One-Off (36 page)

“I missed you so much,” I told her, kissing the side of her head as it snuggled in against mine.

“I missed you.” She stood back, and I got to study her up close again. Radiant skin with faded freckles and penetrating blue eyes that showed me how much she cared. “How long have you been planning this holiday?” She tried to sound put out by my keeping this secret.

“Since you left. It helped when Dallas and Colin handed over the ticket to Scotland as a thank you gift.”

“Oh, those two. They sent me a ticket to Washington as a thank you gift. I hoped to use it at the winter break. I thought about waiting until summer, but I didn’t want to wait that long to see you again.”

I drew my fingers over her cheek and onto her jaw. “I would have been very happy to see you in December, but I couldn’t wait either.”

She cradled my face. “I know this will hurt again when you leave, but I don’t care right now.” In the next instant, her mouth covered mine. I kissed her back with everything I had, remembering the soft suppleness of those magical lips. Lips that had touched every inch of my body and brought it to life. Before these lips, I wasn’t alive.

“You’ve made my whole year,” she whispered when she pulled away. “I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but we have to work something out. Something more than a call every other week where we talk about mundane things. I can’t pretend not to miss you desperately anymore.”

Giddiness flooded my system as I struggled to find the words I’d been rolling over and over in my head since getting on a flight. I nodded and kissed her again. “We will. We’ll make sure.”

“I should have told you that morning. I should have made it clear.”

I searched her eyes. “What?”

“You’re brilliant and lovely and kindhearted, even when we squabbled. I saw it from the start.” She pressed her fingers to my mouth when I was about to return the compliment. She was every one of those things and a lot more. “You’re my one-off,” she whispered. “And I think I’ve loved you from the moment we met.”

“Oh, Ainsley,” I breathed out. “I thought you couldn’t stand me.”

“That’s because I didn’t want to love this pesky young American who wrapped people around her finger without even trying. With barely a word she could make someone light up inside. I’ve never seen such enchantment before.”

“And you were so poised, gorgeous and brainy and proud. You confused me when I was still figuring out who I was and how I felt. You kept getting more and more irritated with me. I didn’t think I’d stand a chance with you.”

“You have every chance left with me.”

My heart pounded hard enough I was sure she could see it thumping under my shirt. “I love you, Ainsley.”

She drew in a shaky breath. “Even though you don’t believe in love?”

“I always believed in love. I just didn’t believe it would last.” I grinned slowly. “Until I planned a wedding with you. Then I saw forever.”

“With me?”

“If you’ll allow.”

Tears formed in her eyes. I reached forward and brushed the first of them off her cheeks. “How? I teach here. I have to. I could take a term here and there in the States, but darling, I need to be a Scottish history professor in Scotland.”

“I know.” We’d figure something out. We had to. That’s why I was here. My hands dropped to her hips and drifted up and down her sides because I couldn’t seem to stop touching her.

“I’d be a hypocrite if I tried to become the leading scholar on Scottish history but didn’t live in Scotland,” she continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “I love you, Skye. I would do anything for you. I would.” Her hand came up to rest on my chest. “Colin told me about the job offer. That they want you to go with them.” She pushed out a breath, determination settling in her eyes. “If that will make you happy, I’ll switch my focus to European history so I can teach there.”

A lump formed in my throat. What was I thinking? I couldn’t ask a woman with so much pride in her heritage and country to leave. She had too much invested in her field of study. Universities all over might want her, but they wouldn’t be what she needed. Not for someone with her specialty. It was entirely selfish of me to think this would work.

My eyes fixed on hers and I made a determination of my own. “I’ll move.” An invisible vise grip released its hold on me the second the words left my mouth. My genius mouth.

“I have an idea for an article on the Spanish Civil War era. That will go a long way toward cementing my expertise, and I’ll get them to expand their Scottish history courses.”

