“I want this shit gone,” Miranda said, cold as could be, as if our time together had meant nothing.
I slapped a hand to my face. How had I forgotten those things? “The weather’s bad for driving today. Can I stop over when it clears up?”Please, please, pl—
“No, I’m cleansing my fucking life of you. I even have sage to burn.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her how she could stand to hold it, since it was supposed to get rid of evil things, but I choked on the question. Declan slid into my view on his side of the table, brows lowered, and Jake rested his hands on my shoulders and leaned forward to blink at me with his deep brown eyes. Declan mouthed, “What’s going on?”
“Do not throw that stuff away.”
Miranda laughed, airy and beautiful as always. “Fuck you. Come get it.” The line went silent, and when I checked the phone, she’d hung up.
With a sigh, I tossed my phone onto the table and massaged my temples. A dull ache throbbed behind my left eye and spread out along the back of my head.
“Talk to us, buddy,” Jake said and gave my shoulders a squeeze that felt amazing. I straightened up.
“I’m….” My gut sank at the idea of seeing Miranda again. She confused my head so badly. It was guaranteed to be a scene. Who knew what she would have cooked up by the time I got there, since she was already angry at me for some perceived offense. I might even walk in to the police. On the other hand, I didn’t want to lose my memento of my grandad and my birth certificate.
“My ex is going to trash my important papers if I don’t go to Minetto today to get them. I left in a hurry and didn’t remember to take everything. I thought I did but must not have. It was… bad.”
Jake’s hands stilled. “Not a good breakup?”
I shook my head.
“You can replace them.”
My heart stuttered. I didn’t want to get into the ring because sure, it wasn’t worth much in the grand scheme of things, but it was priceless.
“It’s not as easy as you’d think.” Declan rested his elbows on the table. “Joe Gredson on the team had to do that after a fire once, and he was working on it for a year.”
I groaned. “There was something else there I don’t want to lose. I guess it’s not the end of the world, but I was an idiot and left my grandad’s wedding ring.”
Declan glared at the sky, then shot me a smile. “We’ll get it.”
“What?” My stomach lurched. “You can’t be serious?”
“You’re from Minetto, right? It’s not that far away.” He spread his hands. “Why not?”
“The weather’s bad for a road trip.” I glanced over at the cars in the parking lot, and some that had been here a while were covered with at least two inches of snow.
Jake patted my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. He leaned closer and I could smell his rich, musky scent. I had no idea what he wore, but it reminded me of the desert, not that I’d ever been to one. “Dec’s a good wheelman in the snow.” He rested his chin on my shoulder. “Let’s do it! We can go, eat a meal someplace small-towny, and see… snow.” He bumped his cheek against mine, his scruff prickling me in a way that sent tingles over my skin, and I felt a little better.
“You guys would really do that for me?”
Declan leaned forward and shared a look with Jake. “It’s fun. We like trips, and it’s not a long one.”
Jake hugged me from behind and I felt completely relieved. It was strange to know something bad was coming and not feel like I had to shoulder it alone. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“Let me get these back where they belong.” Declan stood and snagged the snowtubes from where we’d left them near the table. I nervously glanced up at the sky. It was still snowing, and the steel clouds were burnished fuchsia and gold on the underside from the setting sun. I pointed upward and Jake hummed. We sat together for a few minutes watching the colors change as the sun went lower. I felt bad as Jake shifted and I caught sight of Declan returning the snowtubes and paying the final fee for our time today. I paid or didn’t go somewhere. The end. It was almost like… they’d taken me on a date. Jake had made me dinner last night, too. And breakfast this morning. I rubbed at my chest and fought off a smile as a swirly-twirly snowflake caught in my eyelashes. I blinked and it melted, but the warmth in my middle didn’t.
I couldn’t handle how fantastic these two were. Jake gave me another squeeze, and when Declan walked back over, I blurted, “I can pay for the gas.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Jake shifted off the bench. “Do you need anything before we leave?”
Declan said, “Just you, handsome.” They kissed, even though Jake was still holding onto my shoulders. “And to stop at a gas station, which no one is worrying about right now.” He patted my cheek with his gloved hand. They flustered me so badly I only nodded, and they chuckled together.
The three of us made quick work of packing up the picnic basket, and they decided to leave Declan’s Jeep and come back for it later. We stripped out of our snow gear and stowed it in the back of the SUV, and finally I was in my old winter coat again, though Declan had insisted I keep the sweater, hat, and gloves.
“Are you sure you don’t want to drop the Jeep off?” I asked as Declan navigated the SUV out of the parking lot into the twilit gloom of the muddy road. It was getting darker, but with the snow cover it wasn’t actually dark out. All the white reflected any available light, so if it ever stopped snowing for a few minutes we’d probably be able to see, even without the headlights. But it didn’t stop, and I couldn’t stand to look at the windshield because it reminded me of a spaceship in hyperspace. I had no idea how Declan could tell where we were going.
