by Liz Isaacson
Colton wasn’t going to do that again, but his boots still made ominous thunking noises as he went up the steps. Annie sat in the kitchen with the other ladies, and they all looked at him when he entered. He smiled around at them and sat down.
“I think I need to go home,” he said.
“What?” Bree asked at the same time Elise did.
“I thought you weren’t leaving until the twenty-eighth,” Bree added.
“That’s more than I knew,” Annie said. “Isn’t your meeting on the thirtieth?”
He felt bombarded with the questions, though they were easy. “Yes, it’s on the thirtieth. I need a whole day to get there, and a couple of my brothers are at my parents’.” He shrugged, not wanting to say he felt a little overwhelmed here at the lodge. “I feel like it’s time for me to go.”
Anxiety crossed Annie’s face, but Colton couldn’t address it in front of everyone.
“Then you should go,” Elise said. “But you’re not leaving this second, right? I have something for you in the cabin.”
“You do?” he asked, smiling at her. “What is it?”
“I’m not going to ruin the surprise,” she said. “Bree and I will go get it.”
“It takes two women to get?” Colton asked, his eyebrows going right on up under the brim of his cowboy hat. “Wow, I can’t wait to see what it is.”
“I’ve seen it,” Patsy said. “Don’t get excited.”
“Hey,” Bree said, though she was smiling. “Come on, Elise. We’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t leave without saying good-bye.”
“I’m not leaving right away,” he said as they stood up and took their coffee mugs into the kitchen. Patsy went with them, probably because Annie hadn’t moved in at least a minute.
Colton reached over and took her hands in his. “I just need to tie up some loose ends in Denver,” he said. “My plan is to come back here.”
She looked at him. “It is?”
“Yeah,” he said easily. “You said this town is growing, and maybe they need someone with a degree in biology.” He gave her a smile he hoped would let her know she was one of the reasons he’d be coming back to Coral Canyon.
She stayed as nervous as ever, though. “All right,” she said. “When are you going to go?”
“I think I can make it one more night,” he said.
“If you’re not happy here, you can leave whenever,” she said. She pulled one hand away and brushed her hair off her forehead.
Colton frowned, trying to figure out what she meant. “Why wouldn’t I be happy here?”
“I don’t know.” She got up and took her coffee cup into the kitchen too, turning back to him from clear across the massive space as she leaned into the sink behind her.
Colton felt like he’d stepped out onto thin ice. The loud, sharp cracking noises filling the air was a testimony that he was about to go under, and he better dang well get back to safe ground.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked.
“No,” she said, crossing her arms. Definitely mad. He’d seen Priscilla do that enough times to know.
“Just tell me what I did, and I’ll try to fix it,” he said. He’d told her that once before, and it had worked.
“I just thought we had more time.”
“It’s not over,” he said.
“It’s not?”
He got up, so confused now. “I just said I was coming back.” His frustration grew with every second where Annie just stood there.
“Do you see us getting married?” she asked.
Colton froze, every emotion draining from his body. He blinked, the bow tie around his neck too tight. So tight. He actually reached up to his collar, but his fingers didn’t touch a bow tie.
He wasn’t in the dressing room at the Prince—the nicest hotel in Denver—about to get married.
Priscilla was gone.
A new version of Colton had been born that day. One that didn’t think he’d ever get married again.
And now Annie wanted to know if they’d get married? He’d met her six days ago.
True, it did feel like six years, but there was no way Colton was ready to get married right now. Or even in the next year. He couldn’t even fathom that.
“I guess that’s the answer,” Annie said, and at some point, she’d moved closer to him.
“I just....” He didn’t know what to say. He’d told her about Priscilla. Hadn’t he?
“We’re back to that,” Annie said softly. “You don’t want to get married. I’ve been alone for over a decade, and I do want a man I can share the rest of my life with.”
“I didn’t say I don’t want to get married,” he said. “I just feel like it’s...a little fast for me.”
“When you know—”
“Right now,” he added over the top of what she said. “It’s a little fast for me right now. Priscilla only left a few weeks ago.”
“Seven weeks, I thought.” Annie looked up at him, plenty of challenge in her gaze.
“Seven weeks is not very long,” he said. He’d been with her for five years. He felt like Annie was trying to back him into a corner, get him to admit to something he hadn’t done, or commit to something he wasn’t ready to commit to.
“Are you over her?” she asked.
“Is that a joke?”
“No,” she said calmly. “You seem to have a lot of women friends, and maybe she’s one of them. You know, back in Denver.”
Colton could not believe what he’d just heard. He stumbled backward a step, trying to get distance so he could find clarity. “What?” came out of his mouth. “That’s what you think of me?”
Disgust roiled in his stomach. He needed to get on the road right now. He wouldn’t arrive in Ivory Peaks until close to midnight, but he didn’t care. He could find any number of seedy motels between here and Denver. He’d seen them as he’d driven north. They’d be there as he went south again.
“I don’t think anything,” Annie said with a sigh. “I just...I need to know you really think we have a shot.”
