AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With trepidation, I opened the door. “Can we help you?”
He shoved his hands in his designer jeans pockets. “I was wondering if I could take you out for coffee.”
Okay. That was freaky. Had he heard what I just said to Charlotte?
Charlotte literally squealed. I knew what she was thinking, and she was wrong. Dead wrong, like Jacob Marley. In fact, it felt like I was living inA Christmas Caroland Patrick was a ghost from Christmas past come to haunt me. Honestly, he’d been haunting me for years.
“Um ... I don’t really have time.” That was true. Half my day had already been wasted.
“She’d love to,” Charlotte countered me.
I glared at her, and she laughed.
“Please, Isabelle,” Patrick entreated me with that smooth-yet-gravelly voice of his.
“Fine,” I breathed out, knowing Charlotte wouldn’t let it be. Besides, what did I have to lose? You know, besides my ish and my heart.
“I HOPE YOU STILL LIKEFrench roast with vanilla.” He handed me a mug he’d just poured from a thermos.
When he said go out for coffee, I had assumed it would be to a café. But there we were at a trailhead entrance not too far out of town. In my opinion, only nutjobs hiked these trails in the winter. But it was secluded, and given the earlierincident, it made sense for Patrick to want some privacy. Either that, or this was going to turn into a scene fromKrampus. After the day I’d had, I wasn’t going to discount my life going from the National Lampoon franchise to the horror genre.
The coffee had become my favorite after my trip to Colorado, but I never drank it. The taste came with too many good memories I couldn’t afford to live through again. I guess now there was no getting away from those memories. “I love it.” I took the ceramic mug claiming Patrick was the world’s best dad. “Thank you.”
We hadn’t said much on the drive up. Scary drive, I might add. I hated mountain roads in the winter, but Patrick adeptly traversed them. I’d only gripped the handle once. Even more, I hated the uncomfortable silence. It was made worse by knowing it never used to be that way between us. There was a time we could talk for hours on end.
“You’re welcome.” Patrick poured himself a cup before setting the thermos down by his feet.
I breathed in the scent I missed so much before taking a sip. It was like tasting him. Suddenly, I was transported to a different place and time. A time when Patrick adored me. I closed my eyes, wishing I could go back and do things differently.
“My brother and I used to ride our mountain bikes on this trail,” Patrick offered something out into the silence.
“Really?”
“Yes. I loved this place growing up. Something here calls to me. I guess it’s why I came here. Happier times and all.”
I held on to the mug with all my might. It was weird he said the place called to him. I had felt the same call. As had Charlotte and Drake, Nora and Calvin, even George and Daisy. But it didn’t matter; I knew what I needed to say. I had to address his loss. “I’m sorry about Nina.” Truly, I was.
His eyes widened, surprised I knew about them.
“She sent me a wedding invitation.”
He let out a heavy sigh, displeased.
“You were a beautiful couple.”
“Looks can be deceiving.” He downed half his cup of coffee like he was taking a shot of whiskey.
I shook my head, confused. But I didn’t know if I had any right to pry. “Was there—”
“I don’t want to talk about her,” he barked.
“Okay.” I stared out the window, watching the snowflakes hit the windshield, then melt before dripping down into tiny droplets.
“I’m sorry, Isabelle. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“I don’t understand why you brought me out here. I know you hate it when I assume anything about you, but you obviously have a problem with me.”
“What did you expect?”
