Page 8 of Mountain Dreams

“Probably not, but what was I supposed to do, turn her away?”

Jax sighed.

“I offered to talk to Wyatt myself to see if I can uncover something.”

“Cody…”

Cody held up his hand. “You’re going to say I should just stay out of it.”

“That’s exactly what I was going to say.”

“Can you honestly tell me you wouldn’t have offered to help? What if it were Avery, back when she was dating Travis?”

“Trevor.”

“Whatever.”

“I hated that guy, but this is different. Wyatt is your friend.”

“So is Madison.”

Jax shook his head. “You always wanted it to be more.”

Cody didn’t need the reminder, and he averted his gaze out the window again.

“That’s not why I’m doing this.”

“I hope not, because you could end up disappointed.”

How could it be any worse than it already was? Madison would either stay with Wyatt and nothing would change or she would leave and…

“No matter what you find out, she might stay with him.”

“I know that.”

“And you could lose Wyatt’s friendship.”

From Cody’s perspective, that had already been happening, probably since the day Wyatt had started dating Madison. He thought he’d done a good job of hiding his feelings, but Jax knew him too well.

“I won’t tell you what to do, because I know you won’t listen anyway. However, I would be very careful if I were you.”

Cody nodded. “I will. Now, enough of the chit-chat. Let’s get to work.”

Jax smoothly transitioned from big brother to resort manager. For the next hour, they discussed the outstanding maintenance issues, and Cody brought him up to date on the status of each.

Once they’d finished, Cody said a quick goodbye and left Jax’s office. When he entered the lobby, Avery was sitting at the front desk, and she glanced at him curiously.

“Hi, Avery. Bye, Avery.” He breezed out the door, feeling somewhat guilty for avoiding her. As he drove away, he decided Jax would probably fill her in anyway.

As soon as he was back in his cabin, he pulled out his phone and called Wyatt. It was still early on a Saturday morning, but he figured Wyatt would be up just like him. He often worked weekends at the auto body shop he co-owned with his dad and brother.

The phone rang several times before his call went to voicemail.

“Hey, Wyatt, it’s Cody. Just wondered if you wanted to meet up for a beer. I’m free tonight if you are. Give me a call.”

Later that afternoon, Wyatt finally responded, but via text message instead of a phone call.

Sorry, buddy. I have plans tonight, but I’ll catch you soon.