Haze - By Andrea Wolfe Page 0,128

skin, framing his beautiful face as he touched me. I was glad to see him feeling better already.

We pulled up to the arrivals gate, navigating past the scores of people and cars that littered the area. Everyone was picking someone else up at that same moment, and this happened to be the only place to do it. Percy found a space right next to the curb, big enough for the limo, a minor miracle given the chaos. When I peered out the tinted window, I saw my mom and dad standing there, staring at our ridiculous car with weary eyes, oblivious to the fact that I was nestled away inside it with Jack.

"Are you ready?" I asked Jack.

"I've always been ready." He gave me that gorgeous wide smile, and I almost passed out like I had the first time I witnessed it. Jack kissed my cheek and pointed at the door. "You first."

I took a deep breath and then opened the door, hiding behind it before I stepped out. My parents were still aimlessly looking around, trying to find the mysterious vehicle that I had refused to identify. And then, my dad's eyes met mine and he was frantically tapping my mom's shoulder and pointing.

They walked briskly toward me, roller suitcases following behind them. "Effie, sweetheart!" My mom's voice soared over the ambient noise. I felt fragile, but I kept walking.

"What the hell is this damn thing?" My dad's voice was full of lighthearted curiosity as he tried to digest the bizarre situation.

They hugged me together, and I wrapped my arms around both of their bodies. A rush of relief hit me at once as I felt something quite like reunion. I was going to come clean to them, to let them know the real me from this day forward. And the real Jack, of course.

"Oh, God, honey, we're so glad you're okay." My mother looked better than ever, but a bit frail given the macabre circumstances that had brought her to New York.

"You gave us quite the scare," my dad said softly, his excitement mild and subdued. "We're just glad you're all right." My dad's hair was freshly trimmed short, his usual, familiar clean-cut look intact even after my months away from home. Everything was exactly how I had left it—and still no mustache!

"I'm okay," I mumbled. "I'm just fine. Just fine." I fought and swallowed the urge to cry about the hundredth time, and then I realized that Jack had stepped out of the vehicle behind me and was approaching our group.

"Is that him?" My mother whispered it in my ear, her voice shaky and surprised. I pulled away from them and proudly joined Jack's side.

"Mom and dad, this is my boyfriend and boss, Jack. Jack, this is my mom and dad, Joy and Dean."

"It's such a pleasure to meet you both," Jack said, hitting them with one of those borderline deadly smiles of his. I had never been prouder of anything in my life. A beautiful collision of worlds was taking place in front of me.

"Likewise," my mom said, stepping toward Jack and meeting him with a hug. My dad caught him with a firm handshake as soon as he stepped away, their hands rising and falling as they both chuckled and grinned.

"You've got quite the thing going for you, Mr. Jack," my dad said, pointing at the limo, an obvious indicator of his success.

Jack wrapped his arm around my back and paused. "I do, Dean." He glanced down at me, and then back at them."She's beautiful and I'm the luckiest man in the world to have her."

If I had died right then and there, it would have been fine. Hell, it would have been perfect.

But life was even better than that.

Epilogue

Life has a way of becoming fascinating and exciting, but only if you let it happen. They said that meditation is just allowing what is, and that was incredibly true for life as well. Things arise, and you acknowledge them, greet them in a friendly tone and accept the possibility.

Not everything requires action or intense consideration. Sometimes you just have to feel it and not get worked up or obsessed about things that didn't really matter.

Every morning waking up next to Jack has been every bit as good as the very first time. Two years have already passed since I first met him in New York at MCI, the start of a whirlwind romance that had diligently followed us through more incredible experiences than I could