by Elena Aitken
“You’re a bastard,” Mitch told him.
“This will just keep me from having to repeat everything later,” Chase said with a laugh.
“So what do you need to know?” Owen asked.
“I just…” Mitch blew out a breath. “I guess I’m thinkin’ about a long-distance relationship.”
“They suck, man,” Chase said.
“You don’t even know,” Mitch told him. “You just officially got together with Bailey.”
“And I already know it’s going to suck.”
“But you’re gonna do it anyway?” Mitch asked.
“Well… yeah.” Chase found Bailey again. She was actually paying attention to something other than her paperwork.
Of course, Leo Landry, the patriarch of the family, was very hard to ignore.
Chase’s gut, and lower, tightened at the look of happiness on Bailey’s face. She’d gotten comfortable here, with these people, so quickly. He was thrilled he’d been able to give her the kind of Christmas she’d been missing at home. But now he wanted more. Every holiday. Holidays with her family too. Her meeting and loving every person he loved and vice versa.
“Why’s it gotta be long distance?” Owen asked.
“Because…” Mitch trailed off as if thinking.
“If you’re doin’ things right, she’s not gonna want to live without you,” Owen said. “So start doin’ things right.”
“If I remember correctly, Maddie was ready to move back to California even after you were doing things,” Mitch said.
Owen laughed. “’Cause I wasn’t doin’ things right.”
“I’m not sure I want details about what you were doing wrong,” Mitch said dryly.
“Oh, nothin’ like that,” Owen said. “Trust me.”
“So what?” Mitch asked.
“I just had to figure out that living anywhere with her was better than living at all without her.” Owen was watching someone behind Chase and he knew without looking it was Maddie. He had a soft look on his face that was produced by only one thing. His girl. “It just works out.”
“So your advice is to move to Iowa to be with a woman I’ve known for like two days. Other than a few months of texting,” Mitch said.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Owen asked. “It doesn’t work out and you move back here.”
“That’s…” Mitch didn’t finish that sentence either.
After a beat, Owen nodded. “I’m good. I know.”
“She hasn’t exactly asked me to stay,” Mitch said.
“Well, she can’t really keep you from moving somewhere. You’re a grown man. She can’t keep you out of Appleby,” Chase pointed out.
What would he do if Bailey tried to get rid of him? Yeah, he’d end up down here in Autre every weekend. Maybe more if needed.
That thought struck out of the blue.
Would he quit medical school at Georgetown to move down here to convince Bailey he wanted her above all else?
Yes.
After only two weeks?
But still, the answer was yes.
He wanted a shot at this. He sensed that this, with her, was bigger than anything else he was going to ever do. This would affect everything else. This would be what he wanted no matter what job he had and where.
He knew that two weeks shouldn’t be enough time to know that, but he’d only spent two weeks in Autre last summer and that had changed him completely.
Two weeks to fall in love after he’d met The One? Yeah, that seemed about right.
“That doesn’t seem a little stalkerish?” Mitch asked.
“Why do you boys always make this all so difficult?”
Chase twisted and looked up at Ellie. Owen and Mitch’s grandmother and one of Chase’s favorite people on the planet.
He grinned. Mitch was about to get some grandma advice. And he already knew it was going to be good.
“Tell her what you’re thinkin’, Mitchell,” Ellie said, planting her hands on her thin hips and frowning at the phone as if Mitch could see her. “Don’t be weird about it. Just say, I think I’m crazy about you, and I want to find out if this can work out. For God’s sake.” She looked up at Owen and then at Chase. “You all make this seem like some huge mysterious, magical thing. You don’t have to wait for planets to line up or for some big sign like your favorite song to play just as the full moon comes up over the hill when the scent of lilacs drifts through your window.”
She rolled her eyes.
Owen laughed. “You and this family are the biggest fuckin’ romantics in the entire universe, Ellie.”
Yes, they all called their grandmother Ellie and their grandfather Leo. Because all of their grandparents on both sides of the family lived in town, so simply referring to them as “grandma” and “grandpa” had never been specific enough.
“Sure, we’re romantic,” Ellie said. “We know when it’s right and we’re willing to go big when that happens.”
It was true that the Landrys were known for their grand, romantic gestures. It was countywide legend, actually. But Chase supposed that didn’t mean they thought the falling-in-love part was all that complicated.
“Well, I won’t tell Cora that you think her love potion is bullshit,” Chase said.
Cora made all kinds of “potions” and balms and salves and other homemade “cures”. Chase fully intended to incorporate some of those things into his medical practice when he came back to Autre for good. And he was never going to tell his medical school classmates about it.
“Oh, she knows it’s bullshit,” Ellie said. “Who would believe a love potion? You can’t make love happen.”
“But… wait… what else of hers is bullshit?” Chase asked with a frown.
Mitch snorted and Owen laughed.
“Oh honey,” Ellie said. She put an affectionate hand on Chase’s cheek.
“The only stuff that’s bullshit is the stuff that doesn’t work,” Ellie said placatingly.
