What do you think of young Slade??
~Holly’s Point of View~ “Really I can just get an Uber, that’s how I got here,” I said, as I fumbled to get my sneakers on. I had already seen a text from Chase asking if he could stay another night with his cousin, apparently they were doing a two day horror movie marathon. I used to be uptight about him watching that stuff but he thinks it's so funny and actually spends the whole time dissecting why it's all fake. My in-laws are also the sweetest people you could ever want to meet. Much like Gene and I, they were only able to have one child and it's always meant so much to us that Chase and Dylan basically grew up as brothers. Also, in my book, if he had a strong male friend to occupy his time he wasn’t chasing girls that much. Really, he rarely showed much of an interest. His life right now was baseball and I was more than fine with that. “Holly, just let me take you. It’ll be weird but cool to see Mama Anderson’s place again,” he said, shaking his head. “Yeah well, the only t
~Slade’s Point of View~ Holly finally caved and agreed to let me take her home. I was absolutely ready to come apart. There were a few times today I nearly broke down and cried, just ready to get on my knees and beg her to take me back. Having her in my arms again, breathing her in and telling myself she could actually be mine was too much. But I was never that guy to her. That’s not the guy she wants. She responds to my confidence, always has and even now I feel I can read her like a book. I know what she needs to hear and how. Sometimes it’s not talking, it’s touching. Holly is an extremely physical person, well she used to be. Even with the guys she would have her arm on somebody, be leaning. She had no problem sitting in someone’s lap or opening her arms if they were even slightly sad. She was like the mother hen of the band and maybe when we lost her … that’s when the guys really spiraled. I couldn’t keep them together anymore, and that’s when I hired Angie to run PR. She was
~Holly’s Point of View~ Slade always used to say I had a poker face that drove him nuts, he never could quite tell what I was thinking. What he was always thinking … was pretty obvious. Thinking with only one part of his body as a teenager with a girlfriend. But now he’s so different. It’s like he’s walking on eggshells with me, and maybe he is. It seems like he says just as much as he needs to, no more … no less. He’s carefully choosing what he says and I don’t like that one bit. We used to have conversations that lasted hours, just about anything and everything. Mostly … our dreams. We both wanted three kids, and two dogs. We both wanted to feel validated in our careers, to feel like we were doing something important and that mattered. It was obvious to us both pretty early on though that college wasn’t in our world view. The idea of extending high school sounded like absolute torture. If my mom hadn’t absolutely pushed me into nursing school I have no clue what I would have ended
~Slade’s Point of View~ Part of my brain was screaming that I had Holly right where I wanted her. That somehow, through some hole in the time space continuum of the universe she was back in my arms and she wanted to be there. She looked happy. But I knew damn well whatever she was feeling was just new, exciting. We were practically bathing in nostalgia, in the good times we had. I felt like we were both healing, we were both getting the closure on it that we needed. I just didn’t know if it was enough to propel us forward and not just close this door behind us. I knew her son would be a massive part of our story, if there would be one. She’s incredibly close to him, and likely wouldn’t leave Oregon if he didn’t want to. As we got dressed I couldn’t help but feel like this was a one off. Like this was just us physically needing to get it out of our systems. I couldn’t let that be. She’d just hooked her bra and began searching for her pants when I pulled her into my arms. I gently
~Holly’s Point of View~ “So when can we go,” Chase said, staring back at me with wide and excited eyes. “Tomorrow. I’m sure Slade can get us a flight quickly. We can run home and pack after this and you can crash at Dylan’s again. I’ll text you and let you know when we’ll come get you tomorrow,” I said, as the waitress brought our food. Large pepperoni, garlic knots and mild wings. We hadn’t even needed to order, once she saw us she knew what we’d get … creatures of habit. But it was nice like that, the small town life. Nothing like LA. “So are you guys like … together? You gonna stay with him tonight,” he asked, with a mouthful of garlic bread. I sighed and grabbed a slice. That was the big question. We weren’t … not together. I guess. Oh hell. When Gene had talked about me dating again the whole idea of it nearly made me sick. Not just the thought of another man touching me, trying to parent Chase but just committing. How could I commit to someone else after having the best
~Slade’s Point of View~ “The flight is set for 1:30, does that work,” I asked, as we worked around each other in the bathroom. “Yeah that’s plenty of time. Thank you Slade for understanding,” she said, getting on her tiptoes to kiss my ear. What was I gonna say? I mean really. For me, this was going back to LA … and staying there. I didn’t have plans to come back up here, not unless she needed help moving or selling her house. “Of course baby. I uhm, I got a couple errands to run though before we go, is that ok? I’ll be like maybe an hour, little more,” I said, hoping she didn’t ask. She nodded and began to brush her hair. We’d already had breakfast … and dessert. Okay so we fucked on my mom’s kitchen counter. Then I stayed inside her as I fed her grapes. Fuck there’s a visual I’ll hold forever. “If you think of anything you need while I’m out just call. Tell them we’ll be picking them up at 12:30,” I said, kissing her head. “I love you,” she said, her clear brown eyes roa
~Holly’s Point of View~ “I think maybe I’ll meet with each of them individually first you know,” I said, just as I finished getting dressed. Since the weather was nice I was wearing a simple light pink sundress but it fit like a glove in all the right places. I knew the guys were all married and I hardly needed to look good for them but they’d all seen me looking crazy on Christmas Eve in the ER and I wanted them to know I could look nice too. Oh hell what am I saying? Of course I wanted to look good for them. They were all absolute sex symbols in their own right, I’d always had crushes on each of them at different points for different reasons even though I’d never admit that to a soul. My heart was always Slades but looking at hot naked boys all the time who were very touchy feely … yeah you have to appreciate them. I added a small simple teardrop diamond necklace and stud earrings then a little perfume. “Damn Holly, you look … delicious,” Slade said, kissing my shoulder. The d
~Slade’s Point of View~ The temptation to leave my office camera on while Holly met with the guys was overwhelming. But I didn’t do it. I had to accept I couldn’t control everything all the time and it went without saying that the guys knew how important this was to me. They were part of the key to getting Holly back in my life. They all knew the stakes. This had to go well, no … great. Perfectly. She had to want this life again because they all come along with it. It most definitely isn’t just me she’s coming back to. We’ve all always been a package deal. One of the calls I’d made this morning just brought by a gift I’d had made. I had to make a grand gesture, I just had to. But it had to be more than just that. I'd also been on the phone while Holly was busy, and I couldn't wait for the next couple of days. Though giving Angie my credit card gave me a mild stroke, I knew it would be worth it. By the time Holly and Lukas emerged from my office it was all set up. But first we ne