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I could just picture the cabins in my head. It would be snowy, with footpaths going from cabin to cabin. The larger one sat in the middle, making it easy for everyone to gather there. I mainly stuck to the main cabin. Harrison and I would find something to keep us busy while Holden and Jilly took care of their kids—a fire with card games, some wine, and travel stories from Harrison. A quick glance at Elliot gave me a glimpse of the future—him sitting next to me as Harrison told a crazy story. His arm draped on the back of the sofa, possibly his fingers brushing my shoulders, chills running down my spine as his fingers would find my neck and hair, not caring that Harrison was in the room with us . . .
I blinked away the thought. That wasn’t what this was.
“Deer Valley? Isn’t that fancy?” Elliot asked, leaning closer on the table.
I reached for my lemonade, taking the straw and mimicking Elliot from earlier. I was suddenly very thirsty. “Very, but we enjoy it while we’ve got it. We go to Main Street and we’ll take some trips to Salt Lake—have you ever been?”
Elliot shook his head, a single corner of his lips raised. Was this man always smirking?
“I think you’re going to like it. Oh, and there’s an art’s festival happening while we will be there, I’d love to go to that a few times.”
“So, I can go?” He raised his eyebrows and leaned in on the table.
“Here’s your burger’s guys, enjoy.” Jordan put the plates in front of us, taking one glance at me.
“Thank you.” I gave Jordan a quick smile and then scooted my plate to the side, bringing my hand up to grasp Elliot’s. “I think you’re in too deepnotto go, don't you agree?”
He laughed, his thumb pressing on the same spot as before. “Agreed.” He loosened his grip on my hand to lean back into thechair, “In that case, we’re going to have to meet up more often. And please, stop ghosting me.”
I furrowed my brow and scrunched my nose. “Okay. I’m sorry. No more avoiding or ghosting. We have two weeks to figure out how to pretend to be a couple.”
Elliot popped a French fry in his mouth. “Two weeks. Like I said before, it’s going to be a blast.”
Elliot dropped me back at the office, watching as I got into my car, and even followed me out of the parking lot. As soon as I walked in the door, I called Jillian. I had to act excited that Elliot—I mean Daxton—would be coming to Park City.
“Hey, Jame,” Jillian’s voice echoed in my ear.
“Hey, Jilly, just thought I’d give you the good news. I talked with Dax and he’s down to come to Park City with me.”
“You’re kidding!” she screamed. “Oh, mom is going to be thrilled.”
“He’s excited.” I kicked off my shoes and turned the light on. “He wants to go skiing, so I hope Holden and Harrison are up for it.”
“Have you seen the snowpack Utah got this year, Holden is definitely wanting to ski. Not sure about Harrison, but Holden wants to take the kids. He’s already rented the gear from the resort . . . well he has it reserved.”
“Oh perfect, I’ll tell Ell . . . Daxton and I’m sure he will want to jump right in on that day.”
“You sure he’ll want to spend time with the kids? I thought you would want to show him around Park City.”
“Oh, I will, but I know he wants to ski. I’m sure he won’t mind the kids.”
I bit my bottom lip. We never went into detail on my nieces and nephews. I lowered my phone and put Jilly on speaker, pulling up Elliots text thread for the first time since the wedding.
Me:How do you feel about kids?
“My kids are tough. Add Holden’s into the mix and that's a whole other ball game,” Jillian said.
Elliot:Well isn’t that funny - all of your messages just turned to “read.” I love kids. I have nieces and nephews of my own. We’ll have a snowman building contest.
“Dax just said he’s totally in love with kids,” I responded as I typed out my answer to Elliot.
Me:You sure you want to ski down a mountain with them?
Elliot:100%. As long as I get to choose the bar afterwards.
I laughed.
“What?” Jillian asked. “Is Daxton there? Can I say hi? FaceTime? I need to meet him!?”
