Always have always will, p.24
Always Have, Always Will, page 24
As much as I would like to take this further, it’s probably not the best choice. “Are you done?”
“With you? Never. With the water, yes, but I’m not leaving until you are.”
I wrap my arm around his waist and steal the water. I shower and cut off the water. As we dry off, I ask, “Are you hungry?”
“No, I want to climb into bed with you until morning.”
I thread my hand into his and lead him to the bedroom. I slide beneath the soft sheets and snuggle against Auggie.
“Close your eyes, Caroline. I can feel you watching me.”
I sigh, let them drift closed, and sleep in his arms until morning.
When I wake, he’s not in bed anymore. Momentarily, fear slices through me. I remind myself he’s fine. The doctor wouldn’t have released him otherwise. There are a few constants about Auggie. He is calm under pressure, he loves fiercely, and he cooks regardless of his mood. If he’s angry, he rage bakes. If he’s happy, he cooks for those he loves.
I pull on my robe and pad into the kitchen. Before I even say a word, he sets a fresh cup of hot coffee in front of me and kisses me softly.
“How are you feeling?” I add some space between us, resting my hand on his cheek.
“Not too bad. My chest isn’t as tight. My breathing is better, my voice too.” I sit at the island and delight in the aromas of breakfast surrounding me. Our breakfast consists of brioche French toast, fresh fruit, and sausage. I’m not a trained chef by any means, but I can pick out spices and ingredients thanks to Auggie’s influence. He sits beside me, and we eat our food.
“What is your plan for today?” I take the last sip of my coffee. “Want another?” I point to his cup.
“Sure. I need to return some calls, and I want to see my nieces if my brothers are free.”
“Works for me. Does the name Clark Easton mean anything to you?”
“He’s Becca’s father. Why?”
I knew the name sounded familiar. “At girls’ night, Maggie mentioned her boss, Clark Easton, indicated Harbor Hotel in Portsmouth was being sold. I had her send me his contact information. If anything, it could be a lead for you—a lead Margaux would have no knowledge of because it didn’t go through your relators.”
He smiles. “What do you know about the location?”
“Maggie said there is a fine-dining restaurant and a special events venue. I’m sure you could google it.”
He leans over and kisses me. “I absolutely will. Can you call Noelle and Savannah and set up some time for me to visit today while I return the numerous voice mails and texts from yesterday?”
“Sure. What time do you want to go over?”
“Early afternoon?”
“Sounds good.” I rise from the stool and wash the dishes before calling Noelle and Savannah. After securing a time to see our nieces at Cash’s, I peruse my email. Giddiness courses through me when I see a reply from the illustrator Nicholas connected me with.
My joy increases even more when I see the draft sketches she provided based on my ideas for my book. I download the contract and review it. I reach out to Kelsey for the name of her business attorney here in Maine. There’s also a response from the broker Cash recommended for my trust funds. Not even trying to get my laptop to connect to Billie’s printer spoils my mood.
“Why do you look so frustrated?” Auggie steps into the guest room.
“Actually, I’m overjoyed and flustered by this printer.”
“Please share why you’re overjoyed. I’ll get the printer to work.”
I update him on the illustrator and the contract. I also plan to accept Noelle’s job offer today and the broker selection.
“What about you? How were your calls?”
“I reached out to Mr. Easton. I set up an appointment to go view the property tomorrow. Are you free to join me?”
“Hell yes! I’m so excited for you. What about the rest of your messages?”
“Pretty good. Sami is doing well. Melissa should be released today or tomorrow. She has asthma, so the damage to her lungs was more extensive than mine. She also has some minor burns on her hands from trying to get out of the storage closet. Gordon called to check in and thank me despite the circumstances.”
“At least he realizes the best thing is everyone will be okay.”
“I spoke to Collette and thanked her profusely for calling you. I also asked her not to make any decisions about her job.”
“Why?”
“I took a quick look at the Harbor Hotel’s website. If this deal goes through, I can’t handle it alone with two kitchens. Not only does Collette need a job, but I also trust her, and we work well together.”
“It makes sense. Can I ask you something?” My tone comes out unsure.
“You can ask me anything.”
“How long can we stay here?”
“In Maine or in this condo?” He sits beside me after getting the printer connected to my laptop. The pages are scrolling out. “In the condo? I assume indefinitely, why?” He draws me into his lap.
“If we aren’t going back to the city, should we list our townhouses for sale and empty them?” While I don’t have a mortgage, it doesn’t make sense for me to continue to pay the other carrying expenses.
“We should. Do you have a New York realtor?” he asks.
“Not my own. I used my parents. I would prefer not to use him again.”
“Makes sense. I’ll reach out to mine, and then we can figure out some time to go back to the city, pack up, and decide what furniture to keep.”
“Works for me. Let’s get ready so we can have some baby snuggles and your siblings can check you out again for themselves.”
We move into the bedroom, dress, and head over the Cash’s. When we arrive, Warren and Eloise are also stepping out of their car.
