Page 18 of Tangled Up In You
The damn plane needed to hurry up and land, so I could get some answers.
***
Home is where the heart is.
The saying went through my head as the taxi took me from the airport and toward the hospital. I hadn’t understood the reality of the statement until being away from home for so long, and then finally seeing it all again.
The same streets I’d learned to drive on. The woods I’d run through with Hunter. The places we used to hang out at. They all looked the same. Yet, so different. Seven years away might not have changed much that could be seen with the eye, but there was a change inme.
The way I saw it all was altered—met with sadness and longing instead of familiarity.
“Thanks,” I said to the driver before paying them. I grabbed my luggage and got out of the car. In too much of a hurry, I didn’t want to waste time checking into my hotel first, so I’d gone straight to the hospital after landing.
I went to Hunter’s name in my phone and called him.
“Hey,” he answered on the first ring. He sounded tired. It’d only taken me a few hours to get there, but I knew the emotional toll this could have on people. Hell, I felt it too. “I’m on the third floor in the lobby. I still haven’t heard anything.”
“I’ll be right up.”
I entered the hospital through the main entrance and went straight to the elevators. A nurse came into the elevator with me and pressed the third floor, so I stood back and waited for the doors to close.
She looked at me and smiled before doing a double take.
“Oh my god. You’re Corbin Taylor.”
“Yeah,” I said, trying to be as friendly as I could even though my nerves were out of control. “Nice to meet you, Candace.”
Her eyes widened before she looked down at her nametag and laughed. “Same. My husband would be fan-girling over you right now if he was here.”
That’s usually when I’d suggest signing something for her or taking a picture, but I wasn’t in the mindset. Luckily, she could tell.
“I hope everything is okay,” she said.
“Thank you. Me too.”
The elevator reached the third floor and the doors opened. I let her go first before walking out behind her into the hall. My luggage was in one hand and my laptop bag was slung over my shoulder, and I’m sure it looked like I was moving into the place or something. Maybe it wasn’t so far off. If my grandpa was going to be staying overnight, I would be too.
Nothing could’ve prepared me for seeing Hunter. Not the hours of obsessing on the plane or the ten minute drive from the airport to the hospital.
He stood up as I entered the waiting area, and it felt like my heart was going to burst from my chest.
“Hey,” he said, looking timid as ever.
Hunter was wearing glasses instead of his contacts, but other than that, he looked just like the guy I’d fallen in love with all those years ago. Same dark hair and eyes. Well, there was one noticeable change. He was more muscled than I last remembered him. In high school, he’d played football with me and he’d worked out a lot, but he’d still been smaller than most of us.
Not anymore.
I was still bigger than him by the looks of it, but his arms were thicker and his broad shoulders caused his fitted T-shirt to hug him just right. His torso went into that sexy V-shape, and his slacks did nothing to hide his fucking amazing bubble butt.
Before I could overthink it, I dropped my luggage and pulled him into my arms. My body involuntarily shuddered at his closeness, as if I’d been in the freezing cold for hours and finally found warmth. He smelled just like I remembered and tears prickled in my eyes.
The joy was fleeting.
Hunter shrugged out of my hold and stepped away, and all of a sudden, the warmth fled and the chill returned.
“You should tell them you’re here,” he said, briefly looking at me before staring at the receptionist’s desk.
I was on my way to do just that when a doctor walked out and asked for the family of Bill Taylor. My gut knotted for some reason. Perhaps it was the grave expression on the man’s face or maybe the tone he’d used when speaking, but I felt it was bad news.
