Love Without End (12 page)

Hannah – :P I love you

Me – I love you – did you bring the ribbon? LOL

Hannah – and Hernandez :-)

I pull into short term parking about five minutes later, and walk directly to the baggage claim area. On my way, I think about her message of what vehicle I was driving and stifle a laugh. I sure hope she didn’t make this a vacation for more than me and her, because if I have my way, she won’t be available for get-togethers. Upon rounding the corner after passing through the check in sector of the airport, I slow trying to figure out the scene ahead of me. Brielle, Hannah, and a tall, muscular framed man stand, chatting and laughing, as he reaches for their bags on the conveyor belt. Who the fuck is this guy? Hannah never mentioned anyone aside from her and Brielle coming home. A tinge of jealously courses through me, just as she turns around and smiles, showing off those side dimples once she see me, and rocking my MU hoody like no one else could with grey slinky lounge pants. 

“Hey you,” she mouths just before sprinting into my now open arms. Brielle and the guy I don’t know trail behind her with all the luggage. She must have caught my ‘who the fuck is that’ demeanor because as soon as she is tucked into my arms she introduces us. “Carter, this is Chase, he is a good friend of ours and my co-worker. Chase this is Carter.”

“Nice to formally meet you, Chase,” I respond with an extended hand to properly greet him. He shakes my hand back and I look to Brie briefly, “Good to see you, sweets.” I nod towards the main entrance still yet to move my feet, “Let’s go.”

“Carter has a badass fucking truck Chase, just wait until you see it!” Brielle exclaims and receives a sideway glance from Hannah.

Laughing I shake my head, and look back to Hannah, still standing flush against me, yet to move, looking up at me attentively. I give her a wink and squeeze her tightly before releasing her. My left hand instinctively cupping her face, my right hand in her hair holding her to me as I lock my mouth to hers, my tongue parting her full lips, immediately granting me access, and kiss her with every ounce of myself. Hoping to convey that I missed her and love her all at once. The physical ache of three months has been complete torture to us both.

“Ahem, guys,” Brielle interjects subtlety.

“GUYS!” she exclaims when we ignore her previous attempt to grasp our attention. I pull back from the kiss, our mouths still only a hairsbreadth from touching, and breathe her in as her eyes flicker open to mine.

“What, Brie?” I question with irritation in my voice. She starts laughing and I look around us, Hannah still flush against me, holding on to me for dear life, catching her breath, and it appears that we have become the entertainment of the airport.

“Maybe you two need to get a room,” she snickers and starts walking towards the exit, followed by Chase who is carrying a duffle and pulling two suitcases behind him.

“Hi,” Hannah whispers and I kiss her one more time before taking her luggage and interlacing our fingers on the walk to my truck.

“I missed you, beautiful,” I smile at her as approach the truck. Brie is all but drooling and dry humping it as she peers into the window from the side step. I click the keyless entry remote unlocking the doors and she jumps down to open the door and climb in. I look to my right to see Hannah staring at me, and I just shrug and smile.

“What the fuck is this beast of a truck?” She looks back to my black 2006 F250 that’s sitting at least an extra eight inches off the ground from the lift and suspension kit I added on a year or so ago.

“Um, that’s my other baby,” I nod towards it without breaking eye contact, “and she’s a beast alright.” I wink then pull her to the passenger side door and assist her climbing in. Once everyone is buckled up, I start the engine and head towards downtown.

“Carter, I am not dressed to go out, weren’t we going to your place first?” Hannah whines as I pull in to a parking space at Angelo’s Ice Cream.

“You don’t have to get out, but this is something Brie and I do every time I pick her up from the airport.” I respond without thinking that she probably wasn’t aware of a “Brielle and Carter Tradition”.

“You do what, huh?” she mumbles looking from the now empty backseat back to me. “What am I missing exactly?” she asks obviously perplexed and maybe a bit jealous from being excluded.

“You aren’t missing anything aside from the amazingly delicious ice cream if you stay in the truck. Let’s go Han.” I respond, frustrated over the misplaced jealously in her tone. She jumps out of the passenger side and scowls at me, which causes nothing more than a rumble of laughter to escape as she passes by.

I roll my eyes and try to shake off the feeling of jealousy that seeing the obvious bond that Carter and Brielle share creates. Jumping out of the truck, I follow the three of them into the ice cream parlor. Carter holds the door open for me, swatting my ass as I walk past him and up to the glass counter covering the deep freezers lined with multiple cartons of colorful concoctions. My head is swimming with memories of date nights and study group meet ups, sharing every kind of homemade ice cream and countless hours of laughter. Perusing the list of flavors on the dry erase board then looking into each section of the glass counter, I stop and watch Brielle. She’s bouncing on the balls of her feet waiting for her turn to order. Quickly looking at the menu board again, I see s’mores listed halfway down the marker board.

Glancing over to Carter then back to Brie, he cocks his head to the side with a questioning expression. Oh, lord help me, ‘do not laugh’ I repeat to myself. Being best friends with Brie for nearly my entire life, I know her extreme closeted obsession with s’mores, and it is a rather unhealthy binge eating kind of fixation when she gets the urge to indulge. The sounds she makes as she eats anything combining the chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker creation is similar to that of a porno on skinamax. Brie looks to me as the woman behind the counter asks for her order. Brie gives me a wink.
Oh fuck, she’s going to make a spectacle out of this pit stop
.

