by Debbie Mason
She moved closer to the window, pressing her hand to the glass, covering the place she’d met him at the end of the parade, his handsome face aglow in the torchlight. “Do you know, that night was the happiest I had seen him since the accident. He was filled with hope and plans to get back…I should have stopped him. If I had, he wouldn’t have…” She swallowed a sob and the truth.
Adam’s hand moved over her back in an effort to comfort her. But it wasn’t comforting. He wasn’t comforting. She didn’t know why she’d wanted him at her side earlier tonight. He stirred things up, making everything worse.
“Come on, Soph. There’s nothing you could have done. Bryce…Don’t blame yourself—”
She turned to face him, causing his hand to fall to his side. “Why not? You did. You all did.”
“No. I didn’t. Not once. God’s truth.”
“I saw the way you looked at me at the funeral. You couldn’t hide it. Not from me. You were angry.”
“I was. But not at you. Never at you. I was angry at Bryce—” He looked away.
She took in the muscle pulsating in his scruff-lined jaw, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was angry now. But not at her, at Bryce.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t need to do this tonight,” he said.
Why would he be mad at Bryce after all this time, she wondered. Why…? “You knew. You know,” she said more to herself than to him. The air around them shifted as the door opened and closed, ushering people and a gush of cold inside. But it was like they were in their own private bubble, walking a tightrope between truth and lies. They stared at each other.
“What do I know, Soph?”
She was afraid to say. If she did and he didn’t know, or even if he did, it would be like pulling out the one card that would topple the house of cards. But there was something about the way he looked at her that forced the truth past her lips. “That it wasn’t an accident.”
He brought his hands to his face, moved them up and down, and then looked around. The deck was nearly empty as people walked by, heading down the stairs to the main floor. “We need to talk, but not here.”
She didn’t want to talk. Her memories of that time were locked away where they could no longer hurt her. Being here, being with Adam, had unlocked the vault and some had slipped out. She needed to leave; that’s what she needed to do. “I have to find Autumn.”
She searched the crowd and spotted Nell walking down the stairs with Logan’s children. Their father and Autumn were nowhere in sight. Sophia hurried to the railing, searching for a black fedora in the crowd. Lines of people stood at the bar and at buffet tables piled high with platters of finger food. A small group gathered at the twenty-foot Christmas tree.
“Ty!” she called out.
He turned from where he stood by the fireplace, looked up, and waved.
“Where’s Autumn?”
He frowned, looked around, and then shrugged.
“I know where she is, Sophia,” Nell McBride yelled from where she now stood just off to the right of the stairs with Logan’s children.
Adam glanced at Nell. “Ah, Soph, I don’t think this is a good idea,” he said as he reluctantly followed her down the stairs. “Nell’s got that look in her eyes.”
Sophia stopped to squint at his step-grandmother. “What look?”
“You know, the one she gets when she’s up to no good. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he muttered when Sophia walked across the planked floor to Nell, who waved over her husband, Calder Dane.
Adam’s grandfather didn’t need a wig or a fake beard to play the town’s Santa to Nell’s Mrs. Claus. Calder looked exactly as Sophia had always pictured the jolly old elf, right down to the sparkling blue eyes.
He winked at Sophia and then pulled a small candy cane from behind each of Logan’s children’s ears. The little boy and girl, who were subdued only moments before, lit up. They were lucky to have Calder and Nell in their lives. Their uncle Adam too, she thought when he crouched in front of them, pulling two envelopes from his jacket pocket.
They opened the envelopes and withdrew bright and sparkly Christmas cards. Their eyes lit up when they looked inside. “Look! Look what Uncle Adam got us!” They held up identical photos of a puppy with a curly, cream-colored coat before throwing themselves at Adam. “Where is he, Uncle Adam? Where is he?”
“Waiting for you at home.” He looked up at his grandfather. “Don’t worry. He’s in a crate, and I bought everything he needs.” He hugged his niece and nephew before standing. “If you guys think of anything else, we’ll go shopping before I leave.”