Colton shook his head, because he was done. Done trying to convince her that he liked her. If she didn’t know by now, he honestly had no idea what else to do—short of asking her to marry him right then. And he’d already decided he wasn’t going to do that.
“You know what?” he asked, his voice more wounded than he liked. He’d heard himself sound like this before, and he’d hated it then. Just as he did now. “I’ve told you and told you and showed you how I feel about you. If that’s not good enough, I’m sorry. I don’t know how to do it another way.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t good enough.”
“But it’s not,” he said. “If we didn’t have a shot, Annie, I’d say good-bye right now and go on home. I told you I was coming back. I’ve told you I don’t like Bree or Elise the way I like you. And I think it’s really unfair of you to try to push me into a place I’m not ready to go yet.” His chest hurt, and so much more to say coiled inside him. “Priscilla held me in a place I wanted to leave, for a long time. And I let her. I stayed with her, all the way up to the end, when she humiliated me in front of everyone I know, and a lot of people I don’t know.”
Breathing hurt, but somehow, Colton kept doing it. “And now you’re trying to pull me out of the place I want to be in. I can’t.” He fell back another step. “I’m really sorry, but I can’t.”
“Can’t what?”
“Most relationships evolve over time,” he said. “Both people get to the same place eventually, like Emily and Kelly. Maybe she’s been ready to get married for a while, and he hasn’t. But she waits for him to come to where she is, and then they take the next step together.” He gestured between the two of them. “I met you six days ago, and yes, I was instantly attracted to you. I think you’re beautiful and kind and just great, but you’re in a place I’m not in yet. I should get more than six days to get there too, so we can take the next step together. I’m so tired of not being together with
the person I’m supposed to be together with.” He shook his head and looked away, aware that Celia had come into the kitchen and had heard at least part of what he’d said.
Annie said nothing, and Colton had nothing more to say. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should go. I’ll get my bag and go.” He turned and headed for the hallway. He paused when she didn’t call him back. He couldn’t expect her to. He’d just told her she was trying to pull him to where she was, and he wasn’t ready to go. She was actually smart not to call him back so they could continue this horrible conversation.
“Will you let Bree and Elise know I’m really sorry I couldn’t stay to see what they have for me?”
“Colton,” Annie said. “You can’t just leave without saying good-bye to them.”
“Why not?” He faced her again. “All it’s going to do is make you jealous. I don’t want to deal with that. I can’t have that on my mind while I drive across Wyoming for the next eight hours.”
She didn’t contradict him and say his good-byes with Elise and Bree wouldn’t make her jealous. He shook his head, barely able to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “I’ll call you when I get to Ivory Peaks.”
And with that, he went downstairs and collected his bag. When he went back upstairs, no one loitered in the kitchen, and the way to the front door was also clear. He tossed his bag in the backseat and got behind the wheel before pulling out his phone.
He dialed Bree, because Annie was right about one thing. He couldn’t just leave her and Elise without saying good-bye. They were his friends, even if Annie didn’t like it.
“Hey,” she said, clearly breathing hard. “We’re coming.”
“Can you come to the parking lot?” he asked. “I decided to leave right now.”
“Right now? Why?”
“Can you just come to the parking lot? Or I’ll come down to your cabin. I just want to say good-bye.”
“We’re almost back. See you in a second.”
Colton hung up and turned on the SUV so his seat would start warming up. Only a couple of minutes later, Bree and Elise rounded the corner of the lodge, carrying a huge, four-tiered chocolate cake between them.
“Oh, my word,” he said, launching himself out of the warm car to go help them. Despite his foul mood, he laughed as he jogged across the parking lot to the two women who’d been so kind to him. So open and honest. So friendly.
“What is this?”
“It’s a chocolate cake,” Elise said. “We know how much you love chocolate.”
“You must’ve been up all night making this.” He took it from them and gazed at all the delicious chocolate frosting.
“That’s what we do here at the lodge on Christmas Eve,” Bree said, her breath coming in white puffs. “We stay up late getting gifts ready.”
“Come on,” he said. He took the cake over to the hood of his SUV and set it down. Then he gathered both Bree and Elise into his arms and held them in a three-way hug. “I know we just met a few days ago, but I feel like I’ve known you both my whole life.”
“Same,” Bree said, the word maybe a little choked.
“Me too,” Elise said.
Colton stepped back, his emotions high. “So I’ll call you both later, okay?”
“Why are you going now?” Bree said. “You said you weren’t.”
He didn’t want to talk about it, and he gazed over her shoulder to the huge front door of the lodge. That door had once been a welcome sight for him, the yellow lights shining out of the windows, beckoning to him to come stay for the night, out of the snow.
“Because,” he said. “I just have to. You know how you didn’t want to tell me about your family?”
Bree pressed her lips together.
“This is like that,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“But you’ll tell us later,” Elise said.
“Maybe,” he said. “Anyway, it’s too cold to stand around out here. Hug me again, and I’ve got to go.”
They did, and Colton got behind the wheel of his SUV again. Neither woman retreated to the lodge, and he lifted one hand in a farewell wave as he backed out of the parking spot.
He took one last look at the lodge in his rear-view mirror from the mouth of the parking lot, and then he pulled onto the street and headed down the canyon.
