Stay With Me (The Montgomery Brothers) Read Free

something that Gina was particularly looking forward to.  She was here because Arthur was her father; she had no idea how to be with him or how she was supposed to act with his medical team.  When she made arrangements at work for a leave of absence and her boss had asked how long she’d be gone for, Gina had shrugged and said, “I don’t know; a couple of weeks, I guess.”   Surely she wasn’t expected to stay until the end?  What good would that do?  Wouldn’t it be better for her and Arthur to settle their differences so that he could die in peace?
    A shudder ran down her spine at her own callous thoughts.  Gina couldn’t think about her father dying; not now.  She wasn’t ready.  In her mind, it was better not to know and to act as if he was going to recover and be okay. 
    Yes, that was what she was going to do.  She would thank William for his efforts but then graciously decline his offer to meet with the doctors.  The less she knew, the better.  No, her time would be better spent just being with Arthur and making peace. 
    Looking up she saw the signs signaling where her luggage was being unloaded and anxiously looked around for William Montgomery.  Knowing that it had been well over ten years since she’d last seen him, Gina still had no doubt in her mind that she’d recognize him.  Her gaze went over the crowd of people standing around and waiting and that’s when she saw him.
    Mac.
    What was Mac doing here?  Where was his father? Why didn’t someone tell her there was a change in plans?  She wasn’t ready for this!  She wasn’t dressed to meet up with the object of her every teenage fantasy.  The flight had been over six hours; she stunk like plane and had dressed casually for the flight.
    With a quick duck through the crowd, Gina ran for the nearest ladies room and did her best to freshen up.  Her long, black hair had been haphazardly pulled back into a ponytail and the curls were begging to be let loose.  Pulling the band from her hair, she shook it out and finger combed it to try and tame it.  Unfortunately, the hair gods were not on her side and Gina felt like she looked like something out of an eighties hair band video.
    Sighing with frustration, she gave up the fight against her hair and pulled out her small makeup bag from her purse and retouched her lipstick and blush and used her travel toothbrush to do a quick brush and rinse to freshen her breath.  The final touch was a spritz of perfume to her wrists and then she straightened and turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror. 
    “Let’s hope that he doesn’t hold too much stock in first impressions,” she muttered as she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and made her way back out into the crowd and toward one Mackenzie Montgomery.
    ****
    Mac scanned the crowd again in search of Gina Micelli.  When his father had asked him if he would come and pick her up at the airport, Mac had been less than enthused at the idea but in doing so he got himself out of being part of the big taking-baby-Lily-home festivities. 
    It was like trading one form of hell for another.
    It had been over ten years since he’d last seen Gina and he basically had no idea who he should be looking for.  He remembered her as a kid; dark hair, glasses and the typical awkward, gangly teen.  He may not know much about these things but he was sure that she didn’t stay that way.  Looking at his watch he huffed with agitation.  It was two-twenty.  He knew for a fact that Gina’s plane had arrived on time so where was she?
    With another glance around the baggage claim area he caught a glimpse of a gypsy.  That was the only way to describe the woman who seemingly floated toward the luggage belt.  She w as petite, maybe five foot four, tops, and she wore some sort of long, gauzy black skirt that flowed with her every step.  Peeking out from behind the filmy fabric was a pair of bejeweled sandals and hot pink tipped toes.  Mac