Page 2 of Infinite as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #3)

“It was barely a few hundred words,” she said. “And they misspelled my last name.”

My head shook. “There’ll be many more reviews to come, I’m sure. With correct spellings this time. New York will be lucky to have you.”

She perked up in her seat suddenly. “I’m gonna miss all the beaches in California, but I can’t wait to go.”

Unlike me, Annie was ready to embrace the city. With school finished now, she’d be moving to the East Coast in a few months and already had audition after audition lined up.

“You’re gonna have the best time,” I said.

“But I’m gonna be competing with so many other dancers now. I don’t wanna get eaten alive.” She shoved her spoon into her mouth, her words getting all muffled. “I’m too young to get eaten alive.”

I shook my head with a laugh. “Don’t be a drama queen.”

“Oh, you need to teach me how to hail a cab before I leave, by the way. I need to get louder before I go. Sawyer,” she said, leaning forward to look at him, “how do I do that?”

“Hey, I’m not that loud,” he said, downing the rest of his drink.

“Yes, you are,” me and Annie said at the same time.

A clinking distracted me and my head shot up to see my dad standing up, looking suave as ever in his crisp black suit as he tapped a knife against his wine glass.

Mom looked her usual beautiful self too as she stayed seated: dark, long locks curled to perfection, her golden skin all glowing in her red dress as she shot me a big smile.

“I think it’s time for a toast,” he said. “Another one, I mean.”

My eyes rolled playfully. I had lost track of how many I had heard by now. Aunts, uncles, cousins, a rather sweet one from Brodie that made me tear up a little. And now my father was staring down at me with a look that I knew would make my eyes water a little as well.

“This has been a long time coming,” he said, voice already bordering on unsteady as he kept his eyes on the table.

“Holly had always wanted to go to Columbia. She’s not the first Sutton to do it.

There’s been a few cousins. A few aunts and uncles.

But none of them have made me as proud as she has.

I knew she’d get in the second she told me she wanted to go.

Part of me wanted her to just stay at home.

To study in Texas, to take on that next part of her journey close by, but she proved she was more than capable of looking after herself.

And here she is now: over and done with school.

All of it.” He pulled in a slightly shaky breath, eyes moving up to meet mine.

“Time flies by too fast sometimes. Faster than I would like as a father and husband, but I guess there’s not much I can do about that.

This is a special day for you, Holly. One you worked really hard for, so enjoy it.

Enjoy every good thing that comes your way, because you’ve worked so hard for it. ”

“And it seems like you’ll have more special days coming up too,” Mom piped up, her eyes darting between me and Sawyer.

“Mom,” I said lowly, cheeks all hot, and I could feel Sawyer’s hand fall on top of mine. “I literally graduated, like, a week ago.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.” She waved a hand my way. “I didn’t mean an engagement and a wedding and babies. Though those would all be lovely, don’t you think?”

Soft laughs filled the air, the sound coming from all directions.

That last one Mom said sounded a little terrifying, but the first two?

My heart fluttered at the thought, and I couldn’t help but let my gaze drift over to Sawyer’s for a second.

I was expecting to see some amusement in his own eyes: maybe a tiny smile on his face at my mom’s enthusiasm, or his lips parted to murmur out an inside joke only the two of us would understand, but I saw pure conviction looking back at me.

Maybe even some determination, and for a millisecond, I was pretty sure his thumb moved up to that spot on my finger on my left hand, rubbing at me there so softly and slowly it felt soothing.

Calming. The best feeling in the world .

“What your mother is trying to say is that you both can have some time for yourselves now,” my dad said. “And that means… exciting things. Maybe a break before you get stuck into work. Maybe a vacation somewhere—some place you can celebrate and take some time off.”

“That’s what I meant. There’s so many fun things you could do until you start working,” Mom said.

Their words slowly sunk in. They were right.

I was fortunate enough—thanks to them—to be in a position where I could take a break post school.

Work wasn’t something I had to dive into straight away, and a vacation sounded really nice.

