by Marie Force
“They just dropped you off. They didn’t say anything?”
“No, not really.”
Cameron tapped her forefinger against her lip. “That’s surprising.”
“Why?”
“Never mind. Keep talking. You went back to the inn, and then what?”
“There was a guy playing the piano in the lounge, so we went in and had a drink. Well, a couple of drinks actually . . . Too many for him to drive home, so he came upstairs with me.”
“Did you sleep with him?” Cameron asked, scandalized.
“He slept next to me, if that’s what you’re asking. But mostly we talked. And it was nice. Really nice. He makes me laugh and he makes me feel . . .”
“What? What does he make you feel?”
Lucy shook her head. How could she explain what she didn’t understand? “I don’t know, but I like him. A lot.”
“He must like you, too. He shaved off the beard he’s had since high school.”
“He did that because I told him I wondered what he looked like under all that fur, so he bought clippers and shaved it off.”
“And?”
“Obviously I liked what I saw. I’ve spent six weekends with him.”
Cameron fell back on the bed. “I can’t believe this! You’ve been sleeping with him for six weeks and I’m just now finding out about it?”
“I haven’t been sleeping with him sleeping with him. Until well, yesterday.” Lucy had no idea what brought on the flood of tears that suddenly streamed down her cheeks. God, she was such a basket case, and she absolutely hated feeling so out of control.
Cameron sat up. “What? Was it bad?”
Lucy snorted out a laugh and shook her head. “Hardly. What’s the exact opposite of bad, and don’t say good, because that’s not adequate enough.”
“I know,” Cam said with a sigh. “I get it.”
Lucy nudged her friend with her shoulder. “It’s really good to see you. I’ve missed you so much.”
Cameron hugged her tightly. “I’ve missed you, too.”
“So you’re not mad at me for keeping such a big secret?”
“I’m furious! All this time I could’ve been getting the juicy details!” She tucked a strand of escaped hair behind Lucy’s ear, letting Lucy know she still loved her despite the deception she’d perpetrated. “Why did you feel the need to keep it a secret?”
“I’m not sure exactly. Maybe because it’s not going anywhere. It’s just a fling, so why bring everyone else in on it?”
“Just a fling?”
“Of course it is. What else could it be?”
“Call me crazy, but six weekends sounds like more than a fling.”
“It’s not more. It can’t be more.”
Cameron studied her in a way that made Lucy feel raw and exposed. Few people knew her better than Cameron did. “Oh, shit, Luce.”
“What?”
“You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”
“No! Have you heard anything I’ve said? It’s a fling. That’s all. Stop trying to make it into a big bloody deal. Just because that’s what happened for you doesn’t mean it’s going to happen for me. It can’t happen. There’s no way I’m moving up here, and he knows that.” Lucy wiped the tears from her face. “I’m sorry I kept it from you. One week became two and then two became almost two months and the next thing I knew, it was a big secret. It just sort of . . . happened.”
“You have to give me some of the juicy details . . . He’s got that whole brawny sexy thing going on.”
Lucy giggled at Cameron’s description of Colton. “So I’ve noticed.”
“And?”
“What do you want me to say? It was amazing. Best sex I’ve ever had, but you already know that because you’re having the best sex of your life with his brother. What’s the deal with the Abbott men and their magic . . . wands?”
Cameron dissolved into a fit of laughter that took Lucy down with her. “Did you really just say that?”
Lucy fell back on the bed next to her friend and joined in the laughter. How could she resist? It was kind of funny. Well, sort of . . . Laughing with Cameron gave her something else to think about besides the mixed-up mess that was her “relationship” or whatever you’d call it with Colton.
“I can’t deny that Will does, indeed, have a magic wand.”
That set them off all over again, and Lucy laughed until her sides ached. She looked over at Cameron, who was breathing hard and wiping tears from her eyes. “I’m really glad you know. I hated keeping it from you.”
“You still haven’t told me why you did.”
“Everything with you and Will was still so new. I didn’t want you to think I was butting in on your scene. And I felt like a cliché sometimes. Taking up with the brother of my best friend’s boyfriend. It felt sort of tawdry.”
“Mmm, tawdry. I love when things get tawdry.”
“Stop. I’m trying to be serious here.”
Cameron turned her head so she could see Lucy’s face. “You know that one has absolutely nothing to do with the other, don’t you? Me and Will. You and Colton. Two totally separate and unrelated things.”
“Not entirely unrelated.”
“You know what I mean.”
“It didn’t feel unrelated to me.”
“Well, it is. Whatever happens with you guys has nothing to do with us, beyond both of us wanting both of you to be happy.”
Cameron’s sweet words brought new tears to Lucy’s eyes. “I feel like such a shit for keeping this from you. I’ve felt bad all along. I hope you know that.”
“Now that you’re out and proud, maybe you can relax and try to enjoy whatever time you get with him without feeling like it needs to be a big secret.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I think I’m going to end it with him.”
