enjoyed a glass of wine at night occasionally. And it wasn’t like Toby hadn’t gotten used to beer being around with Jordan. Or seeing me have a drink. And I figured with the stress of moving and excitement of moving, a glass or two of wine that night would help settle me for sleep.

I poured a glass of wine and took my first sip when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Toby shouted. His feet thundered through the empty house and made it sound like a stampede of elephants. He took off down the hallway and around the corner toward the door as I shouted behind him. “I’ll need to sign for it!”

I set down my glass and followed him, hungry but not nearly as starving as my son, when I slid to an abrupt halt on my feet.

Because my son wasn’t taking pizza boxes from the delivery man.

He had his arms thrown around his dad’s waist.

Jordan’s head rose from where he’d pressed it to the top of Toby’s head. “Surprise,” he said, and a slow grin stretched across his face.

Immediately, tears stung my eyes and my body trembled. “You’re here. How? Why?”

Toby stepped out of Jordan’s arms and turned to me, smiling so big his face looked like it’d split in two. “I told him I missed him and he said he’d come see us. So I told him okay and now he’s here!”

My feet started moving, pulling me toward the man in my doorway, the front door still open behind him. And then I wasn’t just moving. I ran the small distance of the hallway until I reached him and I flung myself into his strong, warm—and forever and always to be onlymine—arms. “You’re here!”

“Missed the two of you like crazy. Toby said last night how much he missed me and said your plans had changed. Hopped on the first flight I could make today so I can help you get back home tomorrow.”

Home. With him. He’d come and not because he didn’t trust me to return on my own but because my son had told him we needed him.

God. This man was perfect.

“I tried calling you this morning to let you know I was coming.”

“I know. But I knew if I talked to you I’d tell you I was on my way to you, you’d tell me not to bother, we’d bicker about it, and then I’d still be here, so I saved us all the hassle.”

“Isn’t this great, Mom?” Toby said. Now I knew why the kid had been so jittery. He hadn’t been worried, he’d been antsy. “Now we can all three head back home together!”

“Yeah, kid. It’s great.” I was still in Jordan’s arms and I tilted my head, grinning at him. “Our first big family adventure.”

“The first of many,” Jordan murmured, his head falling slowly toward mine. His intent clear. He pressed his lips to mine, whispering, “And I’ll give you a better kiss once the kid’s not in the room.”

“Can’t wait,” I replied, and pressed my lips to his.

“Gross!” Toby groaned. A flash of light came from the open doorway and he immediately shouted, “Awesome! And pizza’s here. I’m freaking starving!”

“Later,” Jordan said, squeezing me tightly before letting me go.

Which meant I answered the door for the pizza guy, Jordan took the pizzas for me, and I signed the receipt all while wearing the largest, goofiest smile I’d ever worn in my life.

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