by Sarah Morgan
“Yes. It doesn’t give us much time to get the lodge ready. They’ve made lots of special requests. Tree, extra logs—” Waving her hand, Kayla recounted a vague list, and Brenna realized that someone else would be spending Christmas in Forest Lodge.
“I’ll work something out.” She spoke firmly, as much to convince herself as Kayla.
“You can have a room in the hotel,” Jackson said, but Kayla shook her head as she checked something on her phone.
“Lissa booked the last room this morning. It’s free tonight, but Brenna doesn’t want to be moving her things around.”
Brenna felt a flash of anxiety. She didn’t have the time to hunt for somewhere new to live with less than two weeks to go until Christmas. “I don’t have many things to move. I’m not a possessions person.”
“You need somewhere you can treat as home, and a soulless hotel room isn’t the answer even if we did have one available, which we don’t.”
Jackson intervened. “Firstly, our hotel rooms aren’t soulless, and secondly you’re babbling.”
Kayla looked flustered. “I have a lot on my mind. I’m sorry, Brenna. I know how much you love Forest Lodge, and it’s conveniently close to the ski lift. You could stay with Jackson and me, but we’re farther away so—wait a minute!” Her face brightened, and she turned to Tyler. “You have four bedrooms, right?”
Tyler had been glowering through the entire exchange. “You know I do.”
“So why doesn’t Brenna stay at Lake House with you? It’s stunning since you finished the renovations, and you’re even closer to the ski lift than Forest Lodge, so the position couldn’t be better.” She clapped her hands. “I’m a genius!”
Jackson frowned. “Kayla, you can’t just—”
“I wish I’d thought of it before, then I could have presented the solution with the problem and saved all the anxiety.” Ignoring Jackson, Kayla beamed and paced the length of the room like a general marshalling troops. “Brenna can stay on at the resort, and we can rent Forest Lodge for top rate. This is all turning out brilliantly. Champagne is called for.”
“At eight-thirty in the morning?” Jackson’s tone was mild, and he was looking at Kayla with a mixture of exasperation and amusement.
Brenna wasn’t amused. She was appalled.
Move in with Tyler?
She couldn’t think of anything worse. “I can’t live with Tyler!” She didn’t dare contemplate his reaction. She couldn’t look at him. She didn’t need to because she knew exactly what he was thinking. Because of Jess, he’d been forced to curtail his wild lifestyle, but now he was on the verge of getting back out there again. The last thing he needed was his childhood friend moving in with him. “That’s not a solution. I’ll rent an apartment. I was always going to have to do that once Snow Crystal started to recover, but there was no reason to do it when the place was half-empty.”
“You won’t be able to rent an apartment before Christmas.” Kayla was still pacing. “And even if you found one in the New Year, it wouldn’t be practical for you to be driving backward and forward. That’s why you started living in the resort in the first place.”
Brenna didn’t know which option was worse—the thought of renting somewhere away from Snow Crystal, or the idea of moving in with Tyler.
“I can stay with my parents as a short-term solution.”
“No, you can’t.” Tyler’s voice held none of its usual humor. “Visiting drives you insane, so living there is not an option. You can live with me. Jess and I have loads of room. It makes sense.” Those blue eyes locked on hers, and everyone else in the room faded into the background. It was just the two of them and her feelings, which were so huge, so out of control, she thought surely he’d see them.
He read her so well, but for some reason he was blind to this one thing.
She should tell him. She should stop avoiding the issue and be honest about how hard it was for her. That’s what he would do.
But she wasn’t going to do that in public, so instead she gave a shake of her head. “It wouldn’t feel right.”
“If it makes you feel better, we can share the cooking.”
“You’ll come off worse from that deal. I’m a terrible cook.”
“You can cook bacon, so we’ll put you in charge of breakfast.” Tyler stretched out his legs, those powerful thighs pushing against the fabric of his ski pants. “Bacon is a perfect way to start the day. And Jess would love having you around. She’ll drive you mad talking about skiing. That will ease the load on me, and we need extra hands to keep the dogs off the sofas.”
