“He’ll agree to it,” Grandma says unconvincingly. “His bark’s worse than his bite.”
My stomach sinks. “Is his bark bad?”
She pauses for a beat too long. “He can be a little…grumpy. I don’t think he’ll take too kindly to you showing up at his door.” With a shrug, she adds, “He’ll just have to deal with it, honey. You inherited your half of the cabin fair and square, just like he did.”
I nod, but I still feel uneasy. My share of the cabin won’t be worth much, but even a little cash in my pocket right now would buy me a whole lot of breathing room. I just hope Thorne Dalton isn’t as much of a grump as my grandma seems to think.
2
ARIA
The tavern opens at eleven,so Grandma offers to take me to the cabin first. We say goodbye to Savannah and begin the journey up Cherry Mountain. The snowy path seems to wind up forever, and as we turn into a thick pine forest, my mind wanders back to the man I’m about to meet.
“Does Thorne live alone?”
“Yeah. He keeps to himself, same as most of the men who live up here.”
Her answer doesn’t surprise me. I guess social butterflies rarely live in isolated cabins, miles from civilization.
“How well do you know him?” I ask.
“I knew him when he was a kid, since his dad and your grandpa were so close. But Thorne joined the military pretty young and just got out a few years ago. I’ve only seen him around Cherry Hollow a handful of times since then.”
I nod and lapse into silence for a few minutes, watching the snowy fir trees outside as their branches sway in the wind. We’re deep in the forest now. The road twists up through the trees, past frozen waterfalls and sharp granite slopes. It’s wild and beautiful, but my stomach knots tight when Grandma says, “It’s just up ahead.”
I’m really not looking forward to this.
Thorne Dalton looms like a giant in my mind. I picture a stubborn old mountain man chasing me off his property with an axe. He probably has a pet grizzly bear…and I bet he feeds it annoying city girls for breakfast.
“Here it is!” Grandma says, dragging me from my thoughts.
She slows to a stop at the side of the road, parking behind a giant pickup truck. I blink at the dark expanse of forest around us, looking for a cabin. But all I see are trees.
“Uh…where?”
“You’ll have to walk a little to get to it,” she says, pointing through the trees to our left. “It’s not far. I can show you?—”
“No, it’s okay. Thanks, Grandma.” My gaze flits to the time on the dashboard. “You need to get back. It’s opening time soon.”
“Alright, honey.” She leans over to give me a hug. “Call me when you need picking up. Or maybe Thorne can give you a ride back into town. My driving’s not what it used to be, especially in the snow.”
A lump of guilt hardens in my throat. I hate how much I’m inconveniencing everybody. I really need to get my own vehicle as soon as possible.
“Thank you, Grandma.” I sigh against her shoulder. “I’m sorry for…all this.”
She pulls back, scowling at me like I’ve offended her. “Hey. What have you got to be sorry for?”
“I should have visited more before Dad passed. I should have called more…instead of showing up out of the blue just because I need help.”
“Honey, that’s what grandkids are for!” She smiles at me, her baby blue eyes brimming with warmth. “You’ve been through enough, Ari. Don’t add shame on top of that.”
I give her another hug, feeling a surge of love for my sweet grandma. Some people think of her as a hardass, but I know better. She can be blunt sometimes. Maybe a little abrupt. But she has a heart bigger than Cherry Mountain.
We say our goodbyes as I climb out of the car into the icy morning air. It’s freezing up here. Goosebumps erupt on my arms as I head into the trees, following the direction Grandma pointed me in. She promised it wasn’t far, and thankfully, I can already see a plume of chimney smoke up ahead. I follow it, my feet crunching through snow and fallen branches until I reach a clearing, ringed with towering Douglas firs.
The cabin isn’t the tiny log shack I was picturing. It’s modest, but it’s clearly been extended over the years, each section cobbled together with slightly different shades of dark wood. There’s a small porch out front, and a gabled roof covered in a thick layer of snow.
Cute.
