by Dee Lagasse
Making a mental note to call my sister-in-law tomorrow, I need to thank her for forcing the entire wedding party to take dance lessons before her and my brother’s wedding. Thinking of my brother getting frustrated with his two left feet, shooting me dirty looks as the instructor used me over and over for demonstration still gives me so much satisfaction.
“Alright, everyone, get ready to see Mr. Super Star trip over himself,” Oliver laughed when I entered the room.
“Mr. Super Star can go home,” I countered, rolling my eyes at him and the very thought of having to spend the afternoon at the dance studio.
“Can you two not bicker for two point five seconds?” his fiancée Helena, asked, jokingly jabbing at my brother and her soon-to-be husband and shooting me a look that was supposed to be intimidating. Helena has always been about as intimidating as a field mouse, so I ended up laughing at her instead.
My brother and I, for the most part, have always gotten along. He’s my best friend. That doesn’t take away from the instinctual competitive need to be better than the other one though. Anything you can do, I can do better…except baseball. It goes without saying that I won that round. Despite the fact he’s always been supportive and, hell, that he manages my career, sometimes it feels like Oliver is trying to prove himself when it comes to everything else.
Helena, a lifelong dancer, didn’t ask for anything special for the wedding…except this. So there was no way any of us could say no.
Their wedding party was small. Oliver and Helena had a brother and a sister each, making it easy to pair us up. I was paired up with Charlotte, Helena’s sister, and our sister Nora was paired up with Ross, Helena’s brother.
Much to my brother’s chagrin, I was the first one to pick up the dance moves. Following the instructor like a mirror.
“Let the music guide you.”
“I’m pretty sure we went over this at the fundraiser,” Sutton starts as I twirl her and pull her back to me. “But, you’re an amazing dancer. Where did you learn to dance like this?”
“One afternoon of lessons for my brother’s wedding.” I laugh when her eyes squint in disbelief. “Before we even started, the instructor said, ‘Let the music guide you’ and it just stuck with me. I know the basics, I wing the rest of it.”
“I took dance lessons for ten years and I still don’t have the confidence you have,” she admits sheepishly, as if I’m going to see it as a flaw.
“Maybe you just hadn’t danced with the right person yet,” I say lowly before slowly dipping her down. “Because it looks like you know exactly what you’re doing from here.”
As I pull her slowly back up to me, I don’t miss the smallest gasp escape her lips. The very moment I’m able to, I lock my eyes with hers and I would have sworn on all things holy that the rest of the world disappeared around us.
“Bodie,” she whispers when we’re face-to-face.
“Yeah?” I answer, my voice not much louder than hers.
God, I’ll never ask you for another thing ever again if you let her ask me to kiss her.
“I need to check on the cookies,” she whispers in the same tone, giggling as I shake my head.
Any inflation my ego had was gone, just like that. Laughing, I let her go and watch as she sashays her hips a little more deliberately than she had before our dance. I don’t know what I had assumed would happen tonight inviting Sutton here, but my goal for the rest of the night would be to convince her this wouldn’t be the last time we saw each other.
Chapter 5
Sutton
“You should come to Africa with me.”
Strung together those seven words have created the craziest idea I’ve ever not only come up with but then vocalized.
It might have been that it was said at almost four o’clock in the morning. At that point, I had attempted to send Randolph home. He refused, of course, opting to pull around to the back of the cafe and take a nap instead. After splitting a dozen warm chocolate chip cookies, Bodie offered to make me “the best hot cocoa you’ll ever drink” and though, I didn’t believe him, I agreed to let him prove me wrong.
And he did just that. Three mugs later, I was the happiest I’d been in a long time. Maybe it was the perfect marshmallow to hot cocoa ratio, the hint of peppermint, the just right temperature warming my insides. Or it could have been the company I was in. Or possibly a combination of all of it, but after spending twenty minutes gushing about the lion sanctuary that held such a big part of my heart and telling him about my plans to go back in a few weeks for my birthday, I blurted out those seven words without even thinking.
