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“You’re talking bullshit, Saylor. You’ve listed half of Colorado’s major tree species as names for this fake hotel of yours. Come to the window, I want to show you something.”
“What?” she said, wrenching her hand from my clasp.
“Can you see your car?”
“Oh.”
“Yes. Oh.” She’d left her car parked in the driveway and it was now buried under snow. A white lump in a white landscape. “I would say the road up here would be last on the list for being cleared. Sit down and I’ll make you a coffee while you phone the hotel and tell them you’re going to be late.”
She pulled up a stool and watched while I made coffee.
“Cream? Sugar?” I asked. “How about the phone number for the Lodgepole Hotel? Can I get that for you?”
“It’s okay. I’ll let the booking slide. Like I said—”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“And I take cream, thanks.”
I finished making the coffee, sliding a mug across the counter towards Saylor. The scent of her taunted me despite the strong aroma of freshly brewed coffee filling the kitchen. I kept the large island between us like a safety barrier because for the past two years since I’d seen her, Saylor had done nothing but grow more beautiful. Back then, my desire to corrupt her was held in check by the fact that Matt would probably come at me with a baseball bat if I touched his little sister, plus cousin Rex was already staking his claim.
Today, all bets were off.
She sipped her coffee, and stared at me, her mouth set in a grim line.
“Not to your liking?” I asked.
She shook her head. “It’s great. Did Rex send you to find me?”
“What? No! Jesus. Even if he suggested it, I’m not his minion. I haven’t even spoken to Rex. Why would I? The guy’s a jerk. Sorry if that sounds offensive with him being your ex and everything, but seriously, Saylor, what the fuck were you thinking?”
She shrugged, studied her coffee, and when she lifted her face she looked somewhat broken. “I loved him—”
I didn’t want to believe it. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. No. It was fun at first, even if, as you say, he could be a bit of a jerk. Chicago’s most eligible bachelor. I went places and lived a lifestyle I’d never dreamed of, so in some ways, I guess I got what I deserved. I was as shallow as Rex was sleazy. And now I’m humiliated. Do you have any idea what it’s like to discover that your friends are relieved that you’ve canceled your wedding?”
I kept my own relief to myself. “We all make mistakes, and you were saved from yours, though I really want to kill the little shit for cheating on you. The boy’s an ass.”
“Thanks, I guess.” She gripped her coffee mug like a lifeline, her next words coming in a rush. “I don’t have a hotel booked. I came here because I thought I’d celebrate being alone and make an attempt to discover who I really am. You’re going to think I’m crazy but I had this idea about celebrating myself, having the wedding ceremony—well, a much smaller one—and the honeymoon anyway.”
“Who did you intend to marry?”
She studied the spot on the counter where she drew shapes with her index finger. “It’s going to sound dumb so you have to promise not to tease me. I was going to marry me. My friends are coming up. We’re celebrating Christmas together and I was going to have this little ceremony… It seems stupid, now.”
“Who am I to judge?” I asked. I’ve never been in love and I’ve never had my heart broken, but I’ve seen people do some pretty crazy shit when relationships fail. To me, marrying yourself was right up there with the craziest shit I’d heard of.
“Honestly, I thought this house would be empty, so I decided I might as well make use of it. Sorry, I should have checked first.”
Her entire body oozed despair. My instinct was to go to her, but I couldn’t without announcing I had a dick standing as strong and tall as one of those fucking trees she named her fake hotel after. I still couldn’t shake the image of her in that T-shirt. Maybe I did catch a glimpse of what she wasn’t hiding. It wasn’t intentional, but neither would it go away.
“You don’t have to ask, Saylor. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.”
“I can’t stay now that you’re here. I’m supposed to be alone.”
“That’s not a hard and fast rule.”
She sighed. “It kind of is. My social media followers are expecting me to do this, and post all about it.”
