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Suddenly profoundly tired—because thinking about his life with Nancy often had that effect on him—Cole ground the heels of his palms into his eyes.
“Long drive?” Ashley asked, and when he dropped his hands, he almost laughed at the worried-parent stares they gave him.
“The baby got me up at four,” he said, a plausible explanation, even partially true. “Then I decided to hit the road. I’m wrecked.”
“How is Ruby?” Mad asked. “I still can’t believe you’re a grandpa.”
The primal, reflexive need to share every picture he’d ever taken of his granddaughter fully triggered, Cole reached into his back pocket for his phone. “She’s amazing.” After finding his favorite recent picture of Ruby—sitting in Becks’s lap, her dark hair sticking straight up after a nap, her grin so wide she looked completely unhinged—he spun his phone around on the counter.
“Aw,” Ashley cooed, taking his phone and bringing it close. “She’s so cute!”
“How old is she now?” Mad asked. He grinned at the picture. “Cole, she’s precious.”
There was self-pride, there was parental-pride, and then there was grandparental-pride. It was next level, and it blazed through him like a solar flare. “Five months.”
Ashley passed his phone back, and Madigan asked, “They’re living with you now, right?”
“Yep.” Though he wanted to, Cole did not kiss his daughter and granddaughter on his screen before locking it. Nobody needed to know how often he did that sort of thing. “Becks is going through some shit with Ruby’s dad. He flaked after the baby was born, disappeared for three weeks. So they moved in with me. Josh eventually came to his senses, but Becks feels like she already has enough on her hands to manage his immaturity crisis too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been amazing having Becks and Ruby under my roof, but I hope they can work it out. He’s a good kid. Shit, they’re both just so damn young.”
Shaking his head, Madigan said, “Babies having babies.”
Cole huffed a laugh. “Becks is twenty-six, which is pretty much how old Nancy and I were when we had her. And we didn’t know anything about anything.”
“I was even younger when I had Davis,” Ashley said, her honeyed eyes going distant. “You’re right. We knew nothing.”
“I’m sure they won’t stay with me forever, but I also don’t want them to leave. It’s nice not being all alone in that big house.”
Thrust into a sudden uncomfortable silence while Ashley and Madigan stared at him, giving him the looks people who were settled and happy gave to their unsettled friends—the expressive equivalent ofyou poor thing—Cole blurted out, “How about all this snow, huh? Seattle’s in full spring, flowers everywhere. But it’s still, like, winter…here…”
Finally noticing Mad’s wide eyes, his tattooed fingers cutting across his also tattooed neck in the universal sign forShut up, dude!Cole stopped talking, but not before adding, “It’s really beautiful, though. And maybe it’ll all melt tonight.”
Ashley’s shoulders fell. “We were supposed to have the wedding outside. Shannon and Tex spent weeks building this beautiful trellis, and Sam just finished painting it for us two days ago. It was supposed to be perfect.”
“It’s already perfect, babe,” Mad told her. “Only now there won’t be bugs.”
“Solid upside,” Cole agreed enthusiastically. “Bugs in the wedding cake is never a good look.”
Ashley exhaled a pained little laugh, and while Madigan consoled her, telling her something that made her cheeks flush and her shoulders shake with laughter, Cole gripped his phone and squeezed. For reasons he couldn’t entirely explain, he felt the need to pull up his calendar and double check that he’d set his call with Mira for the right date and time, triple check the alerts, making sure he wasn’t on silent mode, wondering if he should set a special ringtone only for her—
“Wanna go get your bags?” Mad asked, interrupting his scheduling spiral. “Then I can show you to your room. I’ve got group with the guys in about an hour, so you can rest up”—his chin jutted toward Cole’s phone, his lips curling into a shit-eating grin—“until yourappointment.”
* * *
Settinghis bag down on the bed, Cole walked to the guest room window and pulled the curtains back, revealing the ski hill rising like a snow-covered wave toward a bright blue sky. “What a view.”
“It’s great, isn’t it?” Madigan joined him at the window. “Changes every day too. For example,” he said with a heavy sigh, “last week the slopes were bare, with little patches of bright green grass. Perfect for an outdoor wedding. We thought mid-May would be safe, but it’s Montana.”
Clapping a hand on his shoulder, Cole said, “Sorry, Mad. I hope I didn’t upset Ashley by bringing up the snow.”
“No worries, man. Sure, we would’ve preferred having the wedding outside, but Ashley says a ski hill owner should never complain about snow on her mountain, even if it’s on her wedding day.”
Cole laughed. “That makes sense. She’s amazing, Mad. I’m so happy you two found each other.”
Turning to face him, his eyes glassy in the sunlight, Madigan said, “I’m so happy you’re here. I know the wedding was short notice, and I know you’re busy—”
“Hey,” Cole said, cutting him off. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
It was hard to tell, but Cole thought Madigan’s chin wobbled under his beard. “I’m trying to hold it together, but I’m an emotional mess right now. I never thought I’d be this happy.”
