All Chapters of Unexpected Arrivals: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

I'd have a migraine soon if I didn't stop beating my head against the desk. "You promised me, James." Her tears broke me. I'd been trying to get to France since I left my parents' house in August. However, the stars hadn't aligned, and I'd done everything in my power to send the moon into retrograde. We'd been bombarded with new clients. The two investors we'd hired turned into four, and somehow, we still couldn't keep up. I hadn't been to Sideways Shots since I'd gotten home because I'd worked every waking moment in order to clear a few days in my schedule. Oddly, I hadn't heard from any of the people at the bar either, but I guessed that was how the whole "casual" thing worked. "You keep getting my hopes up only to tell me you can't come. It's not fair. Why can't Neil make do without you for a few days?" Wails had turned to whimpers, and I couldn't take it. Every fiber of my being yearned to comfort her, hold her, kiss her forehead, and protect her. I couldn't d

"Are you sure you're making the right decision?" Neil questioned everything I did in regard to Cora, likely because Hannah questioned everything I did in regard to Cora. However, he'd been sworn to secrecy about this, and if Cora found out, there was only one place it would have come from. "Maybe not, but at least I won't have any regrets. And Chelsea thinks it's romantic, so I'm sure Cora will, too." "I'm not sure taking another woman's advice on proposing is the best thing to do. Not to mention, spending thousands of dollars you can't get back to ensure you don't regret anything is asinine. You can propose after she comes home." "I had planned to propose before she ever left." "Yeah, but you haven't been together in a year and a half. You aren't dating. What if she turns you down?" "I'm not thinking that way." I couldn't. Chelsea was convinced she'd say yes, and I was too. I had to believe Cora loved me and had only needed time to grow into who she was destin

I'd never attended a funeral, much less been forced to plan one. It didn't seem fair; she was too young to lose her life to such a cruel disease. I hated that there was no cure and that it was such a painful, degrading way to go. By the time she'd left us, she couldn't talk, couldn't control her motor functions, couldn't swallow, and essentially, lived trapped in a body that refused to work. I'd never be able to say with any certainty just how cognizant she'd been of anything going on around her or if she'd understood when I told her I was pregnant. I knew she'd kept my secret until her dying breath. I'd told her everything I could about James Carpenter: how we'd met, our laughable sexcapade on the beach, all the way to his undying love for Cora. She'd blinked rapidly when I told her about their fairy-tale romance. It may have been a reflex, but I believed she wanted their love story to work out as much as I did. I also believed she understood why I hadn't told him about the baby

Seven and a half hours on a plane seemed like an exorbitant amount of time until I was on said aircraft waiting to reunite with my future at the other end. It had flown by in nervous anticipation, and when the wheels hit the ground, my stomach threatened a revolt. My anxiety hit the roof, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get out of my seat and down the aisle unassisted. I didn't even want to talk about the form I had to fill out for customs—it wasn't even legible my hands shook so badly. I fumbled with my luggage and got in the endless line to trudge through customs. They were going to think I was a heroin mule due to the volume of sweat pouring off my face—and fuck, my heart raced like I'd just swam across the ocean instead of flown. I looked guilty, and no one would believe it was just jitters from seeing the love of my life. Thankfully, by the time I got to the front of the line, I'd chilled out. I answered the man's questions regarding why I was entering the countr

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Cora would let go of our time apart as easily as she did. I assumed it would come back up, that she'd have more questions, try to delve into the depths of my misdeeds, even insist I stop communicating with Chelsea, but not once did she broach the subject the entire time I was in Paris. She dragged me all over the city doing the tourist bit, and I loved every minute of it. It was as if time ceased to exist, and the world ushered us into a cocoon of isolation where the two of us reunited. Every minute we spent together—whether it was at the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe—was perfection. I'd laughed when she told me we were going to Disneyland Paris, but we had the time of our lives with Mickey and the gang. The Louvre and Notre Dame were just as magnificent as I'd expected them to be, yet it was magical getting to experience them with Cora by my side. She convinced me to try foods I'd never considered in cafes that only existed in