Catch your breath. The sequel to Fast and Furious. My version

Chapter 15

The precious days flew by so fast.

I wished every day that I could rewind the clocks, just so that I could relive each precious minute over and over again.

To anyone else there was nothing particularly interesting about our days.
We had a routine of having breakfast as a family each morning.
Days were spent with Tatia and her girls and my daughter, which consisted of tea parties, chasey, hide-and-seek and playing pirates.
Tatia and I cooked together and spent time just talking about anything and everything.
We had dinner together as a family, once Sam got home from work, and played board games or watched movies together after dinner before the girls early bedtime.
After the girls were tucked away in bed, Sam, Tatia and I would sit outback with a few drinks and laugh about memories and enjoy what little time we knew we had.

Tia had started to sleep with me in the barn house. She claimed that it was because she was afraid that when she woke up, I wouldn't be there.
Which broke my heart knowing that our time together was so short.

Through the whole time that I was there we didn't go out together as a family. I couldn't risk being spotted or recognized by anyone and put my family in danger, even though Tia looked to be one of Tatia and Sam's daughters, my enemies didn't care, they would harm them for just associating with me.

We kept my presence relatively quiet except for telling my Aunt who drove an hour from her home to see me and catch up with her grandkids.

I had promised them two weeks, and I had given them that.

After of course, contacting Mimi, who I had promised that I would meet in Atlanta. I told her that I adjusted the flight schedule for another week, allowing me enough time to get some affairs in order, and giving her more time to spend in New Orleans.

Despite having to disappear from time to time to take business calls, including progress reports and conducting deals over the phone, I gave my family, my everything.

On my last day, it was incomprehensible to me that I was leaving.
I had grown so used to the routine that we had built up, that my leaving was hard on everyone.

As we all stood out on the veranda in the night air, we stared at each other, knowing it was time that I left.

Sam was the first to approach, embracing me tightly.

"Be safe cuz okay?" He said taking a deep breath, "We love you."

I pulled back and gave him a smile, "I love you too."

He returned the smile with sad eyes, before taking my bags out to my car.

"Take care babe, please keep in contact, of course to catch up with Tia, but also to let us know you're fine." Tatia said, hugging me and kissing my cheek as she leaned away.

"Of course, babe, of course." I said nodding at her, knowing that since Lachlan's death, they had become more worried about my safety, I was no longer viewed as invulnerable.

Hadley and Zia approached, and latched onto my legs looking up at me, while saying they were going to miss me.

"I'm going to miss you too, my little munchkins." I said, crouching down and kissing them both on the cheeks.

The girls joined their mother clinging to her legs, and I was left with one more person to say goodbye to.

"Mummy, are you really going?" She said approaching me slowly.

"I am baby, I don't want to, but I have to." I said, fighting the tears in my eyes.

"But I want you to stay here." She said her hands on my knees as she looked into my eyes.

"I know baby, I know, but you know that I have to go because of the bad guys. I have to stop them." I said choking up, almost unable to say the words.

"But when will you come back?" She said looking at the floor.

"Soon baby, I'm going to try and come back really soon. I don't like being away from you. But you know that I'm always a phone call away." I said, wrapping my arms around her small frame.

She was quiet, and just held onto me as tightly as she could.

"I love you my darling, beautiful Tia." I said kissing her cheeks, realizing they were wet with her silent tears. "Oh my baby, please don't cry, everything is going to be just fine, I promise you."

My head nestled in her neck breathing her in, stopping myself from crying so that she wouldn't see how heartbroken I was.

I painfully pulled away from her to look her in the eyes and dragged my right hand around her small frame to her chest right over her heart. I took a deep breath before smiling at her and winked, making her smile and wink back.

"Mummy's got to go to work." I said nodding at her, which made her nod back.

She leaned forward and kissed me on both cheeks before leaning back, and I reciprocated the act.

Tia offered up her pinkie finger for me to wrap my own around, we shook our hands up and down and let go to bump fists. We pulled back our fists, and Tia make the sound of an explosion which made me step to my left and her to her left. We both made guns with our hands and step back to be back to back, before smiling at each other, forgetting our worries with our special routine.

I gave Tatia and Sam a look and smiled at their girls before wrapping my arm around Tia one last time and leaning down slightly to kiss the top of her head. I stepped back and smiled at her, "I love you."

I stepped down off the veranda and made my way over to my car, I opened the door and before stepping in, took one last look at my family standing on the veranda huddled together.

Taking a sharp breath, I climbed into my car and pulled out of the driveway and drove down the street.