Some place with Sawyer, to some destination he had always had on his mind, or somewhere faraway and distant where we could get lost in a certain kind of quietness that you just couldn’t find in New York.

“Exactly. Life is just getting started.” My dad’s eyes moved to my side.

To Sawyer. To the boy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

“For the both of you, I mean. I’m sure whatever comes your way will be good.

Exciting. Fun. I’m glad we all get to celebrate this special occasion with you, Holly.

And I’m glad you’re both here. I wouldn’t want it any other way. ”

And there were the tears. I gave my eyes the quickest of wipes.

I never thought I’d see the day where my father included Sawyer.

Where they shook hands and actually talked to one another and could sit in a room together without anyone getting hurt.

There was calmness now. Something solid.

It felt like I had waited forever for my dad to accept Sawyer, but that all felt so faraway now that it was almost like all those arguments and harsh words never happened at all.

My father raised his glass and I shifted a little in my chair as a chorus of clinking hit my ears, ever so slightly uncomfortable with all those eyes on me.

I waited for everything to settle down again.

For people to get stuck into their desserts and drinks before I told Sawyer I’d be back in a little bit and pulled my dad away from the crowd and towards a quiet spot in the corner.

“Was my speech that bad?” he asked, giving me a little smile.

“No.” I laughed, rubbing at my arms. “It was very sweet. Thank you.”

“Aw, you’re welcome.” He wrapped an arm around me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “You might have seen me get a little teary eyed back there…”

“Don’t,” I said. “I’ll start crying. Your speech was lovely. And I wanted to say thank you for including Sawyer in it. He’s part of my life now. You know that. Whatever happens in the future, it’ll be him with me. He’s the one I’ll be sharing all of that with.”

He nodded firmly. “I know, sweetheart. I’m glad it’s him. I’m glad it’s somebody who loves my daughter. Who’ll take care of you and give you the life you deserve. Are you both ready to go back to New York tomorrow?”

“Uh, I guess so,” I said, but all I could think about was how I didn’t want to go back at all.

“I’m sure you’ve had offers galore,” he said. “How exciting. You’ll be sitting in your very own office soon. I bet you’ll have a view better than mine. You know, I talked to Richard at The New Yorker, and—”

“Daddy.” I cut him off, arms crossed over my chest. “What does that mean? You told them to send me an offer or something?”

He chuckled a little. “Okay, that came out wrong. I just told him to consider you! You know me and him go way back. We went to college together. I just told him about you and sent over your portfolio. It’ll be a great opportunity.”

“I don’t want to get a job because of your… connections.”

“You say that like having connections is a bad thing. Holly, you’re in a position a lot of other graduates dream of.

You name a publication, and I can get your foot through the door,” he said, hands landing on my arms. “I know you’re more than capable of finding a role on your own, but a little help wouldn’t hurt, right? ”

I held in a grumble. “I can’t believe you’ve been schmoozing with all your friends about me.”

“Not schmoozing. Just… talking. They were all really impressed with your profile. Holly, you were editor for the Columbia paper. You graduated with honors. I didn’t do this to hurt you.”

Eyes lowering to the floor, I nodded. “I know. I’d just prefer to do this on my own, and…”

“And?”

“And I don’t think I wanna stay in New York forever.”

His brows pulled together. “You don’t like it there?”

“It’s nice and I love living with Sawyer, it’s just…” My eyes flew over to Sawyer who was in the middle of a conversation with Annie. “I think I want something else. I don’t know, maybe somewhere closer to home, somewhere less busy.”

“Me and your mother would love to have you back here again. ”

“I haven’t told Sawyer yet, so don’t mention it to him please.”

He nodded. “I won’t.”

“He has his own life in New York. His art, his work. It’s not just up to me. I guess I just want… something quieter.”

“Well, I’ll be a lot happier if you’re back here. It’d be nice to have you closer.”

I hummed. I wanted to be closer to him and Mom too.

I also wanted that next chapter of my life with Sawyer to get started: for us to slip into the life I had been dreaming of us having for the last few years.