“Son, how are you feeling?” Warren extends his hand to Auggie. Instead, Auggie pulls him in for a hug. The expression on Warren’s face is a mixture of surprise and joy. Eloise wears a subtle smile on her face.
“Better. Don’t worry too much, Caroline isn’t letting me out of her sight for the foreseeable future.”
Warren looks over at me and mouths “thank you.” I nod in return. As we approach the wide staircase, Cash and Titan are dutifully waiting.
“Hi, everyone. Come in.”
We’re the last guests to arrive. Savannah, Noelle, and Billie are milling around in the kitchen. Sam and Peter are hovering over the girls in the living room. Emme is sitting on a blanket with toys strewn around her. Josie and Julianna are strapped into identical chairs facing Emme. Auggie heads straight for the babies, followed closely by Warren and Eloise.
Warren settles on the floor, lightly touching the twins’ hands. Eloise sits politely in the nearby chair.
I can’t tell from here, but Auggie unbuckles one of the twins and cradles her in his arms. I knew when we watched Emme for Sam, Auggie would be a fantastic father. Now, he’s cradling one of the twins, and Emme crawls over to him, using his knee to balance and sidle against him. I see a glimpse into my future, and I’m crazy excited.
“It’s insanely hot to see, isn’t it?” Noelle whispers.
“Yes, it is. I saw it when we watched Emme for Sam in the city. The feeling doesn’t lessen, does it?”
“No,” Savannah adds emphatically. “It only gets stronger.”
“Are you and Sam trying?”
“No, I want to get married first.”
I agree with her, although the idea of Auggie holding our child is awfully tempting.
A few hours later, with a future family dinner planned, we return to the condo to prepare for our meeting tomorrow at the Harbor Hotel.
Chapter Forty Eight
August
I have been working toward these events for as long as I can remember. Even the weather is cooperating with me. The sun is shining, it’s warm but not overly so, and there’s a slight breeze. Over the last month, almost everything has come together. “Sweetheart, we need to go.”
First thing this morning, I sold my townhouse. Now, we’re leaving the closing for her townhouse and heading to the airport to fly to Portsmouth, at least it’s what she believes. The deal for the Harbor Hotel will be finalized in two days; I’ll officially be the owner. Then the real work begins.
“Sorry, I was chatting with the attorney about his daughter. She may need assistance from Noelle’s company.”
“No problem.” I thread my fingers into hers and lead her to the car. We settle into the car and start chatting. Since our cars have been moved to Maine already, we’re using a car service for the day.
Nearly an hour later, she realizes we aren’t heading to the airport when we stop at the pastry shop near our boarding school.
“I’ll be right back.”
“What are you up to, August?” Her curiosity is piqued.
Never has my name sounded so sexy falling from any other woman’s lips. “Absolutely nothing.” I’m certainly up to something, and she knows I’m lying.
With a distinctive purple bag in my hand, the driver pulls away from the curb and drives toward our boarding school. It’s late summer, and the students haven’t returned to campus yet.
“Auggie, what are we doing here?”
“We’re going on a stroll down memory lane.” I offer her my hand and assist her out of the car. First, we step into the main dormitory and walk down the hall to where we met.
“Auggie, you didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”
I lean over and kiss her temple. “It wasn’t any trouble.” A few minutes later, I stop at the door of her old dorm room, Blakely Hall Room 314. I hand her a note card.
Here is where our love story began. I may not have realized it the very first night, but you are the best friend I’ve ever had.
I press my lips to her forehead and lead her to our next destination. I can see her mind working, wondering where we’re going next and what the significance is. Once we step into the kitchen, I hand her another card.
Here you showed me I didn’t have to follow the path my parents laid out before me. I found my passion for creating delicious meals for everyone, especially you.
I round the prep table, roll up my sleeves, and pull out the ingredients for our meal I had delivered earlier today. “Do you want to help or watch?”
“I’ll help. What are we making?”
“Your favorite with three kinds of cheese and bacon.”
A huge grin breaks out on her face. Seamlessly we move around the unfamiliar kitchen. She grates the cheese and cooks the bacon while I start the sauce and noodles. Once I put the pan into the oven, we wash up and I lead her into the ballroom and hand her the next card.
Here I learned no matter what happened I could always go to you for comfort, perspective, and understanding.
“Caroline, may I have this dance?”
“Always.” I take her hand and we dance around the empty ballroom to music from my phone. There are no decorations or classmates to spoil any part of this. It’s only us. Caroline flush against me to a playlist I created of songs we listened to over our time here, including the theme songs for our proms. Neither of which we attended together as a couple, which was a massive failure on my part. I will never again forgo the opportunity to show Caroline how important she is to me and how much I love her. Forty minutes later, the timer for our food expires. We hurry back to the kitchen.
