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Cedar Springs wastheirterritory. They didn’t like her. Well, maybe they did. Or they would…or…whatever…
She took a deep breath and then another.
“Hey, are you okay?” Cole slid his hand over her thigh and squeezed. His touch brought her back to the moment.
“I’m fine.”
He gave her a look, but then quickly returned his gaze to the icy road in front of him.
“I am,” she said again even though he didn’t ask. “I just needed a bit of fresh air.” She forced a cheeriness into her voice and it seemed to appease him.
“It’s certainly fresh out there.” He unrolled his own window. “It’s downright freezing.”
The blast of icy air only lasted a few moments before they were both shivering and they once again put their windows up.
“It may be cold,” Cole said. “But it sure is beautiful here. I’m looking forward to trying some snowboarding.”
“You are?”
“You don’t snowboard?”
Amber shook her head. Of course she didn’t snowboard. It was dangerous.Reallydangerous. Her parents had always tried to get her to join them at Whistler, a ski resort just outside of Vancouver, but Amber had always opted to stay home while Chelsea took them up on their offer. She was way less likely to break a leg if she didn’t strap herself to a board and point it down a mountain.
Had she always been so boring?
Sadly, she knew the answer to that. She had. And maybe it was time that she stopped blaming her past for that. After all, one could only blame their parents’ life choices for the outcome of their life for so long.
She sighed, but quickly covered it up with a smile.
“But I’ll try it,” she said before she could overthink it.
“You will?”
Amber couldn’t be sure who was more surprised. But once she’d said it out loud, it actually sounded like a good idea. “I totally will.”
Cole slipped his hand in hers and squeezed. “You’re full of surprises, Amber.”
That was the truth. She hardly recognized herself lately.No job, no plan, no…“That’s the turn,” she told Cole, interrupting her own internal thoughts, which was probably a good thing because they always led to the same place—a mild panic attack.
Okay, a panic attack that was beginning to grow in intensity each time.
At some point she was going to have to figure out the future. But today wasn’t that day. “Right here.” She pointed to the turn, and consulted the instructions that Chelsea had given her. They were going to meet at the neighborhood pub, the Grizzly Paw.
Chelsea had moved in with her new boyfriend, and apparently that left an empty room at their half-brother Mitch’s house, as well as a room at their oldest brother, Ian’s, house, which happened to be the house where their half-brothers, growing up, had spent their summers. When Amber heard that, she knew that there was no way she and Cole could stay there. After all, that was the house they’d been in when they’d found out about their father’s deception.
How could she stay there knowing that?
How could she stay with either of them?
Once again, Amber was filled with indecision.Maybe they were doing the wrong thing?After all, they’d been happy enough going along without meeting.Why should that change now?
But they were here, and Cole was making the turn down the road that would lead them to her family. All of her family.
Besides, it wasn’t as if they had to stay with either Mitch or Ian. She had two other brothers. Declan was living with his fiancée Evie and her son, Jonah. Which meant there really was only one option left—Cal. He was close to Amber in age, and they’d been friends in their teenage years although they’d lost touch a little bit lately as Cal’s movie star career had taken him all over the world on jobs. Of course, now he, too, was settled into Cedar Springs, filming a show based on Ian and his fiancée Gwen’s life.
Amber hadn’t said it outright, but she was hoping that Chelsea had read between the lines and would secure them a room with Cal and his fiancée Milena for the holiday.
Maybe she should have said it outright? Yes. She should have. She never should have left something like that to chance.