For a moment, I wondered if he remembered what I told him.

About that house in the countryside, where it’d be just him and me.

It was a dream I hadn’t been able to let go of.

Us in that home, away from all that busy city life, where we’d be together forever and so in love.

The promise he made me was still clear as day in my head.

That he would give me that, that he wanted that too.

I wondered if he still thought the same thing.

“You two will figure it out,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of my forehead. “It feels like you always do.”

His words sounded comforting enough as he held me close to him for a long moment.

My dad and Sawyer had come a long way and I would be forever thankful for that change.

It had taken him so long to finally be able to see what I saw, to understand that Sawyer was more than just how much money he had in his bank account.

Me and my dad got settled back at the table, the night carrying on with more toasts and tears and soufflés.

By the time eleven o’clock hit, we called it quits, and I was so ready to get out of that restaurant.

I was pretty sure I had spent a good twenty minutes saying thank you and goodbye to everyone for coming, and then me and Sawyer were hopping into his truck to make our way back to my parents’ place.

We had been there for a good week, but tomorrow, we’d be heading back to New York.

“Tonight was good,” Sawyer said as we rounded a corner.

“It was,” I said. “Did you ever think there’d be a day where you and my dad could sit at the same table like that? With knives and all? No one got stabbed. Hurray, right? ”

“I think I saw him reaching for a knife actually.”

“You did not.” I laughed, and soon his own laughter filled my ears, the sound deep and wonderfully familiar. “But seriously, tonight was nice. It was good to see everyone.”

“Yeah, I had fun,” he said lowly, and then there was a long pause before his next words came out. “I keep thinking about what your mom said…”

My eyes shifted over to his, his own concentrating on the road ahead of us. For a second, I let my mind go back to that moment. To my dad talking about how there’d be so many things for us to do now, and then my mom mentioning that .

“They got a little excited tonight,” I said. “I apologize on their behalf.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, they did. But I liked what they said. About how there’s a lot we can do now. We’ve got time now since you won’t be busy with school…”

“But you’ll be busy with work.”

“Yeah, but I was thinking of asking for more time off. I built up a lot of leave. Jay and Audrey will be cool with it.”

My brows pulled together as he stopped at a red light. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe… Maybe we should do something. You know, to celebrate you finishing school and everything.”

“Tonight’s gigantic dinner with every person I’ve ever met wasn’t enough?”

“It was nice and you deserved it, but I meant… something with just us,” he said. His hand found mine and when I looked at his face, his eyes were on my hand. Just like earlier, he was using a finger to rub at that spot on my left hand. My ring finger. “Maybe we could…”

“Could what?” I asked softly.

“Spend some time together where we don’t have to worry about anything.

No school, no work. Just us. What do you think?

Just you and me,” he said seriously. “A proper road trip. Maybe one around Texas. You’ve never done that before, right?

We can stop at a bunch of places. Ones we’ve never been to.

I can hit the art supply store and get some stuff so I can paint along the way.

I know I brought a couple things with me, but maybe I need to get some more stuff if we’re gonna be gone for a while.

And I know how much you love just driving around.

Or, in other words, you love using me as your personal chauffeur. ”

I giggled. “Well, I thought you liked it too.”

“I do.” He smiled. “I like it a lot. I like driving you around places. It’s one of my favorite things to do.

And I guess we haven’t really been able to do that in New York.

There’s not a lot to see around there after three years.

You can relax after all that time dealing with school and I can paint every now and then and we can just be together.

So, how ‘bout it? You wanna come with me? We can just keep on driving until we get… somewhere.” His eyes softened as they locked on to mine.

“Maybe we’ll find some place special along the way. ”

I took in his words. Just him, just me, and the road taking us some place we had never experienced before. Maybe it was the break I needed. Something to clear my head before we got back to New York.

It was like he had read my mind. Sawyer was always good at that: at knowing exactly what I was thinking and feeling, what I needed, what I craved.

Eyes on him, I gave him a little nod. “That sounds perfect.”