Into the Tide (Cottonwood Cove #1)(91)

“I’ll be back soon, and I’ll definitely come and see you all.” I swiped at the single tear running down my cheek when I pulled away. Brandy had full-on streams of tears running down her face.

“Well, we can still text every day. I’ll send you a picture of my date outfit, okay?”

“I’m counting on it.” I held up my hand in a wave and made my way to the bar.

“Hugh said he can pack your things up, and I’ll get them shipped to you in Chicago. We’ll just run by the house so you can pack the bags that you want to take with you tomorrow,” Travis said.

Hugh wasn’t looking at me. He wiped down the bar top, his baseball cap tugged down a bit so I couldn’t see his eyes. Brax was looking at me with the saddest expression on his face.

“Okay. Well, the car is picking me up at Hugh’s house in the morning. That’s the address I gave them.” I shrugged.

“Just text them and give them Dad’s address. I was just telling the guys that I never thought I’d willingly agree to sleep at that house ever again.” Travis chuckled.

“I can take you to the airport if you want.” Hugh looked up at me, and my chest squeezed. His lips turned up a little bit in the corners, but those sage-green eyes told a different story.

He looked… upset.

Sad.

Wounded.

That couldn’t be right. He’d known I was leaving this whole time. I was probably making something out of nothing.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice just above a whisper because I was fighting back the big lump that had lodged in my throat.

“Dude. She’s got this big, fancy company sending a car for her. She’ll probably get champagne on the drive over.” Travis waggled his brows.

“Ahhh, that’s hard to compete with. Well, I’ve got your check downstairs. You want to come down with me and grab it?” he asked, his voice calm and steady as his eyes locked with mine.

“Sure, yeah.”

“Hurry it up. Then I’ll run you over to Hugh’s to pack what you need for now,” Travis said, and I nodded before following Hugh to the back room and down the stairs to his office.

I stepped inside, and he closed the door behind me. I wanted him to pin me to the door and kiss me senseless, but he didn’t do that. He walked around the other side of his desk and sat down. I moved to the leather chair across from him and did the same.

He fiddled with some paperwork before looking up at me. “I’m happy for you, Snow. It sounds like they’re excited for you to get there, huh?”

My bottom lip quivered, and I bit down hard to stop it from shaking. “I didn’t know Travis was going to offer to sleep at my dad’s house. That wasn’t my idea.”

“Hey, you have nothing to explain. This was what you always wanted, right? And it’s all because you didn’t give up on your father.” His eyes softened, and he smiled.

“But I didn’t plan on saying goodbye to you like this,” I said.

“It’s all right. We always knew this was going to end, didn’t we?”

My vision was blurry as my eyes overflowed with tears and trailed down my cheeks. Hugh was up on his feet and bending down in front of me. He used the pads of his thumbs to swipe away my tears and then scooped me up and settled me on his lap, his arms wrapped around me.

“I wasn’t ready to say goodbye,” I said, my voice cracking as I couldn’t hold back all that emotion any longer.

“But this is what you want, right? This job? Chicago?” he asked, and he pulled back to look at me, his eyes searching mine. I didn’t know what he meant. Why he was asking that.

“It’s a good job.” I shrugged.

“Well, then, you go out there, and you kill it. They’re lucky to have you. And you accomplished everything you set out to do here, so you should be fucking proud of yourself. I’ll keep an eye on your dad for you, okay? You’ve got my word on that. Don’t worry about a thing.” His mouth was so close to mine, and now his eyes were welling with emotion, too.

I love you.

I wanted to say it. Needed to say it.

“Hey, hey, Trav, wait up!” Brax’s voice startled me, coming from the other side of the door out in the hallway, and Hugh reluctantly moved to his feet, setting me down in front of him before we heard Brax’s loud voice again. “Are you sure they’re down here?”

“Why the fuck are you shouting?” Travis asked, and Hugh stepped to the other side of his desk, and I sat back down in the chair.

Brax was giving us a warning that my brother was coming. He definitely knew something was going on between us.

But now, none of that mattered, did it?

I was leaving, and he was going to let me.

“It’s open!” Hugh yelled, as we heard them approaching the door.

Travis pushed the door open and was still laughing at something Brax said before turning his attention to me. “We need to get going. Shay’s craving ice cream, and we need to go get your bags.”

“Yeah, of course.” I pushed to stand.

Hugh grabbed an envelope off his desk and handed it to me. “Here’s your last check. Thanks for everything you did for me this summer, Snow.”

“It was the best summer I’ve ever had.” I wanted him to know that it was all because of him. But I couldn’t say it. Not now. Not here.