“I will fill your fridge,” Élise offered. “That will be my contribution to make up for the inconvenience you must suffer, Brenna.”
Food was going to be the least of her problems.
They were asking her to live with Tyler.
She’d have to watch him dress up and go out with some other woman. Maybe even bring one home. And it wasn’t only Tyler, was it? There was Jess to think about. She was relishing the time alone with her father after all those years apart.
How would she feel about having another person intruding?
It was Christmas. A time for families.
She’d be in the way.
“Perhaps I could stay with Elizabeth.” Desperate, she scrabbled for an alternative. “Until I can work something else out.” She looked at the woman who had been more of a mother to her than her own. “Elizabeth, would it inconvenience you hugely?”
“Stay with Elizabeth?” Kayla’s face fell, and she looked thrown, as if that option hadn’t crossed her mind. “Well, I er—”
Elizabeth stirred. “I’m so sorry, dear, at any other time of course you could, I’d love having you, but I’m expecting hordes of relatives over from England.”
“Relatives?” Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Which relatives?”
“Very distant,” his mother murmured, “second cousins. You’ve never met them. They’re on my mother’s side. British. You know I have relatives you’ve never met.”
“Hordes of them?”
“I don’t exactly know how many,” Elizabeth said vaguely. “I issued an open invitation, which probably wasn’t very sensible now I think about it. They wanted to come to Vermont, and it’s always a little lonely in the house at Christmas, so I suggested they visit. Oh, what a nuisance. Such bad timing. I’m so sorry, Brenna.”
“Lonely?” Tyler looked incredulous. “I would pay money to be lonely around here. The place is teeming with people night and day, and it sounds as if it’s going to get worse if Kayla keeps this up. We can offer many things at Snow Crystal but lonely isn’t on the list. Brenna, you can move in with Jess and me. You’d be doing me a favor. Otherwise, I’m going to turn round one day and discover Kayla has rented my empty rooms to tourists.”
Kayla’s face brightened. “That’s a—”
“Don’t even think about it,” Tyler growled. “Are we about done here? If there’s one guaranteed way of ruining a perfect powder day, it’s filling it with meetings.”
“I’m done! I’m so glad it’s settled.” Kayla threw them all a look of relief. “Now I don’t feel so guilty. Oh, my goodness, is that really the time?” She glanced at her phone in a panic. “I have a press interview scheduled for nine. And, Tyler, one other thing. I have a reporter coming to ski powder with you this morning. Hope that’s okay.”
“It’s one piece of good news after another,” Tyler drawled. “Which publication does he work for? Cartoon Weekly?”
“He’s freelance, and his work is published everywhere from The New York Times to Outside magazine, but this is a piece for a ski blog. They’ve got half a million followers. He’s doing a piece on undiscovered ski resorts and happened to be in the area, so he called me first thing. Fantastic coincidence that you’re free. He’s going to live twee
t it.”
Tyler’s expression turned from menacing to stormy. “He’s going to what?”
“Live tweet skiing with you.” Kayla avoided his eye as she typed an email on her phone. “He wants to give his followers a feel for what it’s like to ski with Tyler O’Neil.”
“I hope his followers enjoy the part where he skis off a cliff.” Tyler rose to his feet, and Jackson sighed.
“Sit down, Ty. They guy only has two hours to spare and it will be good publicity.”
Tyler shrugged on his jacket, his powerful frame simmering with suppressed volatility. “I will take your stupid master class, I will help coach the high school team if I have to, but I am not pausing in the middle of a run so that some guy I’ve never met and don’t care about can share the experience of making first tracks in powder with another half a million people I’ve never met and don’t care about.”
Kayla froze. Slowly, she let her hand drop. “I’m sorry. I can see I’ve overstepped.” She sounded contrite. “I thought it was a good idea.”
