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When I was satisfied that there was nothing significant, I looked around for the mountain trail.
I was familiar enough with the land in all weather conditions that I wasn’t afraid to venture off. Nalani was alone in the house, but safe. The cabin had its own generator, internet and cell service, and had been stocked with enough food to feed a lot of people for several days, by which time we’d probably be able to get out anyway.
If she woke up scared, she’d call me.
I made my way up the private trail, marked by bright red reflective markers the family had installed years ago. I didn’t go far, just enough to make it to the tree house me, my brothers, and father had built… damn… thirty years ago, maybe? I stared up at it, half buried in snow and winter foliage, wondering if it was still as sturdy as the last time I’d come up here, after my father’s death.
It only took a moment to decide I was trying it.
The opening was icy for sure, but with the way we’d built the roof there wasn’t much snow accumulation. Inside, I checked for any wild fauna that might have sharp claws or teeth, and when I didn’t see any, I finally took a seat on the cold, rugged wood plank floor and pulled my phone out.
He answered pretty quickly.
“Boy, shouldn’t you be somewhere rubbing up on your pretty new wife?” Leon James asked, chuckling over the line.
I shook my head, unsurprised by that opening greeting from him.
Honestly… it was something my father would’ve said.
Leon wasn’tthatmuch older than me, but he’d been my father’s friend before mine, with a solid ten-year age gap over me. He’d become something of… an uncle figure, maybe. The only reason he wasn’t present at the wedding was because of my impatience. I didn’t want to wait until he could get back from a business trip overseas.
Couldn’twait, with the shit Nalani’s father was on.
But anyway.
“I’m sure she’s probably glad to get a break from me.” I laughed. “And that’s not—”
“Oh Iknowwhat it is.” He cackled.
“No, seriously.” I shook my head. “It’s not that type of comment. She… genuinely does not fucking like me.”
It was quiet on his end for a moment and then, “Uh… I don’t think that’s supposed to come until much later, my man. Right now it should still be lovey-dovey.”
“It was never lovey-dovey,” I explained. “This wasn’t… we’re not…”
“That’swhy you couldn’t give an old man a few weeks to head back your way. This was a corporate politics thing?”
I didn’t answer, which was an obvious answer.
I closed my eyes as Leon let out a low whistle.
“Okay.Okay.You got a contract in place, right?” he asked, immediately settling into business mode with me. “You know I love me some Evangeline James, but—”
“Nobut,” I interrupted. “That’s the part I want to talk about. The contract is airtight.”
“You want to talk about me loving Eva?”
“Yes. Well… not exactly. I mean, y’all are divorced, have been that way for a while. But the divorce took time, right?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it typically does. Get to your point.”
“I…shit.” I laughed at myself. “I’m… so, we’re not in love, you know? She barely tolerates me, actually. Which…”
“Seems like the kinda thing your ass would enjoy.”
I couldn’t do anything but laugh about that, because… he wasn’t wrong.
But still.