There was no time to stress or backtrack. Without so much as a pause, Bodie responded with seven words of his own.
“Looks like I’ll be updating my passport.”
At five-fifteen, we begrudgingly said our goodbyes, and six hours later, I was on a plane to California. Luckily, I didn’t have anything scheduled for the rest of the weekend. After a couple of glasses of wine and some peer pressure from Clementine, I decided to FaceTime the number Bodie put into my phone on Friday night. A combination of my screwed-up sleep schedule and jumping time zones made me forget that I was three hours behind him.
He didn’t complain or say anything about me keeping him up until three in the morning though. It wasn’t brought up until Clementine made a comment about how cute it was that he stayed up so late for me when I was filling her in the next day. When I profusely apologized, he brushed it off.
“I’m not worried about it. We will have to figure out the time zone thing when you get back home though. You’re, what, five hours ahead at home?”
And we did. (For the record, he was right. There is a five-hour time difference between Windham and Boston.) We never discussed what we are to each other. We just are. Whatever it is, it didn’t matter then, and it doesn’t matter now. All I know is that I’ve never looked forward to a trip to South Africa more than this one.
It’s crazy. The idea of us and South Africa is crazy, but I just can’t get enough of him. Every chance I can, I’m asking for my phone to see if he’s called me. Every single morning before I wake up, there’s already a “Good morning beautiful. Have a great day,” text waiting for me. I spend more time than I’m willing to admit on his social media and I’m slowly molding my daily routine to include Bodie.
Even with the five hours, thousands of miles, and an ocean between us, we make a conscientious effort to be in each other’s lives, one way or another, every single day. It’s not easy. It’s comparing schedules and often means one of us either stays up late or gets up extremely early, but we make it happen.
It’s been a month. One month since the night of the fundraiser in Boston. One month since he held me in his arms and danced with me in his father’s café. It’s been a month of scheduling the time we get to share together. A month since I left him, watching me drive away from the café door. He had stayed on the sidewalk until I could no longer see him.
The farther we drove from him, the more I wished we could turn around and go back. Every single day since then, I wished that I had. I wish I had told Randolph to turn the car around. I could have pushed our travel to California by one more day and spent more time with Bodie.
It’s been a month since I’ve seen his handsome face in person, but that would change within minutes.
When we were planning our flights, I offered to get him a flight from Boston to South Africa. But somewhere along the way, he figured out that it would be about the same amount of time spent in the air if he flew to Windham and then finished the other half of his travel with me, and he didn’t have to twist my arm at the thought of getting to see him sooner.
Even knowing that after spending seven hours on the flight from Boston to London, and then an hour connecting flight from London to Windham, he’ll spend most of our eleven-hour flight sleeping, at least we would be together.
Since this isn’t a press event or a royal tour, the dozen or so people that normally trave
l with me won’t be joining us this trip. The only person that is required to come is Luke, and like every trip before this one, Clementine will join us too.
Typically, we stay in the small cottages just off the sanctuary reserved for volunteers, but my parents surprised me last night by telling me they rented out the three-bedroom farmhouse right on the sanctuary grounds for us for my birthday. Despite knowing all the rental fees go directly to the sanctuary, I always felt that if I rented the house, it would look like I was showing off my money. Most of the people that work there live on the basic essentials, choosing to give everything they have to the sanctuary. The last thing I wanted to do was come in acting like I was better than them, so I stayed where they did.
A squeeze on my left hand snaps me out of my daze, and I don’t need to look over to know the squeezing hand belongs to my sister. Claiming she couldn’t miss seeing me on my birthday, Simone and my brother-in-law Jameson were waiting on the tarmac when Clementine and I got here. With flowers and coffee from my favorite little shop downtown, I couldn’t be mad at them, even though I knew the real reason they were here. Bodie.
