“Oh my God, I’m never going to make it.”
I laugh, but in my heart, I’m unbelievably grateful that she’s here with me. I don’t think I could do it without her, and I don’t think I could have left her behind either.
“We have snacks, and you have paper and a pencil.” I grin. “You’ll be totally fine.”
“All I’m saying is you’re lucky I love you because seven hours in a cramped little car... Ugh.”
I chuckle, turning up the radio and letting her bitch at me because this is what we do. I know she’s secretly happy to be here with me, no matter how long the drive is.
“You think the cabin needs a lot of work?” she asks as she scratches on the white paper with her pencil.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I haven’t been there in about ten years.” My grandfather pretty much kept to himself, but he did invite us to visit him every once in a while when I was really young.
But over the years, my father and he got along less and less, and we stopped going. Barely spoke. And then he left me the cabin.
I still don’t know why.
“You’re thinking pretty hard over there. Don’t hurt yourself,” Sarah jokes.
“Ha ha.” I shrug, settling back in my seat. “I just don’t understand why he’d leave it to me. I know my dad and he didn’t get along that well, but I’m my dad’s son. Why would he want me to have it?”
“Well, your cousins are dicks. I’m sure your grandpa knew you were the best choice.”
I fight my smile but lose that fight because she’s not totally wrong. All six of my cousins are total assholes. Spoiled brats, but as far as I knew, my grandfather got along with their parents far better than he did with my dad.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
She shrugs. “Maybe he knew.”
I glance at her briefly before turning my eyes back to the road. “Knew what?”
She shrugs. “You know. That you’re gay.” I can see the small smile on her pretty face from my periphery. We can say that out loud, and it feels damn good.
“How would he know that? And trust me, if he did, he wouldn’t have left me a cabin. He would have been saying something offensive to my father about it being his fault. Like it’s something bad.”
Her hand moves over to my shoulder, and she squeezes gently. “We all have our secrets. Maybe your grandpa knew and was more than okay with it. Maybe this is his way of saying you matter.”
I crinkle my brow and turn to look at her again. “You’re a romantic at heart.” I face the road and grin. “And totally fucking crazy.”
She shoves me playfully. “Ass.”
“Hey, don’t shove the driver. We could’ve died.”
She rolls her eyes, and I smile at her, knowing we were never in any danger.
But still, there’s no way in hell she’s right about this one. If my grandfather knew I was gay, the last thing he’d have done is give me a cabin to live my life as openly and freely as possible.
But it doesn’t matter if that’s what he intended or not.
That’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Chapter two
Mason
“Okay. Yeah, it needs work,” I say as Sarah and I look up at the cabin after our seven-hour drive.
“It better have working plumbing because I have to pee,” she says, doing a little dance with her bag slung over her shoulder.
