“Why don’t you see if you can take off a few days early? Really think it over? Since you’d be listed as a team head, we can compensate you not only for the job itself, but for the return flight as well. I’d love to have you back, but of course it wouldn’t affect your position in the program come January. There’s always next summer, right?”
I blinked. Next summer. This could be what my future looked like—spending the school year teaching, writing, and the summers on archeological digs. It’s everything you’ve wanted.
But Josh. What was it worth without Josh?
Nothing.
I at least needed to see him before I said yes, to make sure we’d be okay for another couple of months. Because saying no was insane, right? It was a hell of a line for my resume, and I’d be home before Christmas.
“I’ll think about it,” I promised.
I cringed over the change fee to my airline ticket, but made it. One packed bag and two days later, Luke took me to the airport, already having agreed to stay for the remainder of the dig. “You sure you only want to take one bag?” he asked as we walked toward the terminal.
I nodded. “I’ll be back for the rest.”
His grin was instant. “I knew this place would get into your blood. I’m glad you’re staying with me!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you in a few weeks?”
He hugged me tight. “Please, for the love of all that is holy and good, bring real coffee creamer.”
I laughed and promised to do so, then boarded my flight. Frankfurt, Philadelphia, and finally Nashville…fourteen hours later, I was stateside. Exhausted, but stateside. I fired up my cell phone as soon as we taxied. “It’s nice to be home,” I whispered as my signal picked up.
I skipped the thousand Facebook notifications, the Twitter updates, and the Instagram feed, going straight for Paisley’s number.
“Ember?” she answered, out of breath. “Do you have service over there now?”
“I’m actually in Nashville!” I exclaimed, something in my soul righting at the sound of her voice. We’d docked the plane, and now people were milling about the cabin, waiting their turn to disembark.
“You are? Jagger! She’s in Nashville!”
“What?” his voice was muffled in the background.
“How?” she asked.
“I came home a few days early. I was offered the chance to run my portion of the dig site for the next couple of months, but I wanted to come home first and think it over.”
“That’s amazing! I can’t wait to see you. Do you think you can get here pretty soon?” she asked.
“As soon as I get off the plane, I’ll rent a car and head home.” Finally my turn, I grabbed my backpack from the overhead bin and walked toward the front of the plane. Excitement lit my nerve endings. I’d get to sleep in my own bed tonight. Make dinner in a full kitchen. Yes! You can get Starbucks!
“I meant the hospital. If you’re not too busy, I’m kind of in labor.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh my God. Yes! Yes! I’ll be there as soon as I can!” I broke into a run as soon as my feet hit the Jetway.
I heard Jagger mutter something in the background. “I absolutely will not ask her that, Jagger Bateman.”
Another muffled response.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“There’s something else,” she said before I heard the phone change hands.
“Ember?” Jagger’s voice filled the line.
“Congrats, Daddy,” I said, my voice uneven as I sprinted through the terminal.
“Yeah, this is amazing. But listen, I need a favor.”
“Anything.” I bypassed the Starbucks by the security entrance and headed for the rental car desk.
“Yeah, I was kind of supposed to be somewhere in about an hour and forty-five minutes, and I need you to fill in.”
“Done. Where am I going?” I asked as I slid past people on the escalator.
“Josh is coming home today. I need you to pick him up.”
My feet failed me, and I tripped over the end of the escalator, sprawling on the floor in a graceless heap that was more metaphor than painful.
“Ember?”
I stumbled, maintaining my hold on the phone. “Yeah. Yeah, I got this.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Hell no. Not even close.
Chapter Thirty-Four
EMBER
My hands shook as I killed the car engine in the hangar parking lot. 8:25 p.m. Thank you God, I made it in time. Twenty minutes until the ceremony was scheduled to start, and I was a hot mess. I shoved a few bobby pins in my hair, trying to put it into some kind of style that didn’t immediately say I’d been traveling for sixteen hours.
Of course this is the way it would happen. I lifted my neckline to my nose and sniffed. Oh. My. God.
I twisted and pulled my bag through the gap in the front seats. I looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then risked an indecent exposure, changing into a clean tank top and semi-wrinkled button-down. The shorts would have to stay. There was zero chance of me stripping down to that level in the parking lot.
Unless Josh wants—
Nope. Not going there.
I gave myself a once-over in the mirror, popped on a coat of mascara and some lip gloss, and declared myself done. Without a shower and a straight-iron, this was as good as I was getting.
The stands were full as I walked into the hangar. I passed the little girls in red-white-and-blue tutus, and the little boys in camo outfits as they danced to the band, making my way up the bleachers until I found an empty seat near the top.