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She knew Josie was only kidding, but her words hit way too close to home. Amber forced a very fake laugh and busied herself getting her friend a cup of coffee.
“Seriously,” Josie asked. “Where is he? I’m dying to see him.”
Amber took a deep breath and handed her the mug of coffee. “You know what…I don’t actually know where Cole is. He didn’t come home last night, so I assume he met someone in town and—”
“Of course. That sounds just like him. He’s never lonely long. Didn’t I tell you to keep him away from the women? I should have known he’d—”
“I don’t need to hear about it.” Amber knew she was being ridiculous. Especially to Josie, who would have no way to know that her best friend had hooked up with her big brother. And Amber definitely wasn’t about to say anything. But at the same time, she really didn’t want to listen to how he was a total player who wouldn’t have a cold bed for very long.Thatshe definitely didn’t need to hear. “We should probably get some work done around here, right? I mean, you do have a pretty short deadline, right? You might as well use me while you can.” Amber forced a cheer into her voice she certainly didn’t feel. “What should we do first?”
Josie eyed her suspiciously and for a moment Amber was pretty sure she was going to call her on her weirdness. But finally, Josie nodded, followed by a smile. “I have just the thing.” She walked down the hall and admired the floor, or lack thereof, and the piles of baseboards and trim Amber and Cole had made in the living room. “You guys did a bunch,” she said. “Thank you. But I have a feeling that today’s project is going to be perfect for you right now. Wait here.”
She left to go outside, likely to the shed, and Amber let out the breath she’d been holding in. She hated lying to her best friend, but she wasn’t really lying if she just didn’t say anything at all, right? Besides, as of tomorrow, it wouldn’t matter anymore.
She’d leave, go to Toronto, and leave all of this—and Cole—behind.
Something in her chest ached at the thought of leaving. Not just Josie, but Cole, too. And if she was honest, that was the part that hurt the most. But there really wasn’t another option. Unexpected and completely unwanted tears pricked at the back of her eyes. She sniffed hard and forced herself to pull it together just in time for Josie to walk back inside.
She handed Amber a sledgehammer. “Here.”
“What’s this for?” Amber took the hammer and eyed her friend warily.
“Look, I know you, Amber. And I don’t know why yet, but I can see that you clearly need a little therapy session. We don’t need to talk about it right now,” she added quickly, silencing Amber’s protest before she could speak it. “There’ll be time for that later but I assume it has something to do with a man and I gotta tell you, Randy isn’t worth any angst at all. I never did like him. And he was never even close to good enough for you.” She caught herself and smiled. “But seriously, we’ll talk about that douche later. For now, it’s time for the next project.” She walked through the house to the living room.
Amber followed, ready to cry again—this time because she had such a good friend who knew her so well. “What are we going to be doing?”
“This.” Josie stopped in front of the wall that separated the tiny living room from the kitchen. “This wall needs to come down. Are you up for it?”
Amber eyed her friend and when she saw that she was serious, a small smile crept over her face. She hefted the hammer over her shoulder, ready to swing. “Absolutely.”
Cole had woken before dawn,freezing in the cold cab of his truck, and spent the next few hours driving around to warm up before the festival began and he walked aimlessly around the booths in the square. He’d had at least three cups of apple cider and was only narrowly able to talk his way out of decorating a cupcake. The little girl running the booth was very persistent, and it was hard to say no to six-year-olds in pigtails. But he was in no mood to decorate anything. What he was really in the mood for was some more of that Moon Juice, but he purposely avoided that booth because no good would come from him drinking that delicious beverage before noon on a Sunday. Besides, every time he saw the jars, he thought of Amber and their sleigh ride. It was stupid to have such memories with her after one night, but he couldn’t help it. Hell, he couldn’t stop thinking about her at all.
After she’d stormed out of the ice castle the night before, he knew he should go after her. But what would he say? It’s not as if he could tell her that the last few days he’d spent with her had been some of the best days he’d had in years, maybe ever. He couldn’t tell her that the connection he had with her was unlike any he’d ever had with anyone else. And he definitely couldn’t tell her that he thought he might be falling in love with her.
No. No way.
He couldn’t say any of those things. So, he’d done exactly what he shouldn’t have done. He’d let her go. He’d cringed when the door slammed behind her and then a moment later, he’d looked through the window and watched her run down the street. Later, after enough time had passed, he’d driven past Josie’s house and seen the lights on in the upstairs bedroom. Satisfied that she was home safe, he spent the rest of the night driving around the small town until he finally parked his truck in the lot of a local diner and stretched across the front seat to get a few hours of sleep. Not that he managed to get any at all. Whenever he did manage to drift off, he was tortured by images of Amber’s face in his dreams.
Cold, and tired of attempting to avoid thoughts of Amber, Cole retreated to the diner, and a hot cup of strong coffee. He chose a table in the back where he could stare out the window.
Outside, the sky was gray and it looked like it might finally snow soon.
Amber would love that. Snow on the last night of the frost festival. It would be perfect.
The thought made him sadder. He stared down into his now cold cup of coffee—how long had he been sitting there? —and tried to think of a way to get Amber out of his head.
He knew it was only a matter of time before he’d have to go to the house. Josie was coming home and he was going to have to face Amber sooner or later. He’d apologize for basically calling her boring and predictable and generally being a jackass. He couldn’t even lie and say that he didn’t know why he’d said those things. He did. Everything he’d said was because he meant it. Except the part where he’d said that Amber was boring. She was far from it. But the life she was choosing was. And he had no idea why she was making the choice she was. She obviously wasn’t excited about it. Why was it so hard to choose something different? She didn’t even see how much more there was to life. Toher.It made him crazy that she couldn’t see her own value. To see that she could have a life full of laughter, fun, and living. Because she deserved it. She deserved to wake up every day and laugh, look forward to the adventure and…
She deserved him.
He dropped his head into his hands and stared at the tabletop. He needed more time to figure out what he could say or do to somehow fix things. Not that he thought he’d actually be able to. Not really. The damage was done. He should probably just take off before he caused any more trouble.
“Cole?” He popped his head up in time for Josie’s screech to pierce the air. “Cole!”
He jumped up from his chair and met her in the middle of the diner. He wrapped his arms around his baby sister and swung her around as best he could without knocking over the other patrons, who were starting to fill tables for the lunch rush.
“Josie. What are you doing here? When did you get back?”
She pulled back and whacked him on the chest. “I got home hours ago. Nice of you to be there to greet me. And you didn’t even answer your phone. I’ve been calling you all morning.”
