One Night Only (Season 1: Deni's Story)

Epilogue: Chapter Forty-Two

October

~ or, approximately three million, one-hundred and fifty-six thousand seconds since Deni left Thunder Bay in the summer, if trusting Hunter's math ~

It takes every bit of self-restraint I have to stay in the back seat of Mom's Range Rover. My fingers itch to pull the door handle so I can leap out to the curb, make a mad dash inside of the airport terminal, and not stop until I find Hunter and I'm flinging my arms around him. It's sweet torture that he's so close to me at this very moment, with his mom, waiting for their suitcases, and I can't yet be with him.

Correction: Technically, I could be with him. There is nothing physically preventing me from going in there, and I doubt Mom would stop me if I was set on doing it. The consequences of doing it are what holds me back.

I fidget in my seat, weighing the pros and cons in my mind. In a normal world, and if I had a normal life, I would have been waiting at the baggage carousel for Hunter before he even got off the plane.

"Maybe I should go in and make sure they can find us," I say.

Mom and I both know I won't set foot outside the vehicle, though, even if patience and me aren't besties right now. It's been impossible for me to blend into a crowd for the last several months, and Hunter's first minutes in Los Angeles don't need to include being mobbed at LAX while camera flashes go off everywhere. I'd like to get him and his mom out of here and to my house in one piece. After that, with all forces of the universe willing, Hunter can ease into the reality of what dating me while being at ground zero for the paparazzi means. He's had a taste of public exposure and intrusion while living far away from all of this, but he hasn't yet been swarmed by the paps while going about his daily life. I'd rather he not experience that during this visit, in case it gives him cold feet about moving here for school.

"They'll find us. They know what type of vehicle to look for, and I sent Melanie the license plate number." There's suppressed laughter in Mom's voice.

I check my phone for what has to be the twentieth time in the last minute, in case Hunter has texted me again since his flight landed. There's nothing new from him, and so I put the phone down and resign myself to staring out the window until he appears.

"I see them," Mom says. The three words wake up a whole kaleidoscope of butterflies in my stomach. I don't calm down any when Mom presses a button to open the back hatch of the Range Rover so Hunter and his mom can put their suitcases inside.

I twist around in my seat to watch them approach. Okay, who am I fooling? I like Melanie a lot, but I'm only watching Hunter and silently marveling about how good it is to see his golden-brown hair glimmering in the California sunshine. We've FaceTimed every day since saying goodbye weeks ago at the airport in Thunder Bay, and our text messages must make up the equivalent of three novels by this point, but seeing him in the flesh is still like an oasis after a long trek through the desert.

"Hi!" I greet him over the seat once he reaches the back of the Range Rover.

Hunter's mouth curves into the most heart-melting grin, revealing the dimple in his cheek that gets me every time I see it. He hoists his suitcase into the back of the vehicle.

"Hi back. Give me one sec." He puts his mom's suitcase in, too, then closes the hatch. It's only a few more seconds before he opens the door to the back seat and gets in beside me. I don't know what it is about him and me, but I swear the air becomes charged with something electric when we're this close together.

Melanie climbs into the front passenger seat and greets Mom and me. I smile at her and say hello, but then my attention goes straight back to Hunter, who I don't think has stopped looking at me even once since he shut the door. He leans over to hug me and kisses my forehead.