“I’d like the s’more ice cream with hmm...” Brie’s voice trails off as she looks around behind the counter and exclaims “REESE’S!” I try to swallow down the bubble of laughter slowly billowing up my throat, not wanting to giveaway her soon to be pleasurable moans that I am certain neither Carter nor Chase are anticipating as she devours the cup of frozen deliciousness, thus causing me to cough. The guys both look at her when she shouts Reese’s and watch her intently as begins to hop in place as she waits impatiently.

I’m up to order, and of course I get what I always do when I came here back in the day, monkey business; it is a mixture of vanilla ice cream with walnuts, bananas, caramel, and chocolate sauce. It is simply the most delectable treat - heaven on earth. Next Chase orders, followed by Carter who also pays the tab, much to everyone’s displeasure. Well not Brie’s, because well, she has her cup of ice cream and just shoved a spoonful into her mouth. We all sit around a table in front of the window in an almost comfortable silence, almost being the operative word.

“Ooooh mmmm,” Brielle moans as she sucks the ice cream off the spoon before dipping it back into the cup and finding a chunk of what could only be Reese’s from her reaction. “Ahhh, yes, come to mama you scrumptious lil morsel of sin.”

Chase jerks his head to the left to watch her suck the spoon clean of any remnants, eyes bulging and gulping at her repeated gestures. “Um, you okay there Brie?” he asks bemused.

“I love the way the peanut butter and chocolate melt in my mouth, satisfying the cravings of my taste buds pleading for more,” Brielle simpers.

“Brielle Dawn Sava, shut the fuck up, people are starting to stare,” I attempt to scold her but can’t contain the laughter that comes abruptly after. She looks at me, then Chase giving him a wink. Carter is sneaking spoonfuls of my ice cream out of my cup, for what reason, I have never figured out. He loves my monkey business, but always gets the rocky road.

“Mmmm, but Hannah, it’s so so good,” she cries out in an over produced moan. She continues to eat and talk with a growing voice, “I mean, for serious, give me s’mores anything and I’ll suck your dick.”

Carter’s head hits the table in embarrassment, mumbling through his laughter. “She is losing her shit over ice cream and propositioning anyone who is listening... I am never gonna be able eat s’mores again without having audio-visual nightmares.” He looks up at us, shaking his head side to side as if to scrub his mind from the event.

My head falls back and I laugh harder than I have in a while. “Brie,” I say through my tears and labored breathing, “you are a fucking mess. This is a family establishment, you can’t say that shit.”

Chase is still staring at her, his mouth opens and closes a few times. “Fuck me,” he groans and rubs his forehead, likely processing my friend and her antics trying to make sense of it all.

“Banana, calm your tits. You too, Carter, only adults are in here,” she says looking around at the patrons laughing and talking, and then pops her shoulders, “not that I would have censored myself anyway.”

Once we all finish dessert and our conversation about the plans for the next few days, we head back to Carter’s truck. Brie and Chase are going to stay at her parents’ place, as they have the spare room and Carter and I have sporadic events planned over the next couple days. The truck ride to the Sava’s is noisy to say the least, between Brie and I scream singing country music and the roars of laughter, the trip is a lot shorter than I remember.

Climbing out of this truck triggers me to make a mental note, not to skip out of my workout regimen. With Chase not constantly around, I won’t have the daily reminders and push that he typically provides me, either before work or after. Thinking back to my first year in Florida, I just was... I went to work and home, but once Brielle moved down, I started to adjust to the normal life of a twenty-three year old and tried living life again without hesitation and the feeling of being broken.

Nevertheless, something was always off, I hadn’t forgiven myself for an incident that I could not control any more than the weather. Carter’s short, unexpected visit helped heal that last part of me. Knowing that the one person I ran from to avoid heartbreak and disappointment later down the road, still loved me, and never blamed me for the loss of our child was the game changer in my life. Why I waited so long for that interaction, I may never know aside from the fear of rejection or angst of losing more than I already had.

After a short visit with Brie’s parents, Joel and Meredith, we leave the four of them and head back to my place so Hannah can get ready for dinner. After about ten minutes on the road she sighs, capturing my attention, I look over briefly to see her head back against the headrest with her eyes closed. Reflexively, I reach over and rest my hand on her thigh, turning my eyes back to the road allowing her the time she needs to herself. Coming back after the miscarriage has always been a struggle for her, seeing her from a distance and listening to Tracie as she unloaded her worries once Hannah flew back to Florida and now seeing it up close causes that pain to deepen to a whole new level.

I was going to take Hannah the gravesite that I had taken care of once she was released from the hospital and shutting the world out after the accident, but seeing the emotions roll across her face, I reconsider my plan and decide to wait until later tonight or tomorrow. Pulling into the garage, I gently squeeze her thigh waking and alerting her that we need to get ready for dinner that will commence in about an hour. I grab her luggage and open the door for her before she finally moves from her resting position.

“Let’s go, beautiful, you can get settled and then ready for dinner. Your parents are eager to see you,” I mention as I help her out of the truck.

“Sorry I passed out on you Carter, it’s just a little overwhelming the first day back, especially for the holidays,” she whispers to my chest.

After a quick tour of my place, because let’s face it, I am a bachelor with no need to impress anyone other than Hannah, and even though she has a ginormous house in Florida, this is where she came from. Simplicity. I lead her back to my bedroom, and hoist her luggage onto the bed with a grunt; I think she packed enough to stay until spring.