“But…” In his mind, Chase ran though all of the things he’d tried while in Autre. “All of it worked. Didn’t it?”
“Then I guess it’s all real,” Ellie said with a shrug.
“That’s not how science works,” Chase said.
Ellie laughed. “Oh well, we aren’t talking about science.”
“Then what are we talking about?”
“Love.”
“Love isn’t science?” Chase asked.
“Is it?” Ellie challenged in return. “You tellin’ me that what you’re feeling for that beautiful accident-waitin’-to-happen over there is all just synapses and endorphins?”
“Well…” Chase’s gaze went to Bailey again.
“Exactly,” Ellie said after a moment. “You’ve probably had your hormones get all stirred up before. Chemistry and whatever. But what you feel for Bailey is different. And I don’t think you can explain it with science.”
“But,” Chase tried again, “science is real.”
“Well, of course it’s real,” Ellie said with another eye roll. “Germs and stuff are real. You come out of the bathroom without washing your hands or cough on my bar without covering your mouth, and I’ll slap you upside the head and cut you off from gumbo for a week.”
“So…” Chase wasn’t sure what he wanted her to fill in there.
“So science and things beyond science can both be true at the same time,” Ellie said.
Chase thought about that. That sounded…reasonable. “Then Cora’s potions and creams do actually work?” He really wanted those to be actual remedies and not just plain old lotions and oils that happened to smell good and feel good on the skin. He wanted them to work. He didn’t want their healing powers to be all in his head.
Ellie blew out an exasperated breath. “I’m tellin’ you that you boys are bein’ nitpicky dumbasses.”
“Dumbasses?” Chase repeated. “To want to prove something is true?”
“Good lord,” Ellie muttered. “Do you need a research paper
to tell you something is working if you can see it and feel it with your own eyes and heart?” she asked.
She took a breath. “If millions of people use condoms and there are fewer women gettin’ knocked up, then you know that the condoms are working, right? If people start wearin’ seat belts and more people walk away from car crashes, you know the seat belts are working. If you burn your hand and put a salve on it and it feels better the next day, then it worked to make your hand feel better. And if you find a woman who makes you think about turning your whole life upside down to be with her, then you’re falling in love with her.” Ellie’s voice softened. “Nothing changes a life more than love does.”
“I…” Chase wasn’t sure what he’d been about to say. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
Ellie scoffed. “Of course I’m right. I’m old. I know a lot of shit by now.”
Chase snorted. Then Ellie smiled at Chase and Owen, patted their cheeks, and turned and left.
“Well, there you go,” Chase finally said to Mitch.
“She’s gone?”
“Dropped her knowledge and then went to harass someone else,” Chase said. “You feel better?”
“I don’t know how we got from salves to me moving to Iowa, but, yeah, I guess I do.”
“So I need to pack your stuff and haul it up to Iowa?” Owen asked.
“Maybe,” Mitch said thoughtfully. “I need to talk to Paige.”
“Okay, good luck,” Owen told him. “But, in all seriousness, Ellie has a point. When you find the girl that makes you feel different. Different from the other girls but also like you’re a different person, better than you were before, then she’s worth a U-Haul and a change-of-address form at the post office.”
Chase felt his chest tighten and he looked at Bailey again.
“Yeah. You’ve got a point,” Mitch agreed.
“I’m jealous,” Chase said. “Bailey and I can’t really do the change-of-address-U-Haul thing. I mean, she could move to DC, I suppose, but she’s happiest down here on the bayou, and I’m only in DC for a couple of years before I’ll hopefully be heading back down here anyway.”
“You think you can do the long-distance thing?” Mitch asked.
“Yeah,” he said, feeling more confident in that answer than he had in anything in a long time. “Fuck, yeah. We’ll get together as much as we can, and the future together is worth however hard it is now.”
“And with the way you two are when you’re together, it’s probably safer if the two of you are mostly together on Zoom or FaceTime,” Mitch joked.
He had a point. Chase chuckled. “Good thing I’m going to medical school, huh?”
Mitch laughed. “For sure.”
“Okay, so go tell your girl that you’re going to need to buy some warmer clothes, and I’m going to go try not to get my nose broken under the mistletoe.”
Laughing, they disconnected.
Chase shoved back from the table again.
“Aw, man,” Owen groaned. “You all get all lovey-dovey around here and Maddie’s down at the office.”
“You can’t go down to the office with her?” Chase asked.
“She says I distract her,” Owen said with an unapologetic grin.
Chase nodded. “Good. And speaking of distracting gorgeous women from the work they should be doing…” He glanced at Bailey then back to Owen. “I have a beautiful, accident-waiting-to-happen to distract.”
“Go get her,” Owen said. “I’m going to dirty text mine.”
Chase laughed. “That should be distracting.”
“Yep. And I’ll bet you ten bucks she’s back up here in ten minutes.” Owen already had his phone out.
Chase headed for Bailey.
He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
Or, at least, that was his intention.
She jumped and jerked back, her head coming within centimeters of smacking him directly in the nose.
