by Marie Force
“That’d be great. Everyone here is talking about going out for it.”
“I should hope so. It’s a huge deal.”
“My stomach hurts just thinking about it.”
“It’ll be awesome. Don’t worry.” He was hit with a fit of sneezing.
“Bless you,” she said with a wince. “I should let you get some rest.”
“I’ll call you later.”
“Don’t worry about it. Focus on getting better.”
“I hope you don’t catch it from me.”
“Just to be safe, I won’t kiss you.”
“The hell you won’t.”
Olivia laughed at both his gravelly voice and fierce tone. “Talk to you tomorrow.”
He sneezed again and said, “Sleep tight.”
***
On Christmas night, after his brother and sister and their families had left, Cole sat in his mother’s recliner in the family room and closed his eyes, hoping to calm the pounding in his head.
“You look like hell, son,” his father said as he came into the room with a cup of steaming tea. With a sheepish grin, he added, “I thought this might help.”
Touched, Cole accepted the lemon tea his mother had always made for them when they were sick. “Thank you.”
“Mother always said lemon tea could cure any ill.”
“Yeah,” Cole said, his throat tightening with emotion as it had many times throughout the long day at home. He’d noticed his father’s attempts to replicate his mother’s holiday decorating style. The tree was right where it always was, to the left of the fireplace, her acorn wreath hung on the front door, and battery-powered candles lit every window. Cole appreciated the effort his father had made to make the holiday seem normal, and he knew his siblings did, too. Nothing about it, however, was normal, and they were all painfully aware of that.
Cole put down the tea and got up. “I’ll be right back.” He went into his old bedroom and returned a minute later with a wrapped gift that he handed to his father.
“Another one? Are you made of money these days?”
Cole smiled. “I got this one for free.”
“Is that so?” Joe tore the paper off the gift. “Oh. Oh, wow. Well, will you look at that?” Uncovering the framed drawing Olivia had done of his son, his eyes went glassy with tears.
“What do you think?”
Joe brushed imaginary dust off the glass. “The person who did this certainly knows you.”
“She didn’t know me all that well at the time.”
“Yet she captured you. Right down to that arrogant little grin.”
Cole laughed. “I knew you’d love that.”
“This is wonderful.” Joe couldn’t stop staring at it. “She has a real gift.”
“That’s what I keep telling her.”
Setting the picture on the table next to his chair, Joe turned to Cole. “Who is she?”
“Olivia.” Just saying her name sent a rush of longing through him. How he wished they could have spent the holiday together. Maybe next year.
“And this Olivia is someone important?”
“Very.”
Joe’s face lit up with delight. “You don’t say. Well, it’s about damned time!”
Cole laughed, which made him cough. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
“When do I get to meet this very important Olivia?”
“She’s flying out tomorrow. I thought maybe I’d bring her home next weekend if that’s okay with you.”
Joe reached over to rest his hand on top of his son’s. “That’s more than okay.”
***
Olivia arrived in Chicago the following afternoon. “Oh,” she sighed when she saw him leaning against a wall outside security. “You look awful.”
“Nice to see you, too, babe.” He scooped her into a big hug and kissed her cheek.
“You’re burning up! You should’ve stayed home. I could’ve taken a cab.”
“Since you don’t take cabs and there’s no train to my house, I figured I’d better pick you up.” He took her bag and led her to the escalator. “How was the flight?”
“Kind of scary.”
“Why? Was it bumpy?”
“Not really.”
“Then why were you scared?”
“I didn’t have my own personal pilot with me to explain every weird noise.”
Smiling, he put his arm around her. “There’s nothing to be scared of.” He was so congested he didn’t even sound like himself. “I’ve told you that.”
“Sure, if you’re you, there’s nothing to be scared of.”
His laugh was interrupted by a deep, hacking cough. “God, I’m a walking germ factory. You should stay as far away from me as you can get.”
“No way.”
“Good answer,” he said, leading her to the parking garage. “I’m so bummed. I had all kinds of things I wanted to do when you were here, but I don’t feel like doing shit.”
“That’s all right. I’ll be perfectly happy to curl up with you on the sofa and watch movie after movie until you feel better.”
“Sounds good to me.” He dug his keys out of his coat pocket.
Olivia’s eyes widened when she saw the taillights flash on a shiny black Mustang GT. “No way.”
“Yes, way.”
She ran a hand over the tailfin. “Oh! It’s gorgeous.”
“I love it,” he confessed as he stashed her bag in the trunk. “I’ve always wanted one, and I finally took the plunge last summer.”
“I should’ve figured you for a muscle car,” she teased. “Your need for speed and all that. Do you want me to drive? Since you’re not feeling good?”
He held the passenger door for her. “Ah, no. That’s okay.”
Crossing her arms, she studied him. “You don’t trust me with your baby, do you?”
“I never said that. It’s just that no one else has ever, well…”
Olivia laughed. “You’ve never let anyone else drive it, have you?”
“No,” he said sheepishly.