Simone knew about Bodie before I got back to the hotel room after leaving Bodie’s father’s café. There is no such thing as a secret between the Alloway girls. I had been video chatting with her when I realized that I not only invited him to Africa, but he said yes too.
“And I think I may have asked him to come to Africa,” I winced, getting ready for the lecture that was coming from my big sister.
“You did what?” she shrieked excitedly. “What did he say?”
Not the response I was expecting, but okay.
“That he has to update his passport,” I answered, repeating what Bodie had said.
“Sutton!” she squealed. “Oh my goodness! This is so unlike you! Are you freaking out?”
“Is it obvious?” I asked, the panic setting in realizing exactly what I had asked Bodie.
“I think you should do it,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I think you should have Bodie go to Africa with you. You’re always so rational, so by the books, if you invited him, it’s a big deal, sis. This is a big deal.”
“It’s crazy though, isn’t it?” I questioned.
My big sister has always had all the answers. If anyone could help me rationalize this decision, it would be Simone.
“It might be,” she shrugged. “But everyone told me marrying the only son of a pharmacist and a teacher from Pembroke was crazy and look how that turned out.”
“Alright, where is he?”
My brother-in-law straightens his posture and puffs his chest out, while very loudly looking for Bodie. Despite not having played rugby since before he married my sister, Jameson’s physique is still very much the same. Even hidden behind a jacket, there’s no mistaking his broad shoulders and the size of his arms.
Standing next to each other, my petite sister’s head is level with her husband’s shoulders. Simone’s light blonde hair and blue eyes are the opposite of Jameson’s dark brown hair and matching eyes.
“Will you stop it?” My sister rolls her eyes. “You promised me you would be on your best behavior, Jameson Thomas.”
“Well, someone has to put fear into this guy. Your idea of scaring him would be hugging him to death,” Jameson chuckles, winking at me and Clementine. “As Sutton’s only brother, I guess that falls on me. Though, I don’t think any man in his right mind would fuck with Sutton while Clem’s around.”
Acknowledging Clementine’s martial arts background gets a smirk of approval from Clementine and I shake my head at the two of them as they silently co-conspire to be the unofficial captains of Team Bodie Better Not Hurt Sutton or He’ll Have to Deal with Us.
My parents, sister, and Jameson are the only people in my family that treat Clementine like she’s my best friend and not just my employee. Growing up, Clementine came to every birthday for me and Simone, she got invited to special garden parties, and was even a bridal attendant at Simone and Jameson’s wedding. Clementine is also one of the very few people outside of our family that treats us like we’re normal people.
“So have you two thought about how we can collectively embarrass Sutton together in the little time we have before departure?” Clementine asks, playfully nudging me with her elbow.
“We can—”
My sister doesn’t finish her thought when her eyes grow wide and her mouth opens in awe.
“Close your mouth, woman,” Jameson laughs, now looking in the same direction as my sister. “You’re about to slobber all over yourself. It’s like you’ve never seen a good looking man before.”
“What are you two gawking at?” I ask, following my sister and brother-in-law’s gazes.
And that’s when the world stops.
As my heart begins to race, I look over to Clementine in a panic, certain that she can hear it about to beat out of my chest. Exhaling a small breath, I know I should move forward and greet the man walking toward us, but I’m frozen in place.
With intent focus, Bodie Cambridge makes his way to where Clementine, Simone, Jameson, and I are standing next to the plane. Looking like he’s stepped right out of a photoshoot, Bodie’s olive topcoat is unbuttoned, allowing everyone a glimpse of the light gray sweater underneath. His perfectly pressed charcoal dress slacks and his brown suede desert boots tie everything together. There isn’t a single strand of his blond hair out of place – nothing like what I look like after spending multiple hours on a plane.
“Whoa,” is all I manage to get out when he reaches us.
“Full transparency,” he starts, grinning sheepishly. “I stopped and changed before coming out. I didn’t travel like this.”
