There were things that I was reluctant to admit to my overprotective, bossy sister—like, for example, the fact that I’d let myself get dangerously dehydrated the day before—but if she wanted all the tea, I was going to give it to her. So, lying back on my pillow, I just…gushed? For I didn’t know how long.
I told her everything—from our first meeting on the plane, which honestly probably should’ve scared him off from the get-go, all the way up to the way he’d taken care of me yesterday after I’d gotten sick. I talked about how he’d banished ghosts for me at the Stanley Hotel even though he didn’t believe in them. I went over our lunch together in Granby, and those few hours at the Adventure Park in Glenwood. The way he seemed to like checking up on me. I didn’t leave out a single detail.
And then I got to the moment where I thought he wanted to kiss me right before Josie interrupted us with her live video.
“So…what do you think?” I bit my lower lip. “I mean, would it really be a mistake?”
Ashley hummed. “I’m thinking I need to download Facebook again and follow these people on your tour.”
I snorted. “Let's not be hasty.”
“Honestly though, that does sound romantic,” she said after a long pause. Surprisingly, my sister didn’t sound judgy. In fact, she sounded…wistful.
“Right?” I smiled, then hesitated. Her voice had gone quieter. Softer around the edges. “Bex is romantic, isn’t he?”
“He used to be…”
Another pause.
And then she sighed. “I don’t know. He’s still him. It’s just...sometimes I think we forgot how to be us.”
That landed in my chest with a dull little thud.
“Oh, Ash.”
“It’s fine,” she said quickly, rallying. “We’re just in a weird season. Every couple has them. It’ll pass.”
But something in her voice didn’t sound like she believed that.
I wanted to say more, to press, but knowing Ash, she wouldn’t let me.
“Anyway,” she added, a little too brightly. “This isn’t about me. It’s about you and your surprise mountain crush. Maybe…maybe it’s not all bad. I mean, you sound…different.”
“Different?”
“Like...yourself. How you used to be. For the first time in months.”
That stopped me. She hadn’t said since the breakup, but for the first time in months?
“I guess a harmless little holiday romance isn’t going to kill you. Just be careful, okay? I’m not saying don’t enjoy it. But don’t lose your head either.”
I swallowed, my fingers trailing over the edge of the pillowcase. “I won’t. Promise.”
We said our goodbyes, and after I hung up, I sat there for a second, staring at the ceiling.
My chest felt lighter. And heavier.
My sister sounded…not herself.
Buzz.
The phone lit up again, but this time, I just stared at it until it fell silent.
Leo could go straight to…
Voicemail.
I stood. Paced. Sat back down. Got back up.
