Hold on to this fragile, temporary facsimile of what they’d once thought they might have. A fantasy held together only by happenstance and a freak snowstorm.
This wasn't real. But at the same time, nothing had ever felt this real. It should not feel this comfortable to be entangled in each other's arms.
There was real danger in letting this feel right. It couldn’t. This was definitely still doomed. But for these final few hours, while the world around them stood still. Maybe they could—
A heavy knock interrupted his thoughts. A knock on the inside apartment door, which meant it was one of his brothers. Nobody else had a key.
“Josh!” Seth called out. “Are you guys all right?”
The world around them no longer stood still.
They broke apart and Josh dragged himself to the door, yanking on a fresh t-shirt as he stalked.
“Come on in,” he said as Seth gave him a look. “What?”
His brother had a jacket on, but it wasn’t zipped up, and he looked out of breath. Instead of answering, Seth glanced past him, and Josh didn’t need to look back to know Monica had stepped out of the bedroom.
Better if he didn’t look at her.
“Do you have a flight window? Good weather?” Josh tried to make his voice sound neutral.
“Not exactly,” Seth said carefully. “You didn’t answer your phone.”
He glanced between them a few times, like he was trying to decide who he should address. Then he shook his head and laughed. “Sorry, I’m doing this badly. I’m Seth,” he said, holding out his hand. “We didn’t get introduced the other day. I’m the middle child.”
“Monica,” she said. “The only child.”
Seth chuckled. “There's probably some advantages there. Although maybe not today.”
That set off alarm bells for Josh. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the thing is…” Seth gave Monica an apologetic look. “Your mother is on her way here.”
“My…” Monica did a double take. “I’m sorry, what?”
“January and I were at the marina, having breakfast with her sister and the kids. They got a call from a sea plane company out of Toronto, looking to confirm that there was a dock big enough for their plane to tie up, and if they could refuel, because they had a last-minute charter. The customer’s name is Bianca Fischer. The plane will land in fifteen minutes. January is standing by to provide a warm welcome committee and I was tasked with coming over to give you a heads up.”
Josh winced. He heard the unspoken,and make sure you had clothes on.
Which they did, but only barely.
And there was no chance that his brother had missed the fact Monica was wearing Josh’s clothes, and not her own.
“Okay, we’ll…be there. Buy us time if she lands before we arrive, okay?”
His brother nodded.
“Wait,” Monica said, her voice tinged with desperation. She winced. “Uh, my mother doesn’t know about the car accident. I’d rather we don’t tell her, okay?”
Seth gave her another nod, then disappeared down the stairs.
Josh turned Monica to the bedroom. She pulled off his shorts and yanked on her jeans. He grabbed a sweater of his that was a bit small, but fit her perfectly. He tugged it over her head.
Then he caught her face in his hands and kissed her. “It’ll be okay.”
She squeezed his fingers with hers, holding his hands against her cheeks. “I don’t know why she’s coming here.”
“Because you’re her only baby and you were caught in a snowstorm with your estranged husband?” He tried to say it lightly but his voice was tight.
