under my eyes, and then closed my suitcase. This was it. Our special time together was over and it had ended on a sour note. I wanted to scream at my mother, but I figured there would be time for that when we got home. It would be about five hours to drive from Basel to Cologne, depending on traffic, but Ace had taken care of everything so we were going to have a taxi take us from the port to the car rental place.
I had no idea what we would do once we got to Cologne.
“You ready to eat?” Ace asked as he came out of the bathroom. He wore jeans and no shirt, the muscles beneath his glistening skin flexing slightly as he swiped at a few drops of water he’d missed with the towel.
“Sure.” I nodded, reaching for my purse. My mother had just called again and I gritted my teeth as I hit decline. One more meal. One last hour before I had to face reality.
He put on a shirt and the Henley pulled tight across his chest, reminding me what it felt like to be in his arms. I bit my lower lip, wanting desperately to throw myself at him and let him make everything better, but I couldn’t. Not yet. I didn’t know how to explain it, but somehow, I needed to face this on my own. Well, mostly on my own. I had to take back the control it felt like others had taken from me over the years. It had nothing to do with him, but my own feelings of helplessness.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I whispered out of nowhere, blinking back tears. “Or that my feelings have changed. I just have to figure things out. Please don’t give up on me. On us. Just let me handle this the way I have to for my sanity. Please.” Tears dripped down my cheeks and he didn’t hesitate to pull me close. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, stroking my back and letting me cry on his shoulder.
“I’m not going anywhere. Not for long anyway. You do what you have to do and let me know when you’re ready to let me back in.”
“Okay.” I pulled away reluctantly and blew my nose. My mascara had smeared so I had to dig out my makeup remover, take it off and start over. I added some foundation this time because I was a little red from crying, and then a dab of lipstick because I was pale as hell. I still looked rough, and my eyes were red, but it was better.
“You’re beautiful,” he said softly.
“You’re a good liar.”
“I am, but I’m not lying.” He reached for my hand. “Ready for your last cappuccino and Belgian waffle?”
“Sure.”
We said goodbye to Chance and Aubrey after breakfast, hugging them both and promising to keep in touch.
“You can come visit,” Aubrey whispered as she hugged me. “Or I’ll come to Cologne and we can take a shopping trip to Paris, okay? Promise you’ll keep in touch?”
“You promise first,” I laughed, blinking away tears.
“Promise.” We laughed and hugged tighter.
“Safe travels,” I whispered.
“You too.”
Ace had gotten our luggage and the four of us walked across the gangway onto the shore. And standing beside a Mercedes with a driver was my mother.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered.
“What’s wrong?” Ace looked around in alarm, his gaze settling on my mother with a scowl.
“Is that your mum?” Chance stage-whispered.
“We’re so going to miss our flight,” Aubrey added.
“Fuck.” Ace looked at me. “What do you want to do?”
“Well, I guess it’s now or never, huh? Let’s get this over with.” Dragging my suitcase behind me, I strode over to my mother and put my hands on my hips. “Hello, Mother. What are you doing here?”
“We have to talk,” she said quietly.
“Oh, yes, we certainly do.” I felt Ace’s presence though he’d come up behind me quietly.
“There’s room in the car for both of you and your luggage,” Mom said. “So we can—”
“Sorry, there’s four of us,” I said with a shrug. “We have Chance and Aubrey too.” That was a lie, of course, but I wasn’t going to make this easy on her.
“Shannon, please.” She actually looked like she was about to cry, which was so unlike my mother it gave me pause.
“Mom, you’ve really hurt me,” I said in a rigid voice that I hoped was fairly controlled since my emotions were all over the damn place.