“That’s that,” he muttered to himself, the future he’d imagined for himself here in Coral Canyon only an hour ago disappearing into dust.
A single light shone out of the front window of the house on the outskirts of Ivory Peaks, and Colton looked at the front door, almost expecting Wes to walk through it.
He’d called his brother as he’d left Coral Canyon, and Wes had said he’d make sure Colton didn’t have to come tripping into the house in the dark.
He watched the farmhouse for a moment before he got out of the SUV, taking his bag with him in one hand and balancing the giant chocolate cake in the other. It was just as cold here as Wyoming, but the chill didn’t bite the same. Colton was used to it anyway. He went up the steps and the doorknob twisted easily under his grip.
Inside, the formal living room glowed under the bright bulbs Wes had left on, but further into the house, Colton couldn’t see anything at all. He’d snuck into and out of this house plenty of times, and he knew how to tiptoe down the hallway to his old bedroom without getting caught or making a single sound.
Tonight, though, he flipped off the light in the front living room and walked down the short hall to the back of the house. He set the cake on the counter, and it looked like it had survived the trip quite well. His fingers knew right where the switches were, and he flipped one to fill the kitchen with light.
A groan sounded to his right, and he turned to find Wes sitting up, one hand covering his eyes as he continued to moan.
“Why are you out here?”
“I was waiting up for you,” Wes said, rubbing his eyes. He squinted toward Colton. “What time is it?”
“Twelve-thirty,” Colton said. A weariness ran through his bones, straight to his heart. “I thought I’d see if Mom has any of that guava lemonade, and then I’m going to bed.”
“She does,” Wes said, standing. He wore a navy T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. “You drove straight through?”
“I stopped and got dinner somewhere,” he said. “Ate it in the car.” He hated eating in the car, because Colton liked enjoying his food. And driving while he held a burger in his hand wasn’t enjoyable. He continued toward the fridge and opened it to find his lemonade.
Bottles and bottles of it sat on the top shelf, and he searched through peach, strawberry, and raspberry before he found the guava he liked. The lid popped off with a satisfying squelch, and he took a long drink while Wes studied him.
“What?” he finally asked.
“Something happen between you and Annie?”
“Why would you think that?”
“I might have called Bree.”
Colton rolled his eyes. He hadn’t told Bree anything, but she’d obviously spoken to Annie. He wondered what Annie had said, but he dismissed the thought. He didn’t care. She could say what she wanted to say. He knew he’d been true to her and said nothing, not even one thing, and that was what mattered.
“I thought you liked her.”
“I did,” Colton said. “I do. She’s just...in a different place than I am.”
“Bree said you said some really smart things.”
“She wasn’t even there,” Colton said. “And I hate that you talked to her about this. It’s none of your business. Hers either.” Colton glared at his oldest brother, though he didn’t want to fight with him too. “I’m a big boy, and I can handle my life.” He took his half-empty bottle of lemonade with him as he went to get his bag. “I’m in my old room?”
“Yep.” Wes watched him start down the hall.
“Thanks for waiting up for me,” Colton said over his shoulder. That got Wes to follow him, and while Colton didn’t w
ant to talk about Annie, he wouldn’t mind talking about HMC and how Wes felt about passing the torch to the cousins.
He went through the second door on the right, glad when Wes followed him and leaned into the doorway. “I guess you want to know what I’m going to do,” Colton said.
“I think I already know.”
“I think I’m done there,” Colton said. “At least as the marketing director. I wouldn’t mind looking at what openings we have in the labs.”
“As a scientist?”
“Yeah.” Colton dropped his bag on the bed and sat beside it. “As a scientist.”
“HMC would be lucky to have you in any lab,” Wes said.
“Thanks.” Colton gave his brother a smile. “So at the meeting on Wednesday, I think I’ll agree to whatever we all think is fair. And I’ll ask about a job in one of the labs.”
“So you and Annie really are....” Wes held up both hands as Colton glared at him. “Forget I said anything. Okay.”
“What about you talking to Bree like that might go somewhere?” he challenged his brother.
“That might go somewhere,” Wes said. “For real.”
“You really think so?”
“Sure,” Wes said. “Why not? People meet on dating apps all the time.”
“A phone call is not a dating app,” Colton said.
“Yeah, it’s better,” Wes said. “More personal.”
“For the record,” Colton said. “I told her you’d be perfect for her.”
“You did?” Wes looked horrified. “Why would you do that?”
“Because it’s true,” Colton said. “So finish up here, and keep talking to her, and go settle down already. Someone needs to before Mom disowns us all.” He gave Wes a smile, and they chuckled together.
“She is relentless sometimes,” Wes said. “She even asked Gray if he was looking for a new wife.”
“Oh, brother,” Colton said. “I bet I know how that ended.”
“With him telling her to stay out of his business, and he’d do what he wanted?” Wes shook his head, still laughing softly. “Yeah, about like that. Then he came back a couple of hours later and apologized, though he was adamant that she not ask him about his—and I quote, ‘love life’—in front of Hunter. I guess it’s a sore subject or something.”
