Chapter Twelve

“Do you regret telling me?”

“In a way,” she said shyly. “I mean, it probably sounded stupid and childish, and I never meant for you to know about it in the first place, so…” her voice trailed off as she swallowed hard.

“Mia.”

“And now that you know, I don’t want you to feel… obligated. Or trapped. Or whatever,” she finished on a whisper.

He reached over and took her trembling hand in his.

“Mia,” he said softly.

She slowly raised her eyes to his.

“The moment I saw you I was completely captivated by you. I had no idea who you were at the time. All I knew was that I’d found this mesmerizing woman that I just had to spend more time with. Had to. There was never a doubt in my mind. The moment I picked you up and held you in my arms, I knew taking you to the emergency room and then walking away wasn’t even an option,” Tanner revealed, and she gasped.

“And then when I recognized you, part of me was worried, because I didn’t know if my friendship with Blake would survive this or not.”

“He is overprotective,” Mia chimed in.

“Boy, is he ever. But here’s the thing, Mia. I decided it would just have to work itself out somehow, because I’m not willing to walk away from you.”

“Really?”

“Really. And the only reason I waited to kiss you had nothing at all to do with your crazy older brother.”

“Then why did you wait?”

“Simple. I didn’t know if you were involved with someone else, and I didn’t want to make things difficult for you if you were.”

“So what I said…about…”

“Just makes me even more certain that I want to be the man that you deserve. I want to be the one that makes you laugh, that you can tell your dreams to, that you can depend on. I’m telling you right here, right now, that I will wait as long as it takes for me to truly earn that precious gift you’ve saved for me – but I want so much more than just sex with you. I also want to win your heart, Mia. Please don’t think I’m here out of obligation. I am exactly where I want to be, and that’s with you,” he finished.

Her brilliant smile made his heart do a double-thump again, and he felt himself breaking into a goofy grin.

“Now,” Tanner said after he’d leaned over and kissed her gently, “how about a movie marathon?”

“Good call. What were you thinking?”

“Go check out the collection,” he indicated. “I bet we can find something.”

A few minutes later she called out to him.

“I can’t decide which one to watch first. Wanna start with Goodfellas, or Guardians of the Galaxy?”

He stood, dumbfounded. Out of over a hundred titles he owned, she’d just picked his two favorite movies on the planet.

“Damn,” he breathed. “Mia, you really are the woman of my dreams.”

***

Twenty-four hours later, the storm had finally passed, and the temperature rebounded into the mid-fifties, as Tanner had predicted.

They drove to the garage so Tanner could try to figure out what was wrong with Gracie. Mia passed him tools and asked questions and shrieked in fright when a large, burly man appeared beside her.

“Marcus, this is Mia. Mia, this is Marcus, my friend and boss.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the giant said shyly, and enveloped her dainty hand in his large one as they shook in greeting.

“How was the deer lease?” Tanner asked him.

“Cold,” was all Marcus would say before he scooted Tanner out of the way and took on troubleshooting Gracie’s woes himself.

Tanner grinned at him.

An hour later Marcus grumbled, “I have no idea what’s wrong with this thing. It’s like your little Honda just decided you really needed to stop in Winters.”

“Sounds right to me,” Tanner murmured as he took Mia’s hand. “What do you think?”

She smiled up at him. 

“I think that sounds exactly right.”

***

On Saturday morning, Mia, Tanner, and Mia’s parents waited anxiously in baggage claim for Blake’s flight number to appear on the monitor. As soon as it did, the carousel came to life. Mia turned and began scanning the crowd of passengers entering baggage claim.

When she saw her brother coming toward them, Mia ran, arms outstretched, and jumped into his arms.

“Hey, Mama Mia,” Blake said, smiling as he hugged her tightly.

The moment he set her down, she doubled up her fist and punched him as hard as she could in the shoulder.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“That was for interfering in my love life,” she announced, then flung her arms around him again. “And this is for loving me enough to watch out for me like that.” 

Her message sent loud and clear, she entwined her arm through her big brother's and together they strolled back to the group.

Tanner tensed as they approached, unsure what to expect, watching as Blake hugged his Mom and Dad.

Blake giving us his blessing over the phone is one thing. Seeing it live and in color? Well, that's a different story...

He held his breath as his best friend closed the distance and pulled him into a bear hug.

"Welcome home, Blake," he managed, and Blake turned his head slightly to whisper in his ear.

"Welcome to the family, Tanner."

Blake released him, took a step back, nodded, then turned his attention to his Mom again.

"I sure am ready for some of your cooking, Mom. Been dreaming of it for days now."

She beamed.

"Well, let's get moving then! I have a Christmas feast to keep working on!"

The group laughed and talked as they made their way out of the terminal and out to Phil Jones' SUV. The moment the vehicle door closed, Tanner felt an intense wave of déjà vu.

It was like they'd never been apart at all; Phil behind the wheel, Gladys comfortably tucked into the front passenger seat, and Mia sandwiched between him and Blake in the back seat.

Just like old times, Tanner thought to himself, and smiled. But different.

Because this time, he reached over to hold Mia's hand.