“Can we go now? Can we go home now?”
“Yes. Yes,” Nell said, making it sound like she was annoyed, but her twinkling blue eyes belied her put-upon voice. Expect they weren’t twinkling at the little people. They were twinkling at Sophia and Adam, and it was an uncomfortably familiar twinkle. Although not one Sophia had ever had directed at her.
She shot a panicked glance at Adam, who raised an I-told-you-so eyebrow.
He could tell her so all he wanted, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now. And it wasn’t like she or Adam were interested in being matched, especially to each other. Even if she were interested in dating again, which she wasn’t, she’d never date her late husband’s brother.
“I won’t keep you, then. I just need to find Autumn,” she said to Nell.
“She’s with Logan. He wanted her advice on the honeymoon cabin. Calder can take you there.”
The excitement on Logan’s children’s faces at the prospect of seeing their new puppy disappeared in an instant, a flash of resentment in their narrowed eyes. It appeared Sophia would have allies in her bid to keep their father and Autumn apart. So she didn’t understand the sudden urge to defend her best friend.
“I’ll take Sophia,” Adam offered.
She widened her eyes to make the point to Adam that he was playing into the local matchmaker’s hands. But his attention was on the phone he’d pulled from his jacket pocket. While he texted someone, she said loudly enough to hopefully regain his attention, “No. It’s okay. You take Nell and the children home. I will go with Calder.”
“Already have my ride sorted out,” Nell said. “Calder has to stick around. He and his dog team are booked up for the night. Lucky for you and Adam, he’s got an opening. Better skedaddle.”
“Give me five minutes,” Calder said, rubbing the kids’ heads and giving Nell a kiss on the cheek before walking toward the exit door.
“No. Adam’s busy. Ty will come with me. Ty!” Sophia called, her voice rising on a panicked note because of Nell and her matchmaking eyes.
“Are you the lady on Modern Family?” the little girl asked Sophia.
Ty, who must have picked up on the panic in Sophia’s voice and rushed over, grinned at Logan’s daughter. “They’re twins,” he told her, and then said to Sophia, “What’s wrong, bae…bunny?”
She made a frustrated sound. “Autumn and Logan are checking out the honeymoon suite at the—”
“They actually did it. They set the date.” Ty clapped his hands. “This is soo…” He looked from her to the children. “Bad. This is sooo bad.”
Once again she found herself torn between wanting to agree it was the worst thing ever and pretending it was the best. Autumn would be an amazing stepmother, and Sophia didn’t like the children thinking she wouldn’t. But in her heart she knew the worst thing for Autumn would be to reunite with Logan. The Danes were heartbreakers. Even Calder had broken Nell’s heart a long time ago.
And the freckle-faced little boy holding up his envelope to Sophia with a gap-toothed smile showed every sign of growing up to be a heartbreaker too. “Can you get your sister’s autograph for me?”
“She’s not my—”
“Of course she can,” Ty said, taking the envelope.
In Spanish, Sophia muttered what happened to men who lied to little children. Adam glanced up from texting with a half smile. “Soph, t
he kids are learning to speak Spanish. Lucky for you, you talk too fast for them to keep up. But I can.”
She’d forgotten that he spoke Spanish. He used to practice on her when he was first learning.
“And if she can’t get you an autograph, I will. What?” Ty said when she shot him a look. “I’m sending a tape of you to Ms. Vergara. You’d make a great stunt double. Don’t give me that face. You might need a second career if your sales keep—”
“Ty,” she muttered. The last thing she needed was for her customers to think her sales were down. People liked to support winners, not losers.
“Autumn mentioned you girls didn’t have a stellar year. I’ll make a note to bring it up at the business association meeting next week. Okay, kiddles, looks like our ride is ready,” Nell said, zipping up the children’s jackets.
