Twice (The Guy Next Door one shot)

Twice

DEDICATED TO Percabeth5599

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"Remember, you must drop her fifteen minutes before midnight," I tell the owner for the trillionth time to make sure what I'd planned for last two months doesn't go downhill for one silly error.

The owner nods, his expression serious. 

"Ok then, I'll see you later," I smile, handing him his money. Turning on my heels, I walk out of the door and down the driveway of the rescue shelter to my Mercedes where Becky and Archer were already waiting.

"Where are we going, mom?" Archer asks when I put the key into the ignition.  I crane my neck to look at him. He was sat beside his sister on the backseat, lazily rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"We're heading to the airport to pick up your dad. Go to sleep, sweetheart, I'll wake you up when we get there," I tell him and he almost instantly doses off.

Even though Jake had insisted that we don't drive all the way to JFK to pick him up and just send Arthur, his driver for him as his jet landed late. But I still wanted to go get him because for the last fifteen days he'd gone to Europe to strike a deal with a competitive firm and we hadn't seen him at all.

It was too bad he couldn't stay for Christmas. He never missed that one holiday but this meeting was important and he couldn't let this once in a blue moon chance slip.

It was going to be just me who picked him up and the kids tagging along was a last-minute idea to surprise him. It was Christmas yesterday and the fact that I and Jake clear our schedules every year to spend time with our family -  probably go abroad on trips or just stay home and invite our friends over sometimes even throwing a Christmas party - not having him home yesterday when we sat around the Christmas tree that Archer and Becky decorated in the backyard, was just... weird.

I don't know, I can't explain the feeling. Even if he face timed and we talked for hours, in the end, it still felt weird. So all I want to do right now is give him a bear hug until he couldn't breathe.

Fifteen years into marriage and I still act like a clingy high school girlfriend. Hurrah for Clara!

I pull over in the airport's parking lot, luckily finding a free space quickly. My eyes scan the entrance that could be seen from the windshield before I moved my gaze down to my left wrist to check the time on my digital watch that said  1 0: 4 9 PM.

Jake's flight lands in ten minutes.

"Is it just me or does JFK looks bigger every time we come here?" murmurs Becky from the back seat. Her rose-red wireless headphones were still on her ears but it seemed like she wasn't listening to her playlist anymore.

"It's just you. But trust me, the more you come here, the more you want to go on trips all the time. It's crazy," I shake my head whilst taking out my phone to call Mike, Jake's security in charge who had made sure to keep extra security inside the airport for today.

"Did you travel a lot, mom?" Becky asks, causing me to freeze. I shut my eyes for a moment and a memory of her smile and her jokes play in my mind.

"No. But my grandma did."

Something clicks in her eyes as realisation dawns on her.

"You mean my great grandmother?!" She yells.

"Shh! You'll wake your brother up!" I whisper sharply, turning around quickly as the seatbelt digs into my skin but Archer is thankfully still sleeping soundly. He tends to get grumpy when he's woken up.