CHAPTER 26
Sawyer
The porch swing sways back and forth in the warm evening air. The sun is fully set and the crickets chirp around me. My tears are dry and I sit here, replaying my mother’s letter in my head. I’ve read it enough times that I have it memorized as it plays on repeat in my mind. It’s only been about thirty minutes, but I’m pretty sure I’ve experienced every emotion possible and now, I’m just numb again. Interrupted from my thoughts, Garrison calls out my name. In the darkness of the night, I can’t see him but I hear his heavy breathing.
“Up here,” I answer.
A few seconds later, he’s walking up the steps to the porch. He nods toward the swing. “Can I take a seat?”
I nod, scooting over to make room for him. Garrison sits down beside me, still wearing the khaki pants and polo shirt he wore to Dean’s office earlier. Now, the shirt is drenched in sweat as it looks like he ran all the way here. Reaching down in my lap, I hand him the letter, not saying a word. Getting up, I turn on the porch light so he can read, and then I take a seat beside him, playing the letter in my mind as his eyes scan from one side to another.
Garrison finishes faster than I did and looks over at me. “You alright?”
I pull my knees to my chest and shrug, setting my head on my legs. “I have my answer and I met my father so I guess I got what I wanted.”
Garrison nods, hesitant as to what to do or say next.
“Look, about earlier, I was wrong about Dean and you and—”
He leans over, kissing me to shut me up, which is nice because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do besides ramble. When we finish kissing, he wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. I lean my head against him and sigh, feeling some familiarity of contentment and love.
“You were right, I leave on Monday, but that doesn’t mean I’m leaving you, Sawyer. I meant what I said about us giving it a shot, seeing where this might go, so don’t give up on me, okay?”
I look up into his eyes, swallowing hard before I ask, “What about the love part? Did you mean that, too?”
He runs the back of his hand down my cheek. “I did. I love you, Sawyer.”
I smile and kiss him softly. “I love you, too, Garrison Cocuzzo.”
Garrison
“You sure you can finish up the house on your own?” I ask Sawyer, my hands on her hip.
She lets out an exasperated sigh because I’ve only asked this about three hundred times, and that’s just been since we left Memphis a few hours ago.
“Yes, I’ll be fine,” she mutters, kissing me in an effort to distract me from the rest of my twenty questions.
It works as I let her tongue slip into my mouth and circle mine, but I pull back before it gets any further. “You can store whatever you need at Cuzzo’s. My buddy Jason’s brother is twenty minutes away in Bible Grove. He’s going to meet you at your mom’s on Wednesday and help you finish up so you can get back to New York.”
“I know, I know! You’ve already told me this twenty million times, and wrote it down, and programmed it in my phone. I’m a big girl, Garrison, I’ll figure it out.” She pretends to be irritated at my thoroughness, but I can see her approval in her eyes. She’s just not used to having someone take care of her.
Leaning down, I kiss her passionately, gripping my hands on her waist and taking her by surprise. She moans in my mouth as she slides her arms around my neck. My body fires up, reacting to her like it always does and I wish my plane didn’t leave in an hour or else I’d take her back out to the Beast for one more lovemaking session.
“Call me when you can, no matter what time it is, okay?” she whispers, a slight hint of vulnerability in her voice.
It concerns me and my mind starts to run through ways I can delay this deployment which I know is impossible. “Of course and remember, you have Cuzzo. If you need anything at all, call him and he’ll take care of you, even in New York. Promise me that you’ll call him?”
I raise an eyebrow, knowing how stubborn she can be. Cuzzo may be in small town Memphis, Missouri, but our family has plenty of connections, so no matter where Sawyer travels, she’ll always have someone to look out for her.
She nods. “Of course I will, he’s family,” she says with a smile that melts my heart. I can rest easy now, knowing that she knows she’s not alone. She kisses me softly and drops back to her flat feet. “Be careful out there, sailor,” she says with a giggle, reverting back to her old defense mechanism and I’m glad she’s not crying because I highly doubt I’d be able to walk away from her if she was.
“I love you, Sawyer Kingham,” I say softly as I lean my head against hers.
Sawyer smiles. “I love you more, Garrison Cocuzzo. Now, go so you can hurry up and come back!”
I laugh and kiss her one more time as I leave the woman I love.