Glad You're Here

Chapter 9: Home

Mark and I stayed in Cincinnati for another week, three days to let him recover at the hospital, and the other glorious four days to spend with his family. We had a wonderful week and it was hard to say goodbye. We all drove to the airport together in Tom's familiar Toyota, Tom driving, his mom next to him, Dee and I in the backseat, and Mark in the ridiculously small seat behind us with Maggie, the littlest brown dog, and, of course, Tiny Box Tim. We laughed and joked the whole ride to the airport. Once there, it became more serious. Mark's mom said goodbye first, hugging Mark for a good 30 seconds, and giving me a hug too. Tom said goodbye second, mostly because Maggie was probably going to pee herself if she stayed in the airport any longer, and, after hugging Mark and shaking Tim's hand, he hugged me and kissed me on the forehead.

"I'm watching you, Tom." Mark joked, pointing at his eyes quickly, before hugging Dee.

"You're a good kid, you know that Caitlyn?" Tom said, smiling at me. I flipped my loose hair and batted my eyes.

"I know."

"Seriously though, come back sometime. I'll make sure there's a few things for you on Christmas. Plus, you can't miss Mom's casserole. It's the best."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." I said, my heart warm.

"Hey, Mark!" Tom yelled behind him at his brother.

"Yeah?" Mark yelled back, fending off an attack by the minute Maggie.

"Just to be clear, if you two don't get married, we're adopting her!" Tom said, pointing a thumb at me. I laughed, happy even though we were leaving. I gave Tom one last hug before Dee came. We looked at each other for a moment and smiled before Dee pulled me into a massive hug. After a while, she pulled away and put her hands on my shoulders.

"Caitlyn, you are always welcome in our home. Please, please come back. I need another girl with me to watch over those two," Dee said, nodding her head in the direction of Tom and Mark, who were sharing a final goodbye by the car.

"Don't worry, I will. You can count on me."

"I know I can," Dee said smiling. "I love you."

"I love you too, Dee. And thank you so much. For everything." I gave Dee and final hug and then Mark was back.

"You ready?" He said, our suitcase next to him.

"Wait, wait," Dee said, pulling him into another hug. He laughed and pulled away. "I love you, Mark."

"Love you too, Mom." Mark said, and Dee's smile widened. She smiled at him for a while, and then kissed his forehead. Mark reached out and grabbed my hand. I laced my fingers with his. With my free hand, I grabbed the handle of our other suitcase and wheeled it behind us as we walked toward our gate. I looked over my shoulder at the two of them, happy and sad at the same time.

"Bittersweet." I said.

"What?" Mark asked, looking over at me.

"That's what they call it, right? Bittersweet."

"Yeah, that's it." I stopped and pulled him toward me by our linked hands. He jerked to a halt and turned around, a bit confused. I let go of the suitcase and reached up, pulling him into a kiss. His free hand brushed my cheek. The kiss was long and lingering and when we broke apart, I held his cheek, looking into his beautiful eyes.

"I love you." I whispered and he smiled.

"I love you too." We stood there for a moment, looking into each other's eyes, before I let go of his hand and reached into my purse, searching for what I wanted by touch. I found it and pulled it out, quickly removing the adhesive, and stuck the pink mustache to Mark's face. He moved back, surprised, then felt the mustache with his fingers and laughed, realizing what it was. He adopted a silly look on his face and spoke in his classic Wharfstache accent.

"My dear Miss Caitlyn. I believe we are going to miss our flight."

"Well we could never let that happen." I said, smiling up at him. I grabbed his hand again, and we kept walking towards our flight, towards LA, towards home. But I knew that my real home wasn't a place. It was Mark. When I was with Mark, no matter if I was in California, or Ohio, or Alaska, I was home.