Not when she was as hardheaded as I was.
“I didn’t…” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Uncle Ash.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I glanced at Ember, whose attention was solely focused on me, and damn if I didn’t really like how it felt. “Look, I’ll call you later.”
“Miss Thomas rented the cabin for a week,” he blurted out. “If the blizzard warning had come out earlier, I would have already returned her money right away, Uncle Ash. I would have never let someone head into any kind of danger.”
“I know you wouldn’t have, buddy.
“But now this storm is a blizzard.” He sighed, “You could stay with us. I mean… maybe not tell Mom about this, though… yet. Just because I have a ski trip coming up with some friends, and I worked really hard to save up for that.”
“Right. Let me call you back,” I muttered
“I am sorry, Uncle Ash.”
“Kid, you… you have nothing to be sorry about. You were doing what you thought was right, and honestly, from a business standpoint, it was smart.” Fucking genius, really, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Not yet at least. “Love you. Call you ina little bit, ‘kay?” He agreed, and with that, the call ended. I slipped my phone in my pocket. Ember had taken a couple steps forward, and the metal poker was now back in its stand.
“I don’t know if you picked up on all that.”
“Nephews, huh?” she said with a soft smile.
“Yeah.” I nodded with a tight one. “I am very sorry about scaring you. That wasn’t my intention. When I saw the car and lights inside, I figured my nephew had let the cat out of the bag and my sister was going to try and surprise me instead.”
“So, you’re from Sugarloaf?”
“Born and raised. You?” I asked. Ember shook her head, making her blonde, almost white tresses dance side to side.
“No. I’m a Moonlit Pines girl.”
“We played them in high school,” I blurted, surprising the two of us with the random fact.
“Yeah.” She grinned. “I think I remember those games.”
Semi-local girl. Fuck. I wasn’t sure if that made me happy or sad. Moonlit Pines was only an hour away. And an over eight-hour drive from LA, depending on the traffic.Why does the fact feel like a shot to the heart?
“Moonlit Pines is nice.” I needed to fill the silence with small talk while I got my thoughts together. “I heard the ski resort is reopened.”
“It is.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “One of my best friends is an event planner there,” she said. “It’s… nice. The new owners have done a lot to it.”
“That’s… that’s good.” I nodded. “I should figure out what to do.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Again, I am sorry for interrupting your getaway and time here.”
“Hey, you couldn’t have known your nephew… rented out your place?”
“Yep. Who would have thought?”
“How long has it been since you’ve been home?”
“Home.” Shit, the word made me want to rub my chest. “I broke ground on this place five years ago,” I shared. “Right before my mom…” My voice drifted to nothing.
There was a reason I hadn’t returned in a while.
It had been hard to come back when every corner of this small town felt like it owned some kind of memory to my mom. And staying away? Shit, it had been easier to deal with the hurt and mourning. Thinking about it now, it had also been selfish of me. I’d left my single mom sister to deal with more than her share of shit.
“I’m sorry for your loss. It’s never easy losing a parent,” she said softly.
“Have you?”
“My dad.” She blinked away tears. “And sometimes, I think… coming from small towns like ours, it feels like there is some kind of memory every turn you make.” I wanted nothing more than to rush toward her and wipe the errant tear off her beautiful face. It was so tempting, I shoved my hands into the front pockets of my slacks. “I’m sorry. I’m a sap.” She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, making those pretty tits of hers rise a little higher.