“Hmm.” She held out her hand. “Prove your love?”
“Liv.”
“You’re sick. I’m here to take care of you. The least you can do after I’ve come all this way is let me drive you home.”
“I don’t know about this.”
“Keys, please.”
“When was the last time you even drove?”
She had to think about that. “The weekend you rented the Toyota in D.C.”
“Then you’re out of practice.”
“And you’re high on cold medicine. Which is worse?” When he had no answer for that, she played her trump card. “I thought you trusted me.”
“I do, but not with—”
“Your car?” She took the keys from him and walked around to the driver’s side.
“Liv.”
God, he was a whiner when he was sick!
“Come on,” he pleaded.
“Are you just gonna stand there, or are you coming with me?”
“Since you have no clue where you’re going, I guess I’m coming with you.”
With a victorious smile, Olivia got into the driver’s seat and got busy rearranging all the mirrors. She heard him groan under his breath.
“Go easy with the clutch. It’s temperamental.”
“Don’t worry, honey. I’ve been driving a stick since I was fifteen. My dad’s into cars, remember?” She fired up the car and sat back for a minute to listen to the roar of the powerful engine. “Wow. Tell me we get some interstate action on the way home.”
This time when he groaned, he made no effort to hide it.
“Oh, goodie!” She shifted into reverse and left some rubber on her way out of the parking space.
“If I was sick before,” he muttered as they pulled up to the tollbooth, “I’m dead now.”
“Shut up and pay the man.”
***
By the time they reached his complex, twenty-six minutes later,
Cole was even paler than he’d been before.
“That was so awesome,” Olivia sighed as she cut the engine and returned his keys.
“Yeah,” he said, dripping with sarcasm. “Awesome. I hope you enjoyed taking advantage of a sick person because you won’t get away with that twice.”
“It was so worth it. I’ve never driven such a cool car.”
He softened somewhat at that. “You do have a way with a stick.”
She flashed him a huge grin and followed him up the stairs to his townhouse. “Are we still talking about the car?”
He laughed so hard he ended up coughing. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“I’ll try not to,” she said, forcing a solemn expression. She was so damned glad to see him she didn’t even care that he was a walking germ factory. “Oh, this is beautiful!” Walking ahead of him into the living room, she took in the dark leather furniture, glass tables, and flat-screen TV. Everything about the place was masculine, but there were feminine touches, too, like the silk flowers on the dining-room table and the window treatments. “Did you do this?”
“With a little help from my mother and sister. But most of it was me. You like?”
“I love.”
“So you could—maybe someday—see yourself living here?”
“Tell me the truth—did you have the place professionally decorated so I’d want to move here immediately?”
“No,” he said with a grin, “but that would’ve been a good strategy.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I missed you so much.”
“Me, too.”
He kissed her neck, her jaw, and her cheek, and nibbled on her earlobe, but he was careful to avoid her mouth. “I want to take you straight upstairs to bed, but I don’t think I’ve got it in me tonight. Will you be disappointed if we just chill?”
“Of course not.” She helped him out of his coat and led him to the sofa. “I’ll make us something to eat while you take a nap.”
“You don’t know where anything is.”
“I’ll figure it out.” Brushing her hand over his eyes, she urged him to close them. “Sleep.”
He kept his eyes closed. “I don’t want to sleep when you’re here. I want to be with you.”
“We have a whole week. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Pinky swear?”
She kissed him lightly on the lips and wrapped her finger around his. “Pinky swear.”
Chapter 26
Olivia told herself it didn’t count as snooping. After all, he knew she was there and had to figure she’d be curious, right? She decided her whole apartment would fit in his dining room and kitchen, which had stainless steel appliances, brown granite countertops, and dark wood cabinets. Running a hand over the smooth granite, she paused to look at the photos on the refrigerator.
The Langston family Christmas card from three years earlier had been signed “with love from Joe, Irene, and Family.” In the picture, Cole held a blond child in each arm. From the other four young adults, she found the two she figured for his brother, Josh, and sister, Amanda. She looked forward to meeting them next weekend.
Olivia took a moment to study his mother, a robust, smiling woman who seemed full of life. In her eyes, Olivia saw a hint of the mischief she loved so much in Cole. She decided he favored his mother.
In another photo of him with his parents, Cole wore a flight suit and a tan Navy uniform hat with a gold pin on the side. The rest of the space on the refrigerator was dominated by school photos of his three nieces and two nephews, and candid shots of Cole with the kids, who clearly adored their uncle.
When she went back into the living room she found him out cold. Poor guy, she thought as she played with his hair. He was always so full of energy that it was strange to see him flattened like this. Figuring he would be asleep for a while, she took her bag upstairs where there were three bedrooms and a bathroom off the hallway.
In the first bedroom, she found a home gym and a sofa that probably doubled as a guest bed. The second room housed a meticulous computer workstation. On the walls were photos, plaques, and mementos from his ten years in the Navy. She stopped for a closer look at a photo of him sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet that had “Lt. Cmdr. Cole ‘Jackpot’ Langston” scrolled in cursive on the body. She’d have to ask him how he got that nickname!
