Page 57 of His for the Holiday

26

SUTTON

Working at the bookstore while Winnie was at school, I couldn’t help wondering if Hawk had changed his mind about us. I hadn’t seen or heard from him in a few days, but I was trying not to be hurt by his sudden disappearance.

I had promised myself that I was going to try to trust him and that I wouldn’t let my past make me mess things up, which meant I just had to keep calm and trust that he was simply busy. I’d been busy myself, getting all the pieces of Winnie’s costume together and preparing for the Thanksgiving festival at the school.

Plus, I’d been helping my mom get things ready for hosting the holiday at our house and I was desperately trying to pull some feet into the store before then. Business was steady, but this time of year, we usually started seeing a spike.

People had time to read over Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I really wanted my first season back to be the best we’d had in a while. As I set up yet another display in the window, my dad came back into the store after stepping out a few hours ago.

I looked up to smile at him, but it slipped when I saw the grave expression on his face. He was slightly ashen, his eyes a little too wide and somewhat unfocused, and he was moving slowly as he slid out of his coat and hung it on the hook behind the counter.

“Daddy?” I asked, my heart suddenly pounding. I hopped off the step in the window and went over to him. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Henry,” he said, worry lacing his voice and making it sound deeper. “I dropped in at the port to see him. It’s been a couple weeks, so I thought I’d buy him a cup of coffee, but he wasn’t there.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, his worry working its way into my chest and wrapping its icy tentacles around my heart. It dawned on me that this was why I hadn’t heard from Hawk. “Did you find him?”

“At his house,” Dad said, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows. He collapsed into the stool he kept behind the counter. “He’s in worse shape than he’s been letting on. He told me the kids haven’t let him go to work this week. They’re trying to get him on some new medications, but they’re still gathering information. He says he doesn’t just want to keep pumping his body full of drugs.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my chest aching for Emery, Hawk, the boys, and even my dad. “Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I could pop over to their office and see if there’s anything I can do for Emery at the business? I’m sure she’d be able to use an extra set of hands.”

Dad blew out a sharp breath through his nose, his expression a little incredulous. His eyebrows crept up as he stared back at me. “Apparently, Hawk is taking over. Emery’s not even at the office at the moment. She’ll still work there, but she’s at home with Henry for now. She’s the one gathering the information on the new meds. Hawk’s put her in touch with some specialists in LA.”

I blinked hard. “Hawk is taking over Henry’s business? Like, the one here, in Portsmouth? How? He lives and works in California. How is he supposed to do both?”

Dad shrugged, not really looking like he understood or believed it himself. “All I know is that Henry told me Hawk has spent the last few days holed up in their home office. He’s been making phone calls and having meetings with his company back in LA, preparing for the merger and whatnot.”

I felt like my head was spinning. “So he’s staying?”

My dad shook his head. The corners of his lips pressed in as he braced his hands against the counter. “I don’t know, Sutton. To be honest with you, even if he says he’s moving back now, I wouldn’t trust it to last. That boy has spent a decade only caring about himself and his bank account. It’s going to take more than just promises and phone calls for me to believe that he’s pulled his head out of his ass and is actually going to help.”

“Right,” I muttered, my heart beating much too fast.

I was tempted to ask how he would feel about Hawk and me giving things a try, but then I remembered that Dad had told him to stay away from me. Glancing at the clock, I realized that I didn’t have time for the argument we were likely to get into if I told him we’d gone against his wishes.

Plus, I needed to speak to Hawk first. Given that his dad wasn’t doing so well and he was apparently preparing to take over the family business, I wouldn’t go there from school after I picked Winnie up, but he and I definitely needed to talk.

He’s moving here? Or is he still going back to LA? Why didn’t he tell me about any of this? Unless there was nothing to tell yet. But seriously. How is he planning on doing it?

Part of me was bursting with excitement. If Hawk was taking over his dad’s business, that had to mean he’d be staying in Portsmouth, which meant he wouldn’t be going back to LA after all. In turn, that meant that he and I would be in the same town, and that we had a real shot at a relationship.

But the other, more realistic part of me knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Getting excited about it prematurely would only be setting myself up for disappointment. Gold Star Shipping was huge, a real player in the industry.

Not even its owner and founder could simply rip it up and move it across the country. Even if Hawk intended on taking over their family business as well, I knew there would be more to it than just spending a few days in meetings.

Sighing, I walked around the counter to grab my handbag, then shot my dad a tight smile. “I suppose we’ll find out more as they do. In the meantime, I need to go collect Winnie. See you later.”

“See you, sweetheart,” he murmured, his eyes faraway once more when I left him to his thoughts.

My insides were all knotted about the news that Henry wasn’t doing so well. As much as the possibility of Hawk moving home sparked all sorts of hopes deep within me, the reality of why he might be moving back was heartbreaking.

When I got to Bayshore Elementary, I saw Emery in the crowd and I made a beeline for her. She was staring off into the middle distance as I approached, but for the first time since I’d been back, I couldn’t help but notice there were no dark rings around her eyes.

She was lost in thought, sure, but she somehow didn’t look as frazzled today. Her long dark hair hung in a thick, intricate braid along her spine and her expression seemed calm. I smiled. “Hey, you. Get some sleep last night?”

She blinked herself out of her thoughts and returned my smile. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. I’ve been sleeping well all week, actually.”