Cameron sat up abruptly. “What? Why? Didn’t you just say you’re having the best sex of your life with him? And I know for a fact he’s a really good guy. Just like his brother.”
“I know all that,” Lucy said, unprepared for the sharp stab of pain that hit her in the chest when she contemplated ending things with him. The thought of never seeing Colton again was just that painful. “But every time I see him, we get in deeper and deeper, and really, what’s the point?”
“The point,” Cameron said, “is you’ve found a connection with him that doesn’t come along every day. You can either see what becomes of it or spend the rest of your life wondering what might’ve been.”
“Why do you have to put it like that?”
“Because it’s true! You just told me it’s nothing more than a fling, and now you’re saying the fling has to end because it’s becoming more than a fling. Which is it, Luce? A fling or more than that?”
“I don’t know! I’m so confused and the more time I spend with him the more confused I seem to get. It’s a mess!”
“Do me a favor, okay? Don’t make any rash decisions. Let it ride for a while and see what happens.”
“If I do that, it’s only going to be harder to end it later.”
“Maybe you won’t have to end it. Maybe you can figure out something that works for both of you.”
“Why are you fighting so hard to make this work when I don’t even know if I want it to work?”
“I like you two together. It works for me.”
“Well, as long as it works for you . . .”
“Shut up,” Cameron said with a laugh. “You know what I mean.”
“You know what the scariest part is?”
“What’s that?”
“You know my thing with guys? The thing that always happens?”
“Yeah . . .”
“It’s not happening this time. I’m not getting bored and easily distracted. Most of the days I spend with him are weekend days so I don’t take my meds, and I’m never bored or distracted with him. I keep thinking it’s because we only get the weekends, so
I don’t spend enough time with him to let the ADD sidetrack me.”
“What about when you’re not with him? Do you think about him?”
“Um, yeah . . . A lot.”
“Shit, Luce. You’ve found the ADD antidote.”
“Don’t make jokes! I’m being serious.”
“So am I. It’s the same for me with Will. I’m always interested in him. I’m never scatterbrained or forgetful or easily distracted when it comes to him. My focus has never been so laser sharp, and no meds are required to make that happen.”
Lucy groaned. “That’s not helping!”
Cameron took her hand. “Don’t do anything you might regret, Luce. I’d hate to see that happen to you.”
Lucy would hate it, too, but more than that, she’d hate to have her heart broken or be responsible for breaking his.
CHAPTER 9
Today is the first Tuesday in March, the day designated as Town Meeting Day across Vermont. Traditionally, sugarmakers consider this day their deadline for being tapped out. This year, for us in our little microclimate, all we know so far is it isn’t an early season for us.
—Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, March 5
“What’ve you got to say for yourself?” Will asked Colton as he made coffee in the kitchen.
“You’re not my father, Will. Stop acting like Lincoln.”
“I’m not acting like Lincoln. I’m trying to find out when you started messing around with my girlfriend’s best friend and why you felt like you had to keep it a big secret.”
Colton raised an eyebrow in the direction of his older brother. “Really? You’re actually standing in the middle of my weekend with the woman I don’t spend enough time with as it is asking me why I felt the need to keep it a secret? Gee, I wonder. And P.S. I’m not messing around with her.”
“Don’t be a smart-ass. You know this is my business. It affects Cameron, so it affects me.”
“It doesn’t affect Cameron, and it doesn’t affect you. It’s got nothing to do with either of you.”
“You’ve lost your mind. That’s the only possible explanation for such an asinine statement. Maybe it’s all the years you’ve spent in isolation on the mountain. You’ve forgotten how the real world works.”
“I haven’t forgotten a thing. I’m perfectly socialized despite my isolation.”
“Then how can you possibly think this has nothing to do with me or Cameron? Who do you think will have to mop up the mess if you break Lucy’s heart?”
Holding a mug of steaming coffee and wishing he had a shot of something stronger to add to it, Colton leaned against the counter. “Who’s going to mop up the mess if she breaks my heart?”
Will huffed with aggravation. “You’re not taking me seriously.”
“Oh, I am. And for your information, I have no intention of breaking her heart. I quite like her heart and everything else about her. If I have any say in the matter, she and I will be messing around, as you put it, for a good long time to come. So no need to get out the mops and buckets, no intervention needed. It’s all good. In fact, why don’t you get the hell out of here and leave us alone? We were having a perfectly nice time until you showed up.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Dad gave me the house for the weekend.”
“Funny, he gave it to me, too.”
Will stared at him, disbelieving. “He totally set us up.”
“Looks that way.”
“Unreal,” Will said with a laugh. “What’s his deal?”
“Clearly he wanted to know who I was hanging out with, so he sent you to find out.”
“What a conniving pain in the ass he is. Did you hear he and Gramps messed with Hannah’s car on a day when all of us were going to be out of town? She had no choice but to call Nolan.” Their sister was now engaged to the mechanic who’d come to her rescue.
“Are you serious? Where did you hear that?”