Sitting on the desk, she noticed what looked like a scrapbook and decided to take a quick look. Inside the front cover she found a brief inscription: “To Cole, who was a hero to us long before the rest of the world caught on. Love, Dad.”
Moved by his father’s sweet words, Olivia flipped through the pages of coverage that had followed Cole’s heroic act the previous January. He’d been on the covers of People, US, Time, and Vanity Fair. Articles, including several about his brief but dramatic relationship with passenger Chelsea Harper, had been clipped from major newspapers across the country.
The final item was a photo of Cole with his arm around the captain he’d saved, the two of them sporting huge grins. The captain had autographed the photo, “To my new best friend Cole Langston. I owe you everything. Bob Greenman.”
“Wow,” Olivia said as she took a second slower trip through the scrapbook. She’d managed to compartmentalize his national hero status, but seeing it all spelled out in black and white was a daunting reminder of just how famous he’d become. After the second look, she closed the book and continued on to the next room.
Throughout the house, she noticed framed artwork and other souvenirs he had brought back from his travels. She wanted to know the story behind each one of them.
His bedroom was done in shades of tan with red accents. The dark cherry headboard on his king-sized bed was so pretty that Olivia couldn’t resist touching it to see if it was as smooth as it looked. It was.
She couldn’t imagine owning a home as lovely as this. She had expected it to be nice, but she hadn’t predicted such a finely tuned sense of style. In hindsight, she should’ve known he had it in him by the way he could make jeans and a sweater look like a GQ ad. She left her bag in his room and checked out the large master bathroom.
Another flight of stairs from the hallway led to the third floor, which was used for storage. Boxes of all shapes and sizes were stashed in the open loft.
Her curiosity satisfied—for now—Olivia went downstairs to poke around in the kitchen and discovered he’d been to the store in anticipation of her arrival. She threw together a salad and boiled some pasta. Since she had to search for everything she needed, it took nearly an hour to make the simple meal.
As she was setting the table, his cell phone, which was plugged into the charger on the counter, rang. Olivia stared at it as she debated whether or not she should answer it. Finally, she reached for it.
“Hello?” Silence. “Hello?” Oddly, she felt like someone was there—someone who was choosing not to speak. A weird prickling sensation danced down her spine as she ended the call and looked at the caller ID. The number was unavailable. She shook off the strange feeling and lifted the lid on the pot to see if the pasta was done.
When it was ready, she went to check on Cole. Squatting down next to him, she caressed his face and pressed her lips to his warm forehead.
He awoke with a start. “Hey,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. “What time is it?”
“Almost seven.”
Wincing, he tried to shake off the stupor. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Feel any better?”
“A little.” He reached up to twirl a lock of her hair around his finger. “I’m having déjà vu.”
She smiled. “I still feel the jolt.”
“Me, too.”
Unable to resist for another minute, she leaned in and kissed him.
“Liv, honey, wait. I don’t want you to get sick.”
“I’m willing to take my chances.” She flicked at his lips with her tongue. “Besides, you’re probably not contagious anymore.”
He buried his fingers in her hair and broug
ht her down for an easy, gentle kiss.
But after not seeing him for nearly two weeks, she wasn’t interested in easy or gentle so she sent her tongue to find his.
He pulled away. “I can’t do this to you. It’s misery.”
With a smile, she got up and stretched out on top of him. “I remember saying that same thing once, and I seem to recall a certain lord of the manor insisting I could.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “This is different. You could get sick.”
“I just want one decent kiss, and then I’ll feed you and nurse you.”
His eyebrow lifted into a rakish expression. “Nurse me how?”
“If you don’t kiss me, you won’t find out.”
“Oh, all right. If I have to, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”
“The sacrifices you make for me.”
Laughing, he cupped the back of her head and gave her what she wanted.
***
After dinner, they exchanged Christmas gifts. Olivia had found an elaborate book on biplanes that she thought he would like and a sweater she hoped would fit him. And there was one more she couldn’t wait to give him.
He opened the first two gifts with childlike glee. The book was a huge hit, and when he would have dived right into it, she had to remind him there were others. He opened the sweater and put it on over his T-shirt.
“Oh, good,” she said, pleased to see the color complemented his eyes just as she had hoped it would. “It fits.”
“Perfectly. I love it. Thank you.”
“There’s one more.”
Picking up on her excitement about the gift, he shook it, listening intently to see if there were any clues.
“Just open it, will you?”
With a smile, he tore the paper off and went still. “Oh, wow.” The framed sketch showed the two of them together over a backdrop of all the highlights of their San Francisco trip. “This is just amazing. You’ve got everything in there—the bridge, the cable cars, the Top of the Mark, the Fairmont, Victor and Paolo, Sausalito. Unbelievable.”
He studied it for the longest time and then reached for her. “Second to you yourself, this is the best gift I’ve ever gotten. Thank you.”