Page 96 of Your Pucking Mom

Tears formed, and I put the keys in the ignition and raised my hand at the valet making their way over.

“We’re going home,” I insisted, but as soon as I went to put the car back in drive, her fingers wrapped around mine.

“I want to trust you,” she whispered. “You sacrifice so much for me. I want to do this for you.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m so sorry. I always promised to keep the door open for you, and this was me shutting it. I was going to show you?—”

She leaned over, cutting me off by pressing her soft lips to mine. “Will you keep me safe?”

I pulled away and lifted my hand up to her chin, making slow circles along her jawline as I stared deeply into her eyes, trying to convey how much my words meant. “I will always keep you safe.”

She breathed in deeply, then pulled away from me to look out the window. “Let’s do it.”

“I can show you somewhere?—”

She pressed her fingers to my lips. “Show me, Ledger. Show me everything.”

I beckoned the valet to come over and grab the keys, but as he attempted to open Auburn’s door, I stopped him. “I got it.” I pulled it open, and her smile was so wide, a stark contrast from the tears she almost spilled moments earlier.

“I’ve never been this spontaneous before,” she whispered.

Her fingers interlaced with mine as we strode toward the terminal. I stopped just as we opened the door. “Are you ready for an adventure, Sunshine?”

50

auburn

“Ledger Cole. We are not in Scotland.”

We were driving to our hotel in the middle of Grassmarket Square, and the cab driver insisted we had one of the best views of the Edinburgh Castle.

Ledger looked over at me, his hand not leaving my thigh. “I’m obsessed with haggis.”

“Ey, haggis?” the cab driver chimed in.

I had realized where we were headed once we were in first class seats and the captain told us we were set to land in Scotland, but I was still in complete disbelief. Also, traveling first class was definitely the cure to plane anxiety. I thought that sitting in the back of the plane I’d have a higher chance of not dying, but it was because I had no idea what was waiting for me at the front. There was so much space, and I was super rested.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s the national dish of Scotland. It’s minced meat—a savory pudding of sorts.” The cab driver gave us a wink in the mirror.

“And why did we have to come here to eat it?” I turned to ask Ledger, whose dimples were so large.

“My mom’s Scottish, and she used to make a version of this back at home, but because sheep’s lungs aren’t allowed to be consumed in the States, we have to come here to get the best version.”

“Oh my gosh.” I laughed. I looked outside the window feeling like I was in a storybook with all the gloomy fog settling onto the dark stone buildings as we pulled into our hotel. As Ledger grabbed our bags and we walked in, I pulled him aside momentarily. “I’ve never left the country before.”

“I had Stassi break into your apartment?—”

“Oh, no big deal,” I huffed jokingly, trying to be mad at him, but how could I be mad at someone who flew me seven hours away to eat his favorite food?

“How did you find my address?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Okay…I had Alex ask Austin to help us figure out where it was, and we told him it was for an opportunity to play with the world team and you had to have your passport. She said she found your passport easily.” I narrowed my eyes at him. Emma had convinced me long ago I needed a passport in case I needed to run away from my narcissistic mother, but it was tucked neatly into a small drawer inside my closet.

“Hmm,” I said. “And Austin didn’t seem suspicious?”

I didn’t believe him. Austin might be young, but he wasn’t naive, so if Alex told him there was an opportunity to play abroad but he hadn’t heard it directly from his agent, I knew—call it mother’s intuition—that he would question it.

---