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“My bed isn’t big enough.”
“Already thinking about group activities again, Cherry?” Cody winks at her. “Me too. I don’t mind getting cozy.”
“I do,” West mutters.
“You guys are ridiculous.”
“Imagine how awful you would feel if something happened to us.”
She cuts her eyes to me and, even though she’s annoyed, I know I got her with that. She would never forgive herself, even if we weren’t on good terms.
“Fine,” she says with a groan. “The couch in my living room pulls out.”
“I have security equipment coming into the apartment in Anchorage next week,” West says.
“You have an apartment?” Violet looks around at us as pink splotches form on her cheeks. “In Anchorage?”
“Relax, Cherry.” Cody drops his hand onto her thigh and squeezes. “It’ll mostly be for Blake because he’s working on opening a branch of the bank there, too.”
She tries so hard to hide her feelings from the world. Her shell would be deceiving if we hadn’t spent a majority of our youth watching her every move. Especially West. He’s fluent in the secret language of Violet Fields because he’s a native to her.
“And it’s not ready for us to move into, regardless,” I add. “But we’ll need to get some supplies for the winter.”
Her eyes widen. “You’re staying for the winter?”
“We’re staying forever,” Cody and West say simultaneously.
“My agent sent an offer to Lars earlier this afternoon.” Cody lifts his beer and winks. “Hope you’re ready to work under me.”
ChapterThirty-One
“Good morning,” I say as I enter the kitchen to find Emerie sliding a pan of focaccia bread into the oven. The scent of rosemary and garlic makes my stomach growl.
Emerie looks up at me with her lips pressed together disapprovingly. “Eat something, then start some cookies.” Her eyes zero in on my neck. The bruise from West has turned from purple to a greenish-yellow. “You going to tell me what’s up with those boys?”
“They’re friends from high school.” That’s a stretch.
“Lars said one of them put an offer on the campground.”
“Yeah, he did.” I slide a biscuit into the toaster oven and grab a mason jar with blackberry jam.
I’m still adjusting to the news. Part of me is so hopeful but most of me is just anxious. I don’t know if I fully trust their motives yet, and while I have enjoyed their company I’m not used to people. I’ve found my own life here and whether they choose to believe it or not, I was happy. I don’t know if I can give them what they want because I don’t know how to let people love me.
“Violet.” The sigh in her voice makes my heart twist. She’s been nothing but amazing to me, and so patient with my reluctance to open up. “I know you don’t like to discuss your life before coming here, but it’s time. It can’t be a coincidence that they showed up and now your tires are getting slashed. You have a giant hickey on your neck.”
“Hard to slash someone’s tires while their mouth is on your neck.” I pull out the biscuit and slather on the jam. The sweetness of the berries erupts on my tongue, followed by the comfort of the biscuit.
“Mitch called me the other day.”
I barely contain the eye roll I have for him doing that. “You’re going to have to take Mitch with a grain of salt. He’s been trying to date me for years.”
“Yeah,” she nods, “because he cares about you.”
“Maybe he should care less. I’m not, and have never been, interested in him. And I have always made that clear.”
“You have, but there are people in this town that care about you. Even with the walls as thick as a glacier you’ve built around yourself.” She sets a steaming cup of Earl Grey in front of me. “We just worry.”
Guilt sours my stomach and I set the remaining bit of my breakfast aside. “I know, and I appreciate it so much. You and Lars mean everything to me. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without you two.”