I set the pan into an insulated bag and lead her to our next destination. If she knows where we’re going, she doesn’t let on. I take her hand in mine and lead her to our secret spot. We may not have been a couple when we were students here, but we found the most romantic spot on campus. Near the northern edge of campus, which abuts a nature preserve, there is a small clearing obscured by a grove of trees. The trees open to the sky, allowing a complete view of the night sky. As we step onto the narrow path between the trees, all my preparations start to come into view. There is a white tent with string lights and a small table set for two with greenery everywhere. I considered ordering an entire floral shop but decided a single rose would work best for her. I would give her flowers daily if she didn’t equate it with her father’s shortcomings as a husband. That is the last thing I want to remind her of, especially today.
“I don’t need all of this, Auggie,” she mumbles as we get closer to the tent.
“Need, no. You deserve it though.” I set the bag on the table and pull out her chair. Once she’s seated, I serve our meal. We have outdone ourselves this time. It’s probably the extra cheese varieties we added.
“It’s nice to be back here. We haven’t been here since….” Her expression flickers to sadness for a moment.
“Cuore mio.” Her eyes lift to mine. “Focus on now, not what you shared with me the last time we were here.” It’s one of the reasons I was concerned with bringing her here. She felt safe enough to share about Chad here in this spot. I hand her the next and final card with a life goals sheet I filled out while I was a student here.
In this spot I learned the meaning of trust and true love. I have spent every day since I was ten years old with you beside me. I want to do it for the rest of our lives.
She opens the folded sheet of paper. It’s a regular piece of paper folded into four squares. Each square contains goals for a set number of years in the future: five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years in my messy teenage handwriting. My goals in the five-year box include get into culinary school and marry Caroline. My ten-year box includes open my own restaurant, earn a Michelin star, and have a family with Caroline. Her fingers cover her mouth as tears fall down her cheeks, but don’t contain the sweet sound of joy.
I round the table and kneel before her. “Caroline, will you spend the rest of your life with me?”
“Yes, it will be my honor to be your wife.”
I lean forward and kiss away her fallen tears before pressing my mouth to hers. I pull the oval diamond ring with a hidden halo and pavé band out of the navy blue box and slide in onto her finger.
“I love you, August, always have.”
“I love you, Caroline, always will.”
Hand in hand we walk back to the car to ride to the airport.
“Auggie?”
“Yes.”
“What’s in the bag?”
She points to the bag I brought into the car when we stopped earlier today.
“Dessert.” I hand her the bag.
She tears into the purple box and moans as the delicious palmier hits her tongue. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll do anything to make you happy.”
“You don’t have to do anything except be beside me for the rest of my life.”
“I plan to, cuore mio.” I follow her into the back seat and kiss her tenderly.
“Does anyone else know?” she asks.
“No one other than the jeweler. Why?”
“Cash will know when we get on the plane, won’t he?”
“Yes, I assume he’ll notice.”
“Come closer.” I move closer to her, and she takes a photo of us lip to lip showing off her ring. “I’m going to send this to the girls once we get on the plane and set up a girls’ night soon.”
“Anything you wish, future Mrs. Morgan.” If Cash wasn’t the pilot, I would be seriously tempted to join the mile-high club with Caroline. As I look forward to capturing all the goals I wrote when I was fifteen, I know we’ll be happy for many years to come.
Chapter Forty Nine
August
The last few months have been over-the-top busy. The fire at Ocean Cliff was deemed accidental due to a faulty connection in the boiler room. Sami and Melissa have made a full recovery. The purchase of the Harbor Hotel is complete. I have renamed the restaurant Morgan’s, and the special events venue, of which Maggie Washington is now the general manager, is named Harborside at Morgan’s. With Collette’s assistance and my family’s palates, we have been narrowing down the menu for our grand opening in one week. Xavier has also moved to the area and is the head prep chef. He oversees two others for both venues. Maggie has the special events booked for the next two years solid. One of those events include Sam and Savannah’s wedding, which will be the first special event I handle.
“Are you finished for today?” Caroline peeks her head into my office. She has been working here during the day to keep me company. We found a gorgeous home a few miles down the shoreline from Cash and Noelle. It’s an older home and needed some updates to the kitchen and bathrooms. The rear of the house is all windows, and the views of the water are spectacular. We have been living in the suite above the detached garage while the main house is being renovated. The home is set on six acres and has a large yard as well.
“Did I forget something?”
“Yes, we’re watching the girls so Cash and Noelle can go on a date.”
“Give me ten minutes.” I hurriedly pack my bag and rush out the door. As I walk toward the car, I try to recall how I forgot about these plans. Caroline has been taking care of the house renovations completely.
“I completely forgot. Let’s go.”
A sly smile materializes on my fiancée’s face.
“What are you up to?”
She points to herself. “Me? Nothing at all.” Caroline drives straight toward our house instead of Cash’s. When she pulls in front of the main house instead of the garage, a myriad of options pass through my mind.
“I thought we were going to Cash’s.”
“I may have fibbed a bit. Come on.”
I shake my head, take her hand, and allow her to lead me into our home. Our updates have been completed. The kitchen has everything I could ever need to prepare a magnificent meal at home. The master suite and bath have been fixed to Caroline’s specifications, including a huge Carrera tiled shower with dual rainforest showerheads. There is a huge dressing room flanked by two master walk-in closets.
