Page 127 of Someday You Learn

“Oh god. It’s happening.” Cashlynn squeezes my hand as the flight crew closes the cabin, preparing for takeoff.

“Cashlynn, you’ve got this. Remember, once we land, we’ll be in Greece.”

“Yeah, but then we have to fly back, and—”

I shut her up with my mouth, swallowing her fear and her moans as I use my tongue to distract her from her biggest fear.

It’s been one year since she opened her gallery in Carrington Cove, and I told her that to celebrate, we both deserved a vacation. Her instant argument was no flying, but I pushed her to agree to it if I took her to one of her bucket list places, and she did. I honestly don’t know if she thought I was joking or not, but when we played rock, paper, scissors (with no fire or water balloon involved) to decide, I won fair and square, so I booked the trip and have been coaxing her through each step, knowing that this trip will be cause for more than one reason to celebrate.

We just need to get in the air first.

When I break our kiss, her eyes flutter open. “If you want to distract me like that for the whole flight, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

“That’s thirteen hours of kissing. You think you can handle that without taking it any further?”

She groans at the idea. “Okay, maybe not.”

I lean toward her ear and lower my voice. “Maybe once the sun goes down and they turn the lights off in the cabin, I’ll try to feel you up.”

She smacks my arm. “You wouldn’t dare.”

I stare right into her eyes as I say, “You should know me better than that by now, Cashlynn. When I want something, I make it happen.”

“Except for owning the animal hospital. You gave that up pretty easily.”

“Yeah, because you are more important to me.”

A few months after Robert fired Seth, he found a suitable replacement for him as our new owners—a couple from Georgia who were looking to relocate to a smaller town. Turns out he’d had offers to sell over the years, but never entertained the idea because he wasn’t ready. But when Sheryl and Theodore Monroe approached him about the practice for the second time, he jumped at their offer, and the couple have been incredible to work with. Between the three of us, we’ve managed our patients extremely well.

“I still can’t believe you took two weeks off.”

“You’re one to talk. I thought I was going to have to pry your fingers off the door jamb of the gallery to get you to go on this trip.”

“Well, Sally and Erica have it under control, I just need to trust them. Plus, Willow insisted she would stop by and help them if they had any questions. Hazel offered, but she has too much on her plate right now.”

I let out a sigh. “I know. I can’t believe that Mrs. Kingston left her Blueberry.”

Diane Kingston sadly passed away a few weeks ago, and she left her dog to my sister. They already had a bond and she was familiar with his care, but it’s been a lot for Hazel to manage her business and a dog. Not to mention she has to meet with Timothy McDonald this week to go over the rest of Diane’s will.

“I think it will be good for her to have a little companion.”

Cashlynn sighs. “I’ve tried to convince her to start dating again, but she’s fed up. Says there’s no available men in town and she’s contemplating becoming a lesbian, but she’s not sure if she could handle a life without dick.”

I give Cashlynn a deadpan stare. “I could have gone my entire life without hearing that.”

She laughs, but then the plane starts to move, heading for the runway. “Oh God. Hold my hand, please.”

I surround both of her hands with my own. “Just breathe. Remember, taking off and landing is the worst part.”

She nods, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. “I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to talk me into this again.”

I smirk before dropping my first hint to her about the reason for this trip. “Really? Not even for our honeymoon?”

With her eyes still closed, she scoffs. “We aren’t even engaged, Parker. I can’t think about a honeymoon without a ring on my finger.”

I take her ring out of my pocket after waiting more than one year to give it back to her. “Well, we’d better fix that, then.” I take her left hand and slide her ring back on her finger just as her eyes snap open.

“Parker? What the…”

---