“Nolan told me. He couldn’t figure out why her relatively new battery was suddenly failing. After Dad and Gramps kidnapped him—”
“Wait. They did what?”
“The day after Homer died,” Will said of Hannah’s dog, “Mom and Dad found Nolan asleep with Hannah on the sofa. Apparently he’d stayed with her so she didn’t have to be alone after such a sad loss.”
“That was nice of him.”
“I thought so, too. Anyway, that same day, Dad picked Nolan up at work, took him to Gramps’s house and they grilled him about his intentions over pastrami sandwiches. He was laughing about it when he told me, and I think he sort of appreciates the nudge they gave her, but still . . . At the time? Not so funny, especially when Hannah showed up in the middle of their lunch and wanted to know what he was doing there.”
Colton shook his head even as amusement warred with annoyance. “I’m sure they played all sorts of dumb and acted like they hadn’t done anything wrong.”
“Something like that.”
“One of us needs to give them a taste of their own medicine. You should go home and tell Dad that my ‘girlfriend’ is a stripper and I didn’t want him to know about it.”
“We’ve got to come up with something better than that.”
“Maybe you report back that I was here but really just fishing like I told him.”
“That’s a possibility, too.”
“Either way, you can’t tell him the truth.”
“Why not?”
“Because . . . I wouldn’t want to get his hopes up. He likes Lucy. They both do. Hell, I like her, but she insists it’s not going anywhere, so . . .” Colton shrugged. “Not really worth starting an Abbott family furor over it.”
“Who you trying to sell that to, bro? Me or yourself?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re trying awfully hard to convince yourself it’s no big deal with Lucy.”
“It’s not. We’re just having fun. That’s why we didn’t see any need to involve the whole family. It’s just . . . Fun.”
“Hmm.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Hmm?”
“You and me, we go way back.”
“Oh for Christ’s sake—”
“Hear me out. I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“Like what?”
“The beard, for one thing. It was your trademark. Your signature. It’s on the syrup bottles, for crying out loud. A couple of weekends with her, and it’s gone? Just like that?”
Colton tried hard not to squirm under the glare of his older brother’s shrewd gaze. “I’d been thinking about getting rid of it for a while now.”
“Really.”
“Yes, really. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
“No reason.”
“You don’t need to be all smug and sanctimonious. Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“I know you as well as anyone does, and you’ve been different lately. I’m not the only one who’s seen it. Everyone has noticed.”
“So what? I mix up my routine a little and suddenly I’m different?”
“It’s more than that.”
Right then and there, Colton hit his limit. He put down his mug. “Look, Will, this has been a nice visit. Glad we had the chance to catch up. But I’ve got better things to do with the limited time I get to spend with Lucy than try to defend myself to you, when again, it’s none of your business what I’m doing or who I’m doing it with.”
Will stood up straighter, prepared to engage.
Colton held up a hand to stop him. “I’m done. You’re my brother and most of the time I love being around you. This is not one of those times. Take your lady and hit the road. I was here first, and I’ve got other plans for this weekend than arguing with you.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got plans for this weekend that don’t involve you.”
“You’d better find somewhere else to have these plans of yours.”
“Why? It’s a big house. We can coexist. You won’
t even know we’re here.”
“No way. There’s no way you can make yourself disappear enough for my liking.”
“Unless you were planning to get it on in the kitchen—and you’d better not do that or I’ll tell Mom—you can have the downstairs. We’ll take the upstairs. You won’t even know we’re here.”
“Will—”
“We’re not leaving. Cameron needs this weekend away from it all. She’s burned out big time, and she’s exhausted. So . . . Live and let live?”
“Will you stay out of my business?”
“To the best of my ability.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“That’s all I’ve got.”
“Wait, where’re you going?”
“To get our stuff from the car and to let in the dogs.”
“You brought your dogs?”
“Hell yes, I brought them.”
“Great,” Colton muttered under his breath. “Four dogs and two extra people. Just the romantic weekend I had in mind.”
“Did you say something?” Will asked on his way out the door.
“Nope.” What was the point? Will wasn’t going to budge and neither was he. Somehow their romantic weekend for two had just turned into a not-so-romantic weekend for eight. The dogs counted. Of course they did. As if she had read his mind, Sarah nudged at his hand. He ran his fingers through her silky hair. “You feel my pain, don’t you, girl?”
He thought she was going to agree with him until Trevor and Tanner came barreling through the front door and all bets were off. With Elmer hot on her paws, she galloped toward her littermates, delighted to see them. “Traitors.”
Cameron emerged from the bedroom, looking for Will and hoping to figure out what their next move should be. This whole thing had come as a total shock to her, but with hindsight she couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured it out sooner. Both Colton and Lucy had been acting strangely, disappearing on the weekends, giving vague answers when asked about their plans and generally being evasive.
The old Cameron, the one who spent most of every day in close proximity to Lucy, would’ve picked up the scent of gossip weeks ago. The new Cameron, the one who was caught up in her new life with her new love, hadn’t been paying close enough attention to her best friend. That realization pained her.