Adam tucked his phone away and moved to help with his niece’s and nephew’s hats and mittens while saying to Sophia, “We should get going too.”
“It’s okay. Ty will…” Sophia’s eyes narrowed at Ty, who was exchanging hand signals with Nell. “What are you two talking about?”
“Nell asked me to stand in for her as hostess with the mostest.”
“What does this”—Sophia made the same hand gestures that he had— “have to do with hosting the party?”
“I didn’t do that. I did this.” He waved, smiled, and pretended to be serving food.
“You did not do that.” She waved and smiled. “You did this.” She repeated his previous hand signals.
Adam put a hand on her lower back and nudged her toward the door. “Say good-bye, Gloria.”
Ty, Nell, and the children laughed.
“You’re so funny, I cannot stand it,” Sophia said to Adam as she walked to the doors. She didn’t have a choice. She had to go with him. Because the last thing she wanted was Autumn alone with Logan in the honeymoon cottage on New Year’s Eve.
Chapter Five
You and Ty should take your show on the road,” Adam said as he held open the door for her, his smile fading when they stepped outside. “Does he know about Bryce?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Sophia had hoped he’d forgotten or, like her, wanted to. But she should have known better given his earlier remarks.
“I’ll take that as a no. You didn’t tell anyone, did you? Not even Autumn. All these years you’ve been carrying this on your own.”
She slipped, unsure if it was because of the kindness in his voice or the ice under the snow. He took her arm, tucking it through his.
To anyone who didn’t know them, they probably looked like a couple out for a romantic walk under the starry night sky. The Christmas lights that decorated the lodge lit up the path to where Calder’s sled and dogs awaited, the sound of music and laughter floating to them on the still night air. No one would guess they were talking about the tragic death of a man they had both loved.
Burying her grief and anger just like she had buried Bryce had made it easier for her to carry on on her own. “You never said anything to anyone. I would have known if you’d told your family. They would have blamed me.” She stopped to stare at him. “You didn’t tell them because of me.”
Looking away, he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “I wanted to save you from spending your nights lying awake asking why, wondering if you could have stopped him. And I wanted to protect his memory and my family.” He brought his gaze back to her. “But I didn’t deal with it on my own. I told friends, people I trusted. It helped, Soph. I wish I could have been there for you. How did you find out?”
“Autumn brought me to pick up his car. There was a letter addressed to me in the glove compartment. How did you find out?”
He told her about his suspicions, his visit to the coroner, his cover-up of the truth. She wondered what her life would have been like had the truth come out. Now that it was out in the open, even if it was only between the two of them, she felt a slight lightening of the heavy weight she’d carried by herself for all these years. But she had a feeling the easing of her burden was because Adam’s first reaction hadn’t been to blame her but to protect her. And if he didn’t blame her, maybe, just maybe, she could stop blaming herself.
The jingle of bells drew her attention.
Adam lifted his chin to the end of the snow-covered path. “Looks like our ride awaits.”
“You don’t have to come. I’m sure you have people you want to see tonight.”
“I can see them later. I’d just as soon not leave you and my brother to fight without a referee. I don’t see Autumn standing up to either one of you.”
She ignored him and walked to Calder, casting a nervous glance at the huskies. “Are you sure I can’t walk to the cabin?”
“It’s quite a hike, and not an easy one with the amount of snow that’s fallen. Unless you’re up for some cross-country skiing. Nice night for it,” Calder said, looking up at the bright three-quarter moon in the star-spangled sky.
Adam laughed. “You do remember who you’re talking to, don’t you, Gramps? Sophia’s allergic to sports of any kind.”
Unless you considered dancing a sport, it was true. Another reason why she’d never fit in with the Dane family. There wasn’t a sport they didn’t love or excel at. All three brothers had been natural athletes.
Calder chuckled and reached for a red plaid blanket. “Sledding it is. Adam, you get on first.”
Sophia looked from the six-foot-four, broad-shouldered man standing beside her to the sled. “There won’t be any room for me.”