He dodged, but that resulted in him pulling her to the side with him.
The bar stool tipped, she slid off the seat, and they ended up stumbling back together.
But he stayed on his feet, and kept her upright-ish, by bracing his hand against the table behind him.
They paused, both took a breath, and then laughed. She turned in his arms…and stepped on his foot and whacked in him the chin with her head after all.
He tightened his arms around her and then lifted a hand to her face, holding her still.
Her hands came up to his face. “Sorry.”
“My fault. I didn’t warn you.”
She smiled. “Maybe someday I’ll be used to having a hot guy come up behind me and feel me up.”
“Well, only this guy.”
“Of course.”
“And just in case, we’re going to carpet our house with very thick, soft carpet. In every room.”
Her expression softened at the idea of them sharing a house. “Sounds perfect.”
“Is it too early to tell you that I’m falling in love with you?”
Her eyes went wide. She searched his face. But then she slowly shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
“I mean, I’ve been falling around you from the very first time I ever tried to kiss you,” he teased.
She smiled. “True.”
“So, it was probably inevitable.”
She nodded. “Probably. Which makes sense why I’m falling for you too.”
He cupped her face. “I’m coming in.”
She wrapped her hands around his wrists. “I’m ready.”
He was too. He’d never been more ready for anything ever.
Epilogue
One year later…
Chase saw Bailey before she saw him.
She was rolling a big suitcase along the tiled floor of Dulles airport and looking around. For him. His heart thumped.
It had been two months since they’d seen each other in person. They talked every day, mostly via Facetime, but it wasn’t the same. He couldn’t wait to hug her. Kiss her. Hug her. Smell her hair. He could be touchy and creepy-ish now. She was his. And she seemed to like his handsy side and didn’t mind at all that he liked to smell her. All over.
Besides the suitcase, she had a huge tote bag over her shoulder that had a toothy, smiling alligator emblazoned on the side. He’d gotten her the bag in D.C. He’d seen it in a store window and thought of her. He’d sent it along with a note that said, “How do you tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?” The day she’d gotten the package in the mail she’d texted him, “One will see you later and one will see you in a while.”
He’d bought a plane ticket online two minutes later and surprised her the following weekend.
It had been a very fun year.
And now he was going to have her with him in person for ten consecutive days. They hadn’t been together for that long at one stretch since she’d taken her week-long vacation to Virginia in July. Her usual trips to Virginia were longer than his to Louisiana, but were still only a few days at a time. They’d managed to see each other once a month and it would have to be like that for at least another year, but eventually he’d be able to get a residency closer to her.
For now, they just had to make the most of the few days they had each visit.
He drank in the sight of her as she made her way toward him. She was in blue jeans, red Converse tennis shoes, and under her red cardigan she was wearing a T-shirt that had a huge red crawfish in the middle and said, Well, it ain’t gonna suck itself. The shirt was only partially tucked in. The sweater was falling off one shoulder. Her hair was coming out of the ponytail she wore. She was a little bit of a mess. She also seemed oblivious to everything around her—except finding him.
He was madly freaking in love with her.
They were heading to Minneapolis together tomorrow after dinner with his parents tonight. They were then spending two days with her family before heading down to Autre for Christmas Day and to spend the followin
g week.
He was still trying to decide which place would be the ideal setting for his proposal.
Yes, he was proposing. It had been a year. A long, but wonderful year. The long distance and length of time between their visits had made it so they really talked. They’d told each other everything. They talked about their pasts. They shared details of their daily life now. They talked about their plans for the future, their goals and dreams.
She was now his future. His dream. And it was time to get a ring on her finger.
The woman who had just walked right past him without even seeing him.
Okay, it was a busy airport and about seven people had walked between them. And she’d been looking the other way. Still.
Chase shook his head and turned to follow her, his chest filled with the mix of amusement and affection that she automatically brought up in him.
She was used to spending her days out on the bayou, mostly alone with nature. She dealt with people—locals with nuisance alligator reports, visitors camping where they weren’t supposed to—and shouldn’t—hell, locals camping where they weren’t supposed to. She received calls about injured animals and people trying to capture or keep animals they weren’t supposed to. She definitely dealt with people.
But she preferred the animals.
Except maybe when it came to Chase. And the Landry family who had essentially adopted her now. Even they got to be a little much for her, though. Bailey definitely preferred the sounds of bullfrogs and birds and crickets to the sounds of traffic and people. So D.C. was always a little overstimulating for her and Dulles made her a little crazy.
She suddenly stopped and he nearly plowed into her. She let go of her suitcase, blew out a breath and looked around.
“Bailey,” he said, putting a hand on her upper arm.
Clearly acting on instinct, she threw her elbow back, catching him in the ribs as she whipped around and away from his hold. Her eyes were wide.
Used to this stuff by now, Chase lifted his hands in surrender, giving her a chance to register it was him.
“Oh my God!” She put a hand to her chest. “You scared me! You know better than that!”
“I should,” he agreed with a grin. Then he braced himself for what was next.