Midnight Ballerina (33 page)

“Okay, Billy Ray. Time for you and your achy breaky heart to get out of here.”

“You’re so impatient. At least wait until I get out of the driveway.”

“Okay, I promise.” I waited one second until the door was shut and ran toward my bedroom, my parents looking at me oddly as I sprinted by them. I saw a small, square box sitting on top of my pillow as soon I entered, and since my room sat at the front of our one story house, I could see that Miller was now pulling out of the driveway, which made my stomach drop because I already missed him. But I couldn’t wait to see what was in that box. Miller might not seem like the kind of guy to be thoughtful, but he really was.

I carefully removed the pretty ribbon and set it on my nightstand, wanting to save it. Yeah, I was that kind of girl. I had boxes and boxes of sentimental things from over the years that someday I would be able to rifle through and remember the good old days. Miller would have his own special box.

I found an envelope inside and quickly opened it, revealing a single airline ticket with a one way trip to Atlanta dated for two days after Christmas. I’d been talking to Miller about going back to Georgia before winter break was over so we could spend New Year’s together and apparently he wanted to make that happen.

I groaned at the thought of Miller spending his money to buy me an airplane ticket. I had still not figured out how I was getting back to Georgia, but I knew I would get there somehow, even if I had to hitchhike so I wasn’t a burden on my family.

I was upset that he had done that, until I read the note that was attached.

I grinned, loving the fact that he knew me so well. I guess if I did look at it as a Christmas present, I couldn’t be too upset. I still hated the fact that he’d spent that much money on me. I knew plane tickets weren’t cheap; that is exactly the reason why I hadn’t bought one in the first place.

And then I realized there was another note behind that one.

My eyes were blurred with tears as I finished reading the note that Miller left, the best present he could give me. It didn’t matter that he didn’t say it to me face to face, in my eyes at least, and like he’d said before, when it came to our relationship, we were the only two who mattered. Really, this note meant even more. I knew about his trust issues and well, even his love issues. Anyone could see how much he loved his mamaw that had raised him as her son and he couldn’t even say it to her. I would take
I love you
in a note from him any day.

I grabbed my phone off of my bed because I needed to call him. So what if he’d only left minutes ago? I needed to tell him exactly how I felt, too.

“I LOVE YOU, too,” Monroe rushed out as soon as I answered my phone, not even able to get a word out first.

I felt my body relax against the back of the seat, relieved that she wasn’t pissed that I wrote something like that in a note. Whenever I tried to say those words to anyone, it was like my mouth and brain froze up at the same time, refusing to cooperate. The root of that problem was my ma. I’d heard those three simple words out of her mouth so many times, but never with any follow through. When someone tells you over and over again that they love you and then turns right around and leaves you again, not to mention her telling it to you after every time your so called dad beats the shit out of you and she stands by doing nothing, the words lose all meaning. Yeah, I realized I still had some issues to deal with and I probably always would.

But hearing those words out of Monroe’s mouth, even over the phone, had meaning.

I knew that I was loved by my mamaw and Luke, and even Tanner, it was just saying it back to them that I couldn’t quite handle. Now, I could add Monroe to that list, too.

“And you got your present, right? Did you really wait until I got out of the driveway?”

“Um…sure I did.” I laughed, knowing that she was totally lying.

“Thank you so much, it really is the best present. Even though you shouldn’t be spending that kind of money on me, it’ll be nice to fly back.”

“Good, I’ll be waiting at the airport to pick you up.”

“You will?” she asked, sounding surprised and I had no idea why. I made it as clear as I could how I felt about her. Maybe it wasn’t as clear as some other guys could be, but for now, it was as good as I could get.

“Of course I’ll be there.”

I heard her sigh through the phone. “Well, I can’t wait. I do have to go though. We’re getting ready to make cookies. Apparently my mom thinks I’m five again. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“All right.”

