Chapter Twenty-One

Van

I didn’t want to have breakfast that day, just accepted a cup of coffee from Franklin and went up to pack my things and be ready when the car came for me. I returned downstairs and found Franklin in the kitchen folding the top of a brown paper lunch bag. “I packed up a sandwich and a few cookies for you. And I went up to the apple trees and picked some apples, so there’s one of those in there.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do all that.” I put my hands behind my back like a small child. “You’ve given me one of the best weekends of my life.”

“Just one of them?” He reached for my arm, pulled it in front of me, and placed the bag in my hand. “I’m disappointed. I’ll send you a survey to fill out to tell me how I can do better.”

Accepting the lunch, I set it on top of one of my pieces of luggage. “You couldn’t do better. Everything was perfect. It’s not you.”

“Sit down.” He pointed to a chair at the kitchen table.

“My ride…”

“Isn’t here yet. You have time.”

Before I knew it, he had a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me and was seated on the opposite side of the table. “Franklin, I’m not hungry. I’m sorry, even though it looks good.”

“You’re not hungry because you have unfinished business.” He handed me a fork. “Now, I’m gonna tell you a few things, advice from someone who has been where you are and who thought they had a lifetime to spend with someone.”

Franklin told me about his mate who died far too young and how he could only bear it at first because they had made the most of their time together. He had no desire to find someone else because his mate was it for him, even with fewer years than they expected. “Now I find pleasure in helping Fate. That’s why they say what they do about this place…not that I admit it’s true.”

“What do they say?”

“You really don’t know?”

I did not, but he would only say, “Ask your mate.”

And somehow, after he said that, I had an appetite and at the breakfast he’d prepared for me before the car came to pick me up.

I texted Jamie on the way from the airport and invited him to the cabin.

Can you come to visit? He didn’t reply for about five long minutes, but when he did, the answer scared me.

No. But then he went on. I don’t have any time off from work scheduled. We have to give some notice for vacation.

Then, can I visit?

He said yes.

But of course, I had set some things in motion, and I had to fly out to meet with some business associates and then the band wanted a meeting, and so it was nearly a month before my flight landed in the city where my mate lived.

And I still hadn’t told him my secret. I was as nervous as a long-tailed cat under a rocking chair on a hot tin roof. Or something like that. He also didn’t know my exact ETA, and I was very excited about showing up at my mate’s work unannounced and sweeping him into the biggest hug ever.

I did not fly coach. Or commercial. With my career kicking up some, I had a good reason to renew the lease on the jet. So, when I climbed out of the rental car at the coffeehouse where my mate created his coffee masterpieces—a description I’d received from more than one of his colleagues in some of the phone chats I’d had with my mate and his friends—I was not exhausted and didn’t smell like a packed airliner full of recycled breath.

Instead, I bounded in the door of the coffeehouse with a plan to approach the counter and order a coffee that he would make and then call my name and I’d say surprise!

“Oh my god!” A shrill voice gave me little warning of what was about to happen. “It’s Van Galaxis.”

“Where?” This voice was more pleasing and it preceded my mate hurtling into my arms. “It’s true, you’re here.”

I hugged him to me and kissed his cheeks and nose and forehead and, finally, his lips. But it wasn’t until we parted that I gripped him by the shoulders and said, “What just happened here?”

“You came to visit me, and I kissed you.” He beamed, those eyes sparkling.

“Yeah, but when someone said, ‘It’s Van Galaxis,’ what made you come running? I know you’re not a fan boy of mine or you’d…I mean you aren’t.”

“Oh, I’m your biggest fan.” He kissed me hard and spun me around to face the counter. “Everyone, this is Eddie, aka Van, and I’m taking the afternoon off.”

He untied the apron around his waist, tossed it to one of the other baristas, and towed me out the door. Then I dug in my heels. “Jamie, how long have you known? Did you recognize me right away?”

“Not until the morning after we made love, when I was watching you sleep. And I was so afraid you were just there for a weekend fling, even if it was with your mate. I kept waiting for you to tell me your real name.”

I kissed him again. “Eddie is my real name. Van is my middle name.”

“Oh. Well you still should have told me anyway.” His lower lip thrust out. “I was starting to think I’d have to pretend for our whole mated life that I didn’t know.”

“Wouldn’t that have created a situation.” I chuckled. “I’ll be back in six months, mate. Just running to the store for milk.”

“Only if we’re having cobbler.”

“If you know how to make it.”

But it wasn’t enough of a joke because my job involved a lot of travel, and it was not easy to both be my mate and have a life of your own. He took as much time off as he could and either went places with me or stayed at the cabin, and I hung out with him and his brother when possible. I still had time in my year off, but the band needed me, too, and we needed to find a better solution.

Together.