“Hey, I gotta go.He’s on his way back, dangling the room key.I’ll call you later.”
“Have all the fun.”
“Thanks, I will.Don’t work too hard.”
“I promise I won’t.”
I hung up, my stomach twisting.I hadn’t planned for this.My carefully laid surprise—holding her, comforting her, finally being there—was now...complicated.Pocketing my phone, I inhaled and ran through possible options.
Tristan leaned against the van, tilting his head.“Everything okay?”
As I walked over, I rolled the left side of my bottom lip between my teeth.“It’s...news.Good news.But it’s...confusing.”
He raised an eyebrow.“Confusing?”
I shrugged, feeling exposed.“Tina...she’s getting back together with her husband.Completely caught me off guard.”
He nodded thoughtfully, and bit off a chunk of his protein bar.“So, what’s the dilemma?You keep going to Victoria and risk spoiling the surprise or turn around?”
“Well, she won’t even be there.Surprise,” I said, shrugging.“They’re having a spa weekend in Vancouver so I’m not sure what to do.I suppose I could go home, however, that would be unexpected for my kids.”I scrubbed my hands over my face.“I guess you could drop me off at the next major town and I can bus it back.”
“That might take a couple of days.”
“Perfect as then it won’t ruin my kids’ weekend.”A weak smile surfaced.There was no point in having them change their plans.I was gone for the weekend and they had the place to themselves.I couldn’t undo any plans they’d been hoping for.
He leaned a little closer, voice calm.“You know, if you really wanted to, it’d be easier to catch a flight home from Vancouver or Victoria than trying to take the bus back.Less stress, fewer connections.Or ...you still show up for when she’s expected back.”
I chewed on that, absently nibbling a corner of my Nutella-infused beavertail.“Yeah...I guess.But it feels...wrong.Like I’d be arriving to an event that’s already...over.”
Tristan gave a small, reassuring smile and pulled himself off the van.“Anna, surprises are never wasted.Even if it’s different than planned, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”
I forced a laugh.“You’re remarkably optimistic for someone who spends his days delivering wine to tiny towns.”
Shrugging, he kicked a pebble.“Or, and I’m just throwing this out there.”He inhaled heavily and stepped closer.“Spend the weekend with me.”
I froze.Forget heart flutters, I needed to see a cardiologist as my heart actually skipped a beat.
“Deliver the wines with me on the way to the island and spend the night at the winery.I have a great guest room, by the way, with the best view of the vineyard.”His words practically tripped over themselves.“In the morning, I take you to the airport and send you back home after you’ve had a chance to rest.”
I slow blinked, not fully hearing what he was saying.
“What?You’re a full-time mother and nurse, taking time to yourself probably ranks at the bottom of your list, am I right?”
Now I needed to see a neurologist too as my brain suddenly puddled.
“Anyway,” he stepped back half-heartedly and turned to the van.“It was just a thought.But I can drop you off at the airport in Vancouver too.”
Given the new option of spending more time with him, I struggled to process an answer and stared for way too long at his face, circling around his eyes, down his whiskered cheeks before I settled on his lips.I needed to breathe, to not feel the pressure of such a weighted moment that I wanted to say yes to, even though it was nothing more than two old friends hanging out.
A gust of wind lifted a stray strand of hair across my cheek.He went to reach for it, hand hovering, but jerked it backwards like he’d remembered something.“Spider floating on the breeze,” he said casually, scratching the nape of his neck.“Fell on you in the chem lab once, remember?”
Shaking my head, I blinked away the cobwebs and formed intelligent words once again.“Yeah, I screamed.Loudly.Embarrassingly.You’re using that as a cover?”
That impossible grin that both irritated and unraveled me at the same time surfaced.“Still, I had to save you, didn’t I?”
I rolled my eyes.“You didn’t save me; you threw your shoe at it.”I recalled the memory of a small scream escaping him too.After all, it was abigspider.
“Heroism takes many forms.”