“It’ll be tight, but we can manage,” Adam said, settling himself in.
“No, she’s right. Here, Sophia, take off your coat, and we’ll put it over you. Adam will keep you warm.”
“Ah, Gramps, I—”
“Don’t worry. You can tell your girlfriend you had a chaperone.”
Sophia gave a little start, surprised by the news, although she shouldn’t have been. There was no way a man like Adam wouldn’t have someone special in his life. Though the revelation had her taking a second look at the space they would be sharing.
“Are you sure Autumn and Logan are at the cabin?” she asked Calder, hoping for a way out of this predicament. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket to check if Autumn had responded to her latest text. She hadn’t, which was worrisome.
“If Nellie says so, then that’s where they’re at.”
Sophia glanced once more at the tight confines of the sleigh, reminding herself that no sacrifice was too great to make if it meant protecting her best friend from having her heart broken again.
“We better get a move on though. I have another couple booked in twenty minutes,” Calder added.
Sophia unbuttoned her coat and handed it to the older man, wrapping her arms around herself against the cold. “I’m not sure this is a good idea,” she said with a shiver as she climbed in.
“You and me both,” Adam murmured with an odd expression on his face. He looked like he was in pain.
“Sorry,” she said, thinking she must have stepped on him.
He tucked the blanket around her. “What are you sorry about?”
“For stepping on you. You made a face.”
“Right. It’s okay. No permanent damage.” He wrapped his arms around her, and the girl she used to be smiled. It looked like she needed to have a chat with the silly girl inside because the man holding her in his arms had a girlfriend, and even if he didn’t, the woman Sophia was now wasn’t interested. It didn’t escape her notice that she’d had to remind herself several times tonight that she wasn’t interested in Adam.
Calder lay the coat over the blanket and then tucked both around them. “There, you two look nice and cozy.”
With narrowed eyes she followed the older man’s progress to the back of the sled. It wasn’t until a spearmint-scented breath warmed her face that she realized how close her angled head brought her to Adam’s lips. She self-consciously raised her gaze to his. “Do his eyes always twi
nkle like that, or should we be worried?”
“I’m getting more worried by the minute, Dimples.”
So was she, and at that moment, it wasn’t the thought they had a matchmaking grandpa and step-granny on their hands that worried her. It was her inability to tear her gaze from Adam’s. She was getting sucked into his eyes and the memory of how he used to look at her, how they used to be. Being surrounded by his strong, masculine presence and enveloped in his warm, woodsy scent only served to heighten her reluctant attraction to him.
“Okay, you don’t need to come with me. I swear, I won’t say anything to Logan. I’ll just—” She threw back her coat and the blanket and went to get out of the sled, but the dogs shot off, and she fell back against Adam.
“Hang on!” Calder yelled.
“Your timing’s a little off, Gramps!”
Calder laughed, cracking a whip high above their heads and the dogs. “On Donner, on Blitzen, on Comet…”
“He’s not planning to take us back to the North Pole with him, is he? My face is already freezing, and so are my toes.”
“You never were much for the great outdoors, were you?” Adam said, a hint of amusement in his voice as he leaned over her to adjust the blanket and her coat. Once he’d tucked her back in, he curled his big body around her.
“She might be warmer if she turned to face you,” Calder yelled.
“No!” she shouted above the strangled sound that came from Adam close to her ear. The image of her straddling him must have popped into his mind too. “I’m fine! You just tell Rudolph to pick up the pace or he’ll be demoted.”
Behind her, Adam snorted a laugh, but she refused to say anything for fear of what else Calder might suggest. She hadn’t straddled anyone for a long time, and that was not something she wanted to be reminded about with her girlhood crush doing his best to keep her warm.
She focused on the dogs racing through the snow. In the distance, she heard the low buzz of snowmobiles on the forest trails. They were in a valley, surrounded by the towering Rockies and majestic, snow-laden pines.