Leaning over, he gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. I know that the formality of his greeting is only because I stressed at any given time there could be someone with their phone out, ready to take a picture, but I hate it. Fighting the urge to pull him in my arms, I sigh in disappointment.
“I’ll say hello properly when we get on the plane,” he whispers as he pulls away and his attention is pulled to the airport attendant pushing a metal cart with two suitcases. As he passes our group, Bodie calls out to him.
“Excuse me, sir. Can I please just get into that real quick?” Bodie asks as the attendant stops, allowing Bodie to go into his suitcase.
Pulling out a small red, circular plastic container, Bodie closes the suitcase back up. Before walking away, he pulls his wallet out of his pocket and hands the attendant cash from inside. Walking back over to us, he grins and hands the red container to me.
“Happy almost birthday, Sutton,” he smiles. “Brought these all the way from Willoughby.”
“Are these?” I ask, hopefully, opening the lid of the container. “You brought me cookies!”
“The infamous chocolate chip cookies?” my sister asks. “Oh, and hi Bodie. I’m Sutton’s sister, Simone, and this is my husband, Jameson. Sorry we ambushed your arrival.”
“What she means to say is, she’s not really sorry, but it’s nice to meet ya, mate,” Jameson laughs, extending his hand to Bodie. Lowering his voice when Bodie takes his hand into his own and the two of them share a hearty handshake, “And by that, I mean it’s nice to meet you because if you hurt Sutton, I now know what you look like. You’d do well to remember that.”
“It’s a good thing I have no intention of hurting her then,” Bodie chuckles as he lets go of Jameson’s hand and turns to my sister. “I have both a sister and a younger brother, so I understand being protective.”
“It’s not me you have to worry about,” Simone laughs as she looks at Clementine out of the corner of her eyes. “Have you met Clementine yet? She’s a third-degree black belt, specializing in both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Kendo.”
Even though they’ve talked a few times when Bodie and I have video chatted, this is the first time Clementine and Bodie are meeting face-to-face. Just as I turn to properly introduce them, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, Luke clears his
throat next to us. “Ma’am. The pilot asked me to let you know we are departing in ten minutes.”
After a slew of hugs and begrudgingly handing over two cookies to Simone and Jameson, they make their way back inside which leaves Clementine, Bodie, Luke, and me to walk over to the passenger ladder truck leading to the plane. As we climb the steps and make our way into the plane, Clementine and Bodie make their introductions, and I let them all go ahead without me as I stop in the cockpit. Once he realizes I’m not behind him anymore, Bodie turns back around and stops right by my side as Clementine and Luke make their way toward the seating area. The surprise on the pilot’s and co-pilot’s faces as I introduce myself and Bodie to both and the two in-flight attendants off to the side tells me I’m probably the first one to do this since the plane has been added to my family’s private fleet a little less than a month ago.
After spending a few minutes talking, Bodie and I make our way toward the back of the plane to take our seats, stopping momentarily when I see where Clementine and Luke have already started to get settled. In the decade they’ve been traveling with me, Clementine and Luke have never sat further than a few seats from me. Both of their carry-on bags, neck pillows, and blankets are placed in the smaller seats toward the front of the plane.
Passing by the tied-back cloth presumably used to separate the employees from the members of my family, Bodie stops at two oversized seats placed together in the middle of the plane.
“How about here?” he asks. “I mean, if you have a normal spot, we can sit wherever, I just want to be close to you.”
“This is actually my first time on here too,” I tell him, dropping my things on the seat next to him. “Any seat is fine. I’ll be right back though. I just need to talk to Clem for a minute.”
Since I was twenty-three and started taking on a more structured role in the family, I have never thought I was in a different class than anyone who technically works for me. Clementine and Luke have always been at the same table as me when we go out for food, they sit next to me in the car or in this case, the plane. The fact they have made the decision on their own, on a trip meant to be fun for all of us, worries me.
