55 Merry Christmas (4)

At the airport, Sarah and Aiden are sitting on the floor under the window in the resting area of the terminal from where their flight will take off. Window is overlooking the runway, so planes can be seen while taking off and landing.

Sarah's body is leaning on Aiden, and her head is resting on his shoulder. His right arm is wrapped around her shoulder, and with other arm he is scrolling through the emails on his phone.

Their backs are leaning next to the wall, and Sarah is observing people at the airport. It's very crowded, much more than usual. Airport was closed due to snowstorm, and now that flights resumed, besides regular traffic of travelers there are also people who got stranded at the airport. All stranded passengers are hoping that some seats will open up, that some passenger will not show up, and they get a chance to get a hold of that seat and go to their destination earlier.

Sarah and Aiden got their tickets because they got seats in first class. Out of stranded passengers, not many are willing to pay extra for an upgrade, and economy class is fully booked. Forget about upgrading seats, quite a number of passengers is demanding that airlines refund their tickets and put them on the next flight without any charges. It's quite hectic. Sarah feels sorry for people working on counters. She loves observing people, and how they interact with each other. She forgets faces, but she does not forget the feeling she gets while watching them.

Watching people distracts her from thinking about the fight she had with Edward.

Aiden is looking through his emails, reading them and responding to urgent ones. Every few minutes he looks at Sarah and gently rubs her shoulder where his arm is resting before he goes back to his emails. He is troubled. Sarah didn't speak since they left her home. He does not want to ask her what happened, no matter how curious he is. Aiden can tell that it's not good. Aiden hopes that she will tell him herself, when she is ready to talk about it.

Sarah is happy that he is not asking her what happened while he waited for her in the cab. She fears that if she starts talking about it, she will not be able to hold back tears. And she does not want to cry. Because this is something that she chooses herself, she is doing what is right. Her father is in the wrong. He is overprotective and not willing to accept that she met a man who will give her more than a fatherly love, a different kind of love. 'This is nothing to do with Aiden. Edward would act like this no matter who I chose to be with.' Why would she cry about it when she did nothing wrong? Her feelings are drifting between sadness and anger.

"I'm sorry that I can't help you" She heard Aiden say.

She looked at him, and their eyes met. She saw that he is troubled and felt sorry that she is not ready to talk about it. "You are helping me. By being here with me, you are helping."

He sighed and kissed her on the forehead.

She observed his face and saw lines between his eyebrows how he frowned. He was definitely concerned. It made Sarah's heart melt knowing that he is worried about her. She reached with her finger and pressed area between his eyebrows to smoothen it out.

He relaxed his face when he felt her touch.

She smiled. "I thought I told you not to frown so much. You will end up with wrinkles, and then I will not think of you as handsome."

"Yes, I remember something like that." He smiled.

Sarah was happy to see him smile. 'I need to push these ugly feelings away. Even Aiden is troubled. Neither of us is doing anything wrong. Why would we be upset?'

At that time, they heard announcement that boarding for their flight begins, starting with first class passengers. They got up and headed toward the gate.

...

It was late afternoon when they reached Vivian's house. Vivian's family lives on a large property, they are breeding racehorses, and few of them achieved good results in the US.

"Hey, you are finally here! Come in, come in... it's cold outside." Vivian jumped and hugged Sarah when front doors closed behind them, "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" Sarah returned Vivian's hug.

Vivian looked at Aiden with a complex expression and reluctantly extended her hand for a handshake. "Merry Christmas".

He looked confused for a second, then smiled. "Merry Christmas" He shook Vivian's hand.

Sarah observed how Vivian changed her demeanor when she faced Aiden. "Why are you making this so awkward?"

Vivian looked like a child who is about to cry. "Well, I don't know how to treat him."

"How did you treat him so far?"

"Like an untouchable God!" Vivian responded honestly.

"...", Sarah was speechless.

Aiden raised his eyebrows surprised with Vivian's answer. Part of him was amused.

"I really don't know how to respond to this…" Sarah burst into laugh.

They all laughed, and that loosened up Vivian.

"Come on, you should freshen up and rest before dinner. Guest bedrooms are ready for you." Vivian gestured with her hand down the hall.

"We need one bedroom." Sarah said seriously.

Vivian was stunned speechless. 'It's my turn not to know how to respond to this. Aren't you two moving along to fast?'. After clearing her throat Vivian composed herself, almost. "OK. One. If you say so, only one."

Sarah noticed that Vivian is uncomfortable and responded without much thought. "Even if we take two rooms, I will end up sneaking into his at night."

Vivian frowned, swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Number of emotions showed on her face in quick succession. Eventually, she spoke. "OK. I got it! You don't have to rub it in. Settle down first, and then we will eat." She led the way to the guest bedroom. "Let me know if you need anything else. Dinner is at seven. You have time to freshen up and rest a bit. I will come and get you when it's ready."

...

Sarah is checking out the view out of the guest bedroom window. It's dark outside, night falls early in the winter. Sarah can see lit up stables on the left. In front is a partially lit up horse track, white from snow which has many dark spots, probably from hoof prints.

Aiden embraced her from behind. "Do you want to shower?"

"Yes." Sarah turned toward him. "It's just that I'm afraid we will end up... you know..." She blushed.

"Since when is that a problem? We have more than one hour until dinner." He raised one eyebrow while his eyes examined her face and his devilish smile disarmed her completely. Seeing that she is not moving, he decided to give her some incentive and he removed his top. Sarah looked at his toned body and inhaled sharply. Seeing her staring like that, he inched toward her while his smile increased. When he stopped, Sarah could feel his breath on her face.

"I see you want us to shower together." His deep voice entranced her.

She snapped out of her daze and looked up into his eyes. "You did this on purpose!"

"What if I did?" He inched closer and his lips grazed over hers.

"You are seducing me." Sarah's voice became weaker.

"And...?" His hot breath caressed her lips.

"Well..." She whispered. "It's working" She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled in him for a deep kiss.