She snorted and rolled her light brown eyes. “Don’t be a lame ass. You be good, Mouse Ears,” she said even though I’d told her a hundred times I’d never acted in a Disney movie in my entire life.
“I will. Try not to harass the hot counselor anymore, okay?”
She didn’t respond until I stepped out into the cold hallway. “Yeah, probably not.”
I hugged myself close as I walked toward the staff’s station. When I turned the corner, I half expected to see Kevin, waving at me with news that my parents couldn’t make it and a new part but then I saw my mother. She was pacing, her heels clacking hard on the linoleum floor, and biting her bottom lip.
“Mom,” I said, and though I’d thought I’d accepted the fact that she might not show up, my voice cracked.
She stopped, turned to me and her face stretched into a Botox smile. She rushed towards me, meeting me just outside the staff station and wrapping me in a tight embrace. “It feels like it’s been years since I saw you!” she exclaimed when she finally let me go.
I gave a little laugh. “Yeah, well, me too.” Frowning, I looked over her shoulder. “Where’s Dad?”
Mom took a couple steps back, smoothing her hand over her highlighted hair. “He was on a trip in Boston, but we’re picking him up on the way home.” She checked her watch and cringed. “Right now, actually.”
“I’ve just got to check out and—”
She took my bag from me, sliding the strap onto her shoulder, and nodded. “You do that and I’ll call your dad to let him know we’ll be there soon.”
I was grinning like an idiot as I signed out of Seaside. The counselor in admissions gave me my phone back, I signed a few forms and the staff wished me the best of luck. The whole process took all of fifteen minutes, and then Mom and I went out to the parking lot where her red Cadillac CTS-V was waiting. I slid into the passenger seat, immediately reaching for the radio dial as she cranked the engine.
I sighed when I caught the middle of a Jason Mraz song and sung along off-key, sounding as horrible as my mom had when she called me on my birthday back in July. She shot me a look as she navigated the Cadillac into traffic.
“Jesus Willow, I don’t remember you being like this at 9 in the morning ever,” she said.
“It’s a good feeling,” I admitted, resting my head back against the headrest and looking out the window at an orange Metro bus a couple lanes over. Seeing it brought back the memory of myself back in June and I slid my phone back and forth between my hands, wishing I could call Cooper.
The song switched to Paramore and I nearly choked when my mother joined in with me, singing loudly. Our eyes connected across the center console and though I knew we had a long ways to go, this was a start. When the song ended, she brought up my attorney and where he was in the appeals process. Clay had flat out told Mom that he didn’t think we stood a chance but he was willing to keep trying.
I was silent for a long time and then I nodded. “I’d appreciate it if he did.”
When we arrived at LAX twenty minutes later, Mom gave me an apologetic smile. “I’m going to park.” She glanced down at her phone, flipped through her messages and told me the American Airlines flight number, before saying, “He’s already here. Can you go in and—”
I was already getting out the car, grabbing a pair of sunglasses out of the center console as I did so. “Got it.”
It was the first time in years that I’d been in this airport without a bodyguard standing over my shoulders and as I made my way to the gate, I felt like a million pounds had been lifted off my shoulders. It wasn’t like I’d been forgotten—I was 100 percent sure I’d show up again on some gossip site with a poll on when I’d f**k up again—but today I was normal.
I finally came to the baggage claim for the flight number Mom had given me but when I glanced up at the scrolling text on the digital sign, my breath caught. It wasn’t Boston, but Honolulu.
“What? No lei?” a voice with an Australian accent said from behind me, and I turned slowly to face Cooper. He was wearing jeans, Converse shoes, and a blue t-shirt that brought out his eyes, and I felt my mouth go dry as I drunk in the sight of him.
“What are you doing here?” my voice came out in a whisper.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Remember how I said that I like to study up on my clients?” he asked, and I lifted my chin slightly. He’d said that in this very airport actually. “Did you really think I wouldn’t show up?”
“I didn’t want to be selfish,” I said honestly.
He took four long strides to me, and gripped me to his body. An elderly woman collecting her baggage from a nearby claim did a double take, but Cooper didn’t seem to notice. “God, Wills, you can be as selfish as you want with me.”
I shivered when our lips touched and my body responded to his, moving closer so that I could slide my arms around his shoulders. I’d missed this. I’d missed him so f**king much that now that he was here, it hurt.
Groaning, he finally pulled back, massaging my neck with the pads of his thumbs. “Do you know how hard it was to coordinate things with your mum? She’s the scariest person I’ve ever met, you know?”
My laughter was mixed with a sob as I nodded. “She told me we had to pick up my dad.”
He shook his head, chuckling. “Nah, he’s somewhere at some fancy restaurant waiting for us to show. My f**king flight was delayed an hour or I would’ve been there to get you first thing.”