I grasped her sides, trying to stress that she needed to hear this because she seemed caught up in making plans that she didn’t want to make but was willing to. For me. If I truly loved her I should be willing to do the same. “I’m going to live with you in Bathgate or Edinburgh or Glasgow, wherever you want to live.”

“I did love New York and being close to Colin again would be fun.” Her stare grew hazy as she remembered her life in New York. “You have some first rate universities there. Or if you stay in Washington, there’s Georgetown and I loved your home. Whatever it takes, darling.”

I smiled because she was debating the merits of a move she wouldn’t have to make because she was so used to debating with me. I decided to keep talking until she stopped and actually heard me. “Of course, it won’t be as easy for me to move here as it would be for you to move to the States since you have dual citizenship. But if you don’t want to get married right away, I’m here on a visa that allows me to work. I can earn citizenship in a few years that way, and we can take our time before we get married. I don’t think I’d want to go through any interviews with immigration officials to prove that we’re a real couple anyway. Or there’s a possibility that I might be eligible sooner because of my birth father.” A good possibility based on what I’d read, but I’d still need confirmation on his citizenship at the time of my birth.

“I do have dual citizenship, so that won’t be an issue,” she continued and I started chuckling. She’d always been like that. Pose a problem and she’d work with singular focus until she had a solution. Right now it was how she would move to another country and change her field of expertise to make the woman she loved happy.

I pushed up against her, my eyes never leaving those incredible blues. “I said,” I started slowly making sure I had her complete attention. “I love you and can’t be without you.”

“My bonnie Skye. I love you, too. These past few weeks without you has been agony.”

“Is that your way of saying you’ll marry me?”

She gasped as he head jerked back. “Are you asking?”

“Are you saying yes?”

“I didn’t hear the question.”

“You heard it.”

“But it doesn’t make any sense.” A frown creased her forehead. “You don’t believe in marriage.”

“You made me believe. That’s how much I love you.”

Her eyes blinked rapidly. “I’m going to cry.”

“There’s no need.”

“What are we going to do? How long is your holiday? Can you stop over for a while?” Hope flickered in her eyes. “I can’t just up and leave when the term’s just begun.”

“No one asked you to.”

“What?”

“You weren’t listening to me and that better change when we marry.” I stole a quick kiss. “I quit my job, applied for an ancestry visa, and flew here to see you. I don’t want to use the return ticket.”

Her eyes flooded this time. Tears splashed onto her cheeks. She leaned in and kissed me with a desperation I’d never felt before.

“I’ll have to go back and sell my place, but I’m not going back to live there.”

“You quit your job? You’ll move here?” Her expression was full of wonder that soon gave way to worry. “But we don’t have the same kind of news shows here. In London, but not here.”

“I don’t need that, sweetheart.” I didn’t, not after the feeling of freedom that came with deciding I’d stay here for her. There were options here. I’d done some research out of curiosity, or maybe I knew this was what I truly wanted when I boarded that plane. “There are some openings at the new local station in town. I’ll try for that. I’ve actually met the news director for the parent network at a conference, and Van knows a few other execs there. If I don’t get it, then I can look at the local station in Glasgow or BBC Scotland.” I wasn’t worried. I should be. I’d never been without a job before, but I had all I needed in her. “If none of that pans out, I’ll try for a management job with some company in town. If I have to work on a sheep farm, I’ll do it.”

“This can’t be happening. You were so adamant about love and marriage.”

“Yeah, Dallas and Morgan will never stop teasing me, I’m sure.” I brushed my fingers over her cheek. “One thing, wait, no two. I want sheep and wellies.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly in a familiar skeptical look before she wiped it away on her own. My heart swelled to see that she no longer needed to feel suspicious of my motives anymore. Our ingrained wariness of each other had been erased. “What?”

“If I’m doing this Scotland thing, I’m getting sheep and wellies. And your dad’s going to teach me how to play golf. I’m going all in on Scotland. I’ll do whatever it takes to stay.”

Her smile brightened the whole auditorium. “With me?”

