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Once inside, I texted Emily to see what her plans were for the night, but an answer didn’t come back right away, so I put the phone down. I hoped to see her when I got back. It felt more like a need than a want, actually. I missed her already.
I pulled away from the curb, but found myself pulling right back over just one house down as Sasquatch bolted out his front door and waved me down. He and CeeCee had completed building their house just before the summer ended—Lucy’s company had gotten it rolling while they were on their honeymoon in South Africa, and the couple had only just finished moving in before the snow started a few days earlier.
“Hey Sass, what’s up?” I asked as he jogged up to the window on the passenger side.
“Just saying hi. Heard we’ve got a new KR staffer.”
I laughed. “Phineas isn’t even forty-eight hours old, we might hold off on giving him any real responsibility.”
My old friend grinned and nodded. “Wanna come in and see the place?” He glanced around, then a worried look passed over his face. “Or, are you probably pretty busy?”
I could always find things to do, but the contemplative mood I found myself in wasn’t necessarily anything I wanted to dwell in alone, so I accepted his invitation. Emily still hadn’t responded to my text.
The house was furnished simply but gave off a comfortable vibe. Sasquatch had always been a relatively easygoing guy, not one to drop loads of money on material things. I didn’t know CeeCee as well, but given that she ran the local adventure shop and enjoyed things like backpacking and rock climbing, I could guess she didn’t lean that way either.
“CeeCee home?”
“At the shop,” Sasquatch explained. “I sent Roscoe with her in case she had any trouble in the snow.”
I settled into the low couch and frowned at Sass. “Roscoe’s helpful in the snow?”
“He’s a very talented dog. He could go for help, keep her warm...hell, he could probably drive.”
“Your flunky service dog cannot drive,” I laughed.
“Careful how you talk about my dog, man.” Sasquatch laughed and gestured toward a bottle of Half Cat sitting on a bar car at one side of the room. “Quick sip and a catch up?”
“Sure.” It was just past five, and there was a good amount of stuff for me to check in on at the resort, especially with Wiley and Aubrey suddenly out, but I felt like I could use a friend for a minute or two. As he handed me a glass, I asked, “Things good with you guys? Married life is treating you well?”
He grinned, letting out a little chuckle. “Much better this time around.”
Sass had been married once before, in name only, and it had become a whole issue when he came up here and fell in love with CeeCee. But he’d really never expected to survive deployment, so he hadn’t been too worried about falling in love.
“Glad to hear it.”
“What’s going on with you and the writer chick?” Sasquatch dropped that grenade and then leaned back into his armchair, sipping his whiskey while I decided how much I wanted to share.
Clearly, everyone at the resort was already talking, no doubt thanks to my sister.
“I don’t even know. It’s new.”
“But you aren’t denying anything . . .”
“I mean . . . we just met.”
“That’s usually how things start.”
“Right.” I sipped my own whiskey, settling into the comfortable couch and making up my mind to open up a bit more than I usually did. Emily had that effect on me, maybe. After talking so much with her in the past couple days, it felt less foreign. And it had been a relief in some ways, to share my thoughts. My feelings.
Sasquatch just watched me, crossing one leg across the other and looking perfectly at home as he waited.
“She’s from San Diego,” I said, knowing her geography was really a minor issue. I wasn’t tied to the resort, as I was beginning to see. “She’s a travel writer.”
“Cool.”
“Yeah. But she writes mostly about San Diego, I guess.”
“So she came up here to write about the resort?”
