Page 57 of Single Dad Christmas

“Tell me that you want to spend even one more day away from me?”

She shook her head, the thought anathema now.

“That’s what I hoped.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “Well, my darling, beautiful Louisa, how would you feel about seeing some of that Australian outback?”

She stared at him. “Now?”

“Well, I mean, my mother’s made a bed up for you, so…”

“At your request?”

“Actually, this was Taylor’s suggestion,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I told her about your road trip idea, and she agreed. So, if it’s still okay with you, I thought we could spend tomorrow with my family, then the day after Christmas, we’ll start driving back to Sydney.”

“Taylor agreed to that?”

“As long as she gets to choose the music. She says she owes it to you to try.” He stroked her cheek. “She feels pretty shitty about what she did.”

“I don’t want her to feel bad.”

“I’m glad she does. It shows me her moral compass is still alive and ticking.”

Louisa expelled a soft breath and lifted up onto the tips of her toes. “I love you,” she said, realizing she hadn’t actually said those words to him, and how wonderful they felt to say now. “And I always, always will.”

“Well, that’s a huge relief,” he grinned. “Because I’ve built a whole lot of plans around our future together, so I’m glad to know you’re a willing participant in that.”

“Very, very willing,” she promised. And then, “Do we have to leave right away?”

His eyes probed hers, and his grin was teasing. “We can wait a while. What did you have in mind?”

“A private catch-up,” she said with a firm nod. “Before I meet your whole family.”

“A private catch-up sounds just perfect.” And he lifted her up and carried her though her apartment, towards the bedroom. The same bedroom where this had all started, only this time, when they made love, they knew that was what they were doing: loving one another, worshipping each other, body and soul, and that they would do so for all time.

In the end,they stayed on the property for five days. Louisa adored the outback, and Noah’s family adored her.

By the end of the trip, Taylor seemed to have genuinely warmed to her—something neither of them had seen coming. But they’d video-called Amy a couple of times, and she seemed to be doing well, and there was something about having everything out in the open that was very healing. Not just for Taylor, but for Noah, too. He realized that he’d been treating Taylor like the little girl he often thought of her as, but it was much more fun to have her as someone who was on the brink of adulthood.

Louisa seemed to instinctively understand how to be around Taylor. She was warm and kind without being condescending, loving, and patient without ever seeming to want to take over the role of mother. The more Noah saw of Louisa—whether that was her talking to his family, or spending time with Taylor—the bigger his love for her felt.

As the sun was setting on their last day in the outback, Louisa and Taylor went for a walk to say goodbye to the horses—they’d bonded over a love of riding, and a healthy competition, too.

“You know, I know Dad told you how sorry I am, about the, erm, restaurant thing,” Taylor began, mumbling a little out of embarrassment.

“You don’t need to apologise.”

“I just wanted to explain, so you know it won’t happen again. Like, ever. And not just because Dad would kill me.”

Louisa concealed her smile.

“I was so selfish that night. I was just so angry. So worried about Mom and angry at Dad for not talking to me about her, and I just took it all out on you.”

“That’s completely understandable.”

“No, it’s not,” she said with a shake of her head. “Because the thing is, part of what I have felt so bad about since we left the States was how unhappy Dad is. I have felt like this huge burden to him, because he focuses so much of his time and energy on me—way more than the other parents do their kids. He’s at every netball training and game, he comes to debates, he brings me coffee, he’s just been trying so hard to be so perfect that I felt bad about it. But then, he met you, and he told me how happy he was, and instead of being relieved that he was finally doing something for himself, looking after himself, I was…jealous.” She shrugged. “It was never about you. I was so rude to you…”

“Hey,” Louisa stopped walking and turned to face her. “Let me tell you something, and I’m just going to say it once, okay? From the very beginning, your dad told me about you and told me you were the most important person in his world. That’s never going to change. He loves me, and I love him, but your relationship with him is totally unique, and I never, ever want to infringe on that.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Taylor insisted. “You’re not. You and Dad are your own thing and seeing how happy he is with you…it makes me happy. I’m really glad he met you.”

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