Jackson smiled. “It was a good idea. Ignore him. He’s been indoors for a full five minutes. That always puts him in a filthy mood.”
Tyler scowled. “If it’s such a great idea, you can do it.”
“I would do it,” Jackson said calmly, “but no one is interested in skiing with me. You’re the one with the crowd-pulling power, although I’ve never been able to understand why, given that you’re such a moody son of a—”
“Jackson!” Elizabeth gave her son a reproving look, and Jackson closed his mouth and shook his head.
“We’re all doing what we can to get publicity for the place, that’s all.”
Sensing that Tyler was about to combust and knowing that if that happened, they wouldn’t see him for the rest of the day, Brenna decided her own problems could wait. “The reporter can’t live tweet it. That isn’t possible.” Everyone turned to look at her and she shrugged, wondering why she was the only one who could see the problem. “If he only has two hours then that restricts where on the mountain he can ski. If he wants powder, then he’ll have to ski the runs above the resort and down into the glades, but he won’t be able to use his phone. There is no reception there. It cuts out constantly.”
Jackson pulled a face. “She’s right. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“And if he really wants to get a feel for what it’s like to ski with Tyler O’Neil,” Brenna continued, “then he’ll be skiing fast, hard and probably way out of his comfort zone. That is expert terrain. I’m assuming he’s an expert, but either way, he needs to concentrate or be killed. I suggest instead of live tweeting, which could easily become dead tweeting, he writes a piece afterward about how it felt. Maybe add a few quotes from Tyler.”
Tyler’s eyes gleamed. “Great idea. Here’s a quote. ‘Get the hell off my mountain.’”
Brenna suppressed the desire to laugh and a flash of envy that he was never afraid to speak his mind. “Give him my number, and I’ll give him some quotes on what it’s like to ski powder here.”
Kayla bit her lip. “He thought if the world knew Tyler skied here, it would draw the crowds.”
“I hate crowds.” Tyler’s tone was dangerous, but Jackson laughed.
“I love crowds. Crowds mean business. It’s fine. Tyler will do it. If he doesn’t, I’ll kick his butt.”
Tyler sent him a glance. “Can we live tweet that?”
Now that the crisis was averted, Brenna’s mind drifted back to her own problem. They’d moved on. They were already talking about other things. This didn’t matter to them; it wasn’t significant. But to her it was hugely significant.
Not just because she would no longer be living in Forest Lodge, which she adored, but that they expected her to move in with Tyler.
She didn’t know which part upset her most—the fact that Kayla could have put her in this awkward position when she knew how Brenna felt, or the fact that Tyler clearly wasn’t bothered.
If she needed further evidence of his lack of feeling toward her, she had it now.
He didn’t see the situation as awkward because it wasn’t.
To him, she was a lodger, nothing more.
He wasn’t worried that he might bump into her in her underwear.
Kayla was talking details. “The journalist will be here at 9:30 a.m. Will you do it, Tyler?” She looked anxiously at him, and he sighed.
“Yeah, I’ll do it. But you owe me.”
Kayla beamed, strode across the room and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you, have I told you that lately? You’re going to be a perfect brother-in-law.”
“Going to be? I’m already perfect.” He glanced between Kayla and Jackson. “So have you two finally set a date to get this thing over and done with?”
“This thing is called a wedding,” Jackson said mildly, “and over and done with isn’t the phrase I would have picked.”
Kayla rubbed the lipstick from Tyler’s cheek. “The answer is no, we haven’t set a date, but it’s on my to-do list.”
“June.” Jackson spoke firmly. “I’ve blocked out the whole place. We’re going to get married at Snow Crystal, in the orchard behind the house.”
“Oh!” Thrown, Kayla’s eyes flew wide, and she pressed her hand to her chest. “Seriously? That’s—well—” she breathed “—married?”
“You’re wearing my ring,” Jackson said softly. “I’m ready to make it official.”
