“She needs to be checked for a concussion to be safe,” Hayden replied, cutting me off. “No skiing for her today.”
“Hell, that’s okay. Shit, I’m so sorry, Charlotte. We should’ve waited to carpool with you today.”
“No, it’s alright. I know how excited you and Penny were to head up early. I don’t think I have a concussion, but yeah, no skiing today for me. I’m bummed.”
Hayden caught my gaze, and we shared a brief smile.
“I can stay back with you. They have games and shit, and we can sneak whiskey into the coffee.” Penny’s voice was muffled in the background.
“Yeah, Pen says she’ll take you to the salon too.”
“I’m not going to be a burden on your pre-wedding party. I refuse. You ski and snowboard and do mountainous adventures, I will be fine on my own.”
“Garrett’s down for the whiskey coffee too. We can do shifts.”
“No,” Hayden said, his aggressive coaching voice silencing my brother. “My shoulder is bothering me again, so I’ll rest with Charlotte today.”
“Dude, you told me it wasn’t flaring up.”
“I lied.”
“What the fuck? You can’t keep that shit from me. I would’ve changed plans or something. I certainly wouldn’t have taken you skiing.”
I rolled my eyes. Christian would change his dream pre-wedding plans for Hayden, but not for anyone else. Stupid bromance.
“No big deal, just gotta be careful. We’ll be there soon.”
“Thanks for helping her out, man, and, Charlotte, I’ll be glad to see your face.”
“Right back at you,” I said, smiling.
Hayden hung up, and I swore my skin tingled as he stared at me. “What?” I said. His eyes sparkled, and his lips curved up in a smile, one that went right to my core. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“My shoulder is fine. I lied, Charmander.”
My face heated at the nickname, and his gaze dropped to my lips for one hot second.
“You little sneak.” I grinned. “Well done.”
“Fuck skiing.”
I snorted, and while his smile still dazzled me and made my brain work twice as slow, the reality of the situation hit me again. Hayden and I would spend the day together, alone.
The one thing I really didn’t want to do.
CHAPTER FOUR
HAYDEN
The resort looked like a Christmas-plosion. The parking lot left nothing undecorated. Green and red garland covered the streetlamps and hung from the pine trees lining the road. There were no less than ten blow-up figures ranging from Santa to reindeer to gifts to elves. And so many holiday lights.
Gwen would love this.
“Holy Christmas,” Charlotte mumbled, pressing her face against the window. “Did my parents rent this place out? I bet they volunteered to do this for Christian and Penny. This place looks beautiful.”
“It looks great.” I fought the urge to laugh. The Calhouns would legit volunteer their time to drive three hours north to decorate for a weekend. Christopher and Claire were intense. Also the best chosen grandparents to Gwen.
Gratitude overwhelmed me when I thought about the village of people helping me raise Gwen alone. The Calhouns specifically treated her like one of their own, and I’dnever forget it. I usually didn’t have an issue with the fact that I never dated or slept around. It sucked, but my entire life was for Gwen now. Gwen and baseball. I had had a few friends with benefits going on, but the last time I saw them was… months ago. Half a year, probably.