I tossed my phone onto the seat next to me and tried to settle in for the long drive ahead, but it was impossible. All I could think about was Monroe and what in the hell I was going to do while she was gone. She was like an addiction, albeit a good one to have, one that I didn’t need any kind of intervention for. Mamaw seemed to be coming around to her, too. Even though I’d seen Tara a few times recently at the restaurant, Mamaw hadn’t breathed another word about the possibility of a relationship to us. She’d even told me that she liked Monroe, so I would take it.

The drive seemed to pass by more quickly than I expected and I called Monroe a couple of times on my way, texting her when I pulled into my driveway. I noticed a few lights on in my house and knew that Mamaw was here, probably cleaning away. With the holidays being in the next couple of days, she would go in full on crazy woman mode, just for everything to get messed up again by my family. I didn’t understand it.

“Miller! You’re home earlier than I expected.” She set down the mop she was holding and came over to hug me. “How was the drive? I’m guessing you got Miss Monroe there safely.”

“Yes, ma’am. The drive back wasn’t too bad, but I’m pretty beat now and I’ve got to be back in the office tomorrow.”

“Oh, please, just close that dang office early for the holidays, give yourself some time to relax.”

“Maybe,” I answered, throwing my keys on the counter and dropping my bag next to the couch, which Mamaw eyeballed but surprisingly didn’t say anything about it messing up the clean house.

“So, her parents liked you, I’m sure,” she stated matter-of-factly. That was Mamaw, no matter how much of an ass I was to people, she was convinced everyone couldn’t help but like me.

“I think so, they seemed to be pretty nice people. Luke staying at your house still?”

“Yes, he figured he might as well just hang out there for a bit until he figures out when he’s going to get a place of his own. I certainly don’t mind having him around.”

“Well, that’s good. I’m going to head to bed. You need help with anything before I do?”

“No, sir. You go get yourself some rest. I’ll have everything ready for Christmas Eve. There’s not too much work to be done since it looks like you actually started some of the decorating. I’m guessing Monroe likes ballet.” She raised a brow, tilting her head toward the tree that was lit up with white lights and dotted with a bunch of ballerina ornaments. Monroe insisted on having that kind of tree and I couldn’t help but give her exactly what she wanted.

“She is and she insisted on decorating. I just watched.”

“Hmm…I think I’m starting to like that girl even more.”

“Good, because I like her an awful lot. Night, Mamaw.” Love her, in fact, was what I wanted to say, but that word just refused to come out of my mouth, no matter how hard I tried to get it out.

THE HOLIDAYS WENT by quickly, which was good because that meant Monroe would be back into town soon. I didn’t realize how much I would actually miss her but there was this ache in my chest with her gone and I knew it wouldn’t go away until she was back. I was picking her up from the airport and I kept anxiously checking the time on my watch. I was sitting near baggage claim for her, and suddenly, the minutes seemed to drag by, it didn’t help that she had a little bit of a delay because of the ‘gross white stuff.’ Her words, not mine.

My phone alerted me of a message and I pulled it out of my pocket to see that it was from Monroe.

Finally made it!!!

Immediately, I jumped up from the bench I’d been sitting on and started pacing back and forth, scanning the hundreds of people scurrying toward the area that I was in to pick up their bags.

“Miller!” I turned around to see her coming from the opposite direction , and she started running at me full force, landing in my outstretched arms and wrapping her legs around my waist. I squeezed her tight, breathing in her scent that was starting to fade from my pillows. In person, it was so much better.

I spun her around a few times and she giggled when I set her back down, brushing a piece of her dark hair away from her glittering green eyes. “That was straight out of one of those romance movies that you hate to watch. Thanks for making my day.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” I replied, grabbing onto her hand and not wanting to let go of it for the rest of the day. “Let’s go find your bags. How many did you end up with?”

“Just the two that I originally brought. We’ve never done hundreds of gifts at Christmas, but spending time with my parents was good enough. Even Holland and Jackson.”