She glanced down at the diamond sparkling on her finger, and when she spoke her voice sounded strange. “I’ll check my schedule for June.”
“I’ve already blocked it out in your calendar. It’s the only way I’ll get priority over your job.”
“That’s not true! But June—” Breathless, visibly flustered, Kayla started to pace again. “It’s not long. I’m not sure I can organize everything by then. There’s a lot to do.”
“Not for you. You’re not organizing your own wedding.”
“But—”
“You’re not organizing your own wedding, Kayla.”
“Then who will?”
“We will. Gramps, Grams, Mom, Élise, Sean—your family.” He spoke the words with quiet emphasis, and Kayla stopped in midstride, her eyes shining. She met his gaze, and something passed between them.
Elizabeth gave a soft sigh of satisfaction, and Jackson stood up and pulled Kayla into his arms.
“Get a room.” Tyler zipped his jacket. “And do it fast before Kayla books them all out because you’re sure as hell not staying with me. I’d better go and find your reporter.” He walked out, and Brenna stood up, too.
“Congratulations.” She walked across the room and hugged Jackson and Kayla, happy for them and envious at the same time. They didn’t share only friendship, they shared everything.
She’d never had that closeness with anyone, and it wasn’t because she hadn’t tried.
She knew that Élise treated sex as little more than an athletic workout. If rumor was correct then Tyler was the same. She didn’t know if she was different, more old-fashioned, or whether it was simply that she’d been in love all her life, and that had affected the way she related to other men.
The few physical relationships she’d experienced had been fun at the time, but there had been no deeper connection.
For her, love wasn’t fleeting or temporary. It wasn’t something that could be cured by absence or willpower. It couldn’t be found in a glance or a single night. It was deep and permanent. Loving Tyler was as much a part of her as her limbs and her hair color. She couldn’t switch it on or off.
“I have a class to teach.” She kept the smile on her face as she stepped out of the door and made sure it didn’t slip until she was safely clear of everyone.
* * *
“SO NOW TELL ME the truth.” Waiting
for the room to empty, Jackson blocked the door as Kayla tried to walk past him.
“The truth about what? How I feel about the wedding? I’m thrilled. Nervous, of course, and a little overwhelmed because I have a million things to do and—”
“Not the wedding. Why did you book Forest Lodge?”
“Oh, that—” She didn’t meet his gaze. “I already told you, I had a flurry of bookings and—”
He slid his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. “Honey, do you think I’m stupid?”
“You think I’m inventing guests?”
“No, but I think you could have chosen to put them somewhere other than Forest Lodge. You know how much Brenna loves that place. She was hurt that you’re making her move, and on the surface it’s a mean thing to do, especially this close to Christmas—”
Kayla winced. “Jackson—”
“—but I know you’re not a mean person, so there has to be something else behind it and given your ‘brilliant idea’ that she moves in with Tyler, I’m assuming the two are linked.”
“It is a brilliant idea. I’m so glad I thought of it.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t think of it two minutes ago. That isn’t how your brain works. You are a master problem solver. You analyze every possible solution. You started that meeting knowing exactly how you wanted it to end. So my question is, why are you trying to throw Tyler and Brenna together?”
Kayla opened her mouth to refute that accusation and then caught his eye. “Because Brenna has been in love with him her whole life, and nothing ever happens. It’s infuriating.”
“You can’t interfere, sweetheart.”
Her face fell. “I feel guilty. We’re so happy. I have you, and Élise has Sean, and Brenna loves Tyler so much, and he’s blind and stupid.”
Jackson closed his hands over her shoulders. “He is neither blind nor stupid. Emotions aren’t as easy to control as you wish they were. You can’t force feelings. They’re either there or they’re not.”
“You’re a man. You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you think. I grew up consoling women who were in love with Sean.” He smoothed her hair with his hand. “You can’t make one person fall in love with another. That isn’t how it works.”
