Page 111 of The Last One You Loved
My phone rang, and I picked it up when I saw Sally’s name.
“Hey,” I said.
“I feel like I pushed you with all my soul mate talk. Are you really sure about this?” she asked, worry clear in her tone.
“Absolutely,” I told her. In my heart, I knew it was the right thing. It was a setback, but it wasn’t the end of my career. For a short period of time, I had thought I would never practice medicine again, so having to wait a few months to restart my last year of residency in Tennessee was nothing—not if it meant I could be with Maddox and McKenna in the meantime.
“You really love him.” Sally sighed, relief from whatever misplaced guilt she’d had seeping into her voice, as if she’d actually been the one to force me in this direction.
“I love them both. But it isn’t just that, Sal. I want to show Maddox he’s worth giving up everything for when I wasn’t willing to give up anything in our past. Besides, Dr. Gomez is pulling all the strings she can, so who knows if I’ll even have to wait until July. I think she feels guilty that all of this went down on her watch.”
“It means we’ll be living, permanently, thousands of miles apart. The thought of you in Davis and me in Avalyn Beach was bad enough, but I still could have gotten to you in a couple of hours if I needed to.”
“You can come and visit anytime and stay as long as you want.”
I didn’t want to presume I’d be living with Maddox, but I had a sneaking suspicion that once I showed up, he wasn’t going to let me go. Just like after my first night in his bed, I’d never returned to the guest room.
All those thoughts thrilled me. Belonging to him?them?and having them belong to me, too. My joy at the thought of seeing Maddox and Mila again soared through me, just like the thought of being with the entire Hatley clan for Christmas did. I’d never looked forward to a holiday before.
This one was going to be special for so many reasons.
A knock on my door made me jump. I hadn’t ordered food, and I’d given the final check to the landlord already, so there was no reason for anyone to be here. My thoughts drifted to the notes that had been scrawled across the wood before I’d left for Tennessee, but then I reminded myself I didn’t have anything to worry about from Roy Gregory. He’d emptied his bank accounts, left his wife, and taken off to The Maldives where there was no extradition treaty and a good chance someone would hire him as a doctor regardless of the cloud hanging over him. If he stepped back into the U.S., he’d be arrested on a whole host of charges, including skipping bail.
“Sal, I gotta go. Someone’s at the door.”
“You want me to hold on while you check?”
“No, it’s all good. I’ll talk to you before I head out.”
I was hoping to get as far as Reno tomorrow. If I drove at least ten hours a day from there, I’d make it in four, which would get me there just in time for Christmas Eve.
Another knock on the door brought me to my feet, heading from the bedroom out into the empty living space. All the blinds were shut, including the ones looking out onto the landing. I went over and peeked out, and my heart stuttered, dropping the blinds with a hand to my heart. Then, I looked again just to make sure they were real before my feet were flying to the door as my chest threatened to explode with love. I threw it open and stared at my two favorite people in the whole world.
“What? How?” The smile on my face felt so large I thought it might break my cheekbones.
“McKenna!” Mila squealed, tackling my legs and making me put a hand on the wall to stabilize myself. “Merry Christmas!”
I laughed. “It isn’t Christmas!”
Maddox had looked worried when I’d first opened the door, as if I wouldn’t be happy to see him. But now that I was grinning at Mila, his mouth started to tilt up, and then it broke into that gorgeous, stunning smile I loved to call mine—the one that changed his face from a bright star into a supernova.
He took one step inside, wrapped his arms around me, and his lips landed on mine. Heat, longing, and love rippled through my body, knocking all the nerves awake that had gone into hiding since I’d left them. When he started to move away, I fisted his T-shirt and held on, lips finding his again.
“You guys! You’re squishing me. Remember to breathe,” Mila’s tiny voice said, and I laughed again, eyes finding Maddox’s twinkling ones.
“Seriously, what are you doing here?” I asked.
Maddox shut the door behind him and looked down at Mila. “You want to be the one to tell her, Bug-a-Boo?”
Mila jumped from foot to foot and then screamed, “You’re my sister!” My eyes filled with tears as I looked from her to Maddox and then back. “Did you know that?” she continued. “Because I absolutely didnotknow until we were talking about Christmas and how you were alone with no family, and then Daddy told me you’re really my sister, and I said there is no way we can let you spend Christmas without your family, and?”
Maddox put his hand over her mouth. “I think she gets the point.”
I knelt in front of her, bringing our eyes to the same height. “I didn’t know I had a sister until I saw you at Thanksgiving, but now that I do, I can’t think of anything I’d like more than to spend Christmas with you.”
She wrapped her little arms around my neck and hugged me tightly before letting go and looking around the empty space.
“McKenna,” she whispered. “Someone stole all your stuff.”