“Or your mum. I like her, too,” I teased and stumbled back when she playfully shoved me away.

“You’re a right scunner.”

Irritating, yes I am. It’s what will keep our life together interesting.

Epilogue

Three months later

The program director approached me as I made my way through the bullpen. “Boss,” she said, stopping me.

“Skye,” I reminded her, but they all seemed to prefer using a title for me as the station manager. It was a lot of responsibility and different from being an EP. I spent as much time on the details of every show as I did going over budgets and in meetings, brief meetings, about programming and story content. The perfect blend of business, television management, and journalism.

“Mag’s done and delivered,” she reported of the original news magazine show that we produced. “Nightly is about to go on. Did you want to chat to them before they start?”

We shared a smile at her suggestion. I wasn’t the person on the staff that handed out inspirational talks to everyone before or after shows. We left that to Malcolm, the program director’s second in command. He had a knack for it. It also helped that no one ever said to him,
“Eh? Dinnae catch alla ‘at,”
as they often did whenever I let my excitement get the better of me and spoke too quickly. Half the staff were students from Edinburgh Napier University where the station was housed. They usually scurried away whenever they saw me walking through the station halls. The rest were a mix of local hires and professionals with some experience from stations in London and Glasgow. They all liked having a bit of fun with the American import, but they also seemed to appreciate having someone with my experience running the station.

“You’ve got the program card for tonight?” I asked her.

She held up the grid sheet that showed what we’d play in every half hour segment until we went off the air at midnight. Still very new, the station didn’t have original programming for each time slot. I’d changed the policy of showing reruns of several shows centered in Scotland to rerunning some of our original programming interspersed with those favorite shows. My goal by the end of next year was to have a morning news/talk show, a half hour news program at noon, a news hour at six, and three hours of entertainment or informative original programming each day to supplement the programs we got from the parent network. It was a lot of work, but so far I loved every minute of it. It helped that I loved every other second of my life outside of work.

I bid her goodnight and grabbed my overcoat, umbrella, and laptop bag before starting for the parking lot. It was dark, raining, and cold, but mostly magnificent. I said hello to several of my colleagues also leaving work and spotted my closest friend on campus.

“Off home?” Celia changed course to meet up with me. Her five-six, plump frame was swaddled in a wool overcoat with a knit hat pulled down over her dark brown hair. As a professor in the television field of study, she was mostly responsible for supplying the student talent at my station. We hit it off from the start, often lunching together, and occasionally getting together after work. Like Ainsley, she’d gone to university in the States and didn’t have a truckload of preconceived notions about Americans. She was partially responsible for why I felt at home so soon after relocating.

“Just finished.” Three hours sooner than I would have been at my old job even with more responsibility here.

“The kids told me you’re going to let them produce a show next trimester. And you’ve got the advertising students working on commercials for local companies?”

I shrugged. “We need content and commercials and they had some good ideas. It’s why they’re in your program, right?”

“Aye,” she agreed and pointed toward the faculty car park where she’d been heading. “I’m off, then. Lunch on Tuesday? We can chat more about the ideas.”

“Sounds good, Celia. Have a nice weekend.” I continued walking to the studio’s lot and found my little Alfa tucked away in a corner spot. The car made me smile. It was a nod to my Italian side but also served as a tiny irritant to Ainsley that I’d gone with Italian over British in Scotland. We’d never abandon the interplay between us. It didn’t matter how much we loved each other. If we were breathing, we’d be looking for a way to get under each other’s skin.

I got the car started and navigated my way through Edinburgh and onto the A road to clear the city. Traffic was the same pretty much everywhere in the world. It didn’t matter if I was on a motorway outside of Edinburgh or the beltway in Washington D.C. Fridays were especially bad without my carpool mate. Four days a week, Ainsley and I commuted together. I’d drop her at her campus two miles from mine and pick her up or find her in my office after she’d cut through the Meadows on foot to hasten the end of my work day. No more three to five hours of overtime for me. I had more important things to experience after work.