Grey chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”
There was a time when he was constantly traveling around the country in search of items to bring into his store. Now, he mostly left that up to Brody or waited for things to come through his door. Even though he didn’t travel often, he was certainly no stranger to packing for a road trip.
This one to Colorado, though, was full of the unknown. Sure, Grey had been to Aspen several times growing up when his family went for vacation. He needed warm clothes and all his winter gear. But it wasn’t the cold weather or the snow he didn’t know how to prepare for.
There were a lot of things that he and his older brother, Flynn, didn’t see eye to eye on, and Cora was at the center of that. Normally visits were short and sweet. The idea of being in the same house as Flynn for an entire weekend made Grey cringe.
As far as Flynn was concerned, Cora had never been good enough to marry into the family. The fact that she was poor and had no real familial ties of her own automatically made her a gold digger. It wasn’t that Grey’s family was particularly wealthy: His father walked out before Dare was born, and their mother struggled to provide for her three sons along with Grandpa’s help. Because of that, Flynn was protective of the money that they had worked hard to accumulate. Flynn was confident Cora only wanted someone to provide for her monetarily, and he never did let that go. Especially when Grey agreed to give Cora half of everything when they got divorced.
The best Grey could figure was that Flynn equated Cora leaving with half the money to their father walking out on the family. Their situation wasn’t even remotely similar, but Flynn never would listen to reason.
This weekend wasn’t going to be easy on several different levels.
Mom was looking forward to this trip and finally getting all three of her sons together again under one roof. He didn’t want to disappoint her, and he really didn’t want to get in a fight with Flynn over the weekend. It was more than that, though. He’d be seeing Cora again.
She was the woman he’d loved since high school. The woman he’d married and thought would be a part of his life forever. The two years following their wedding had been some of the most amazing, painful, and confusing of his life. Ultimately, he’d lost her, and he’d had to learn how to rebuild his life.
He hadn’t spoken to her in years. There was no way he could adequately come up with a list to cover all the scenarios that might possibly crop up over this weekend.
When he’d first found out about the trip his grandfather had put in his will, Grey had been shocked. Sure, Grandpa talked about a trip to reunite their family and get them talking again, but Grey had thought it was just the musings of a sentimental old man. A man who often spoke about how much Aspen meant to him. If Grey heard the story once about how Grandpa and Grandma had met there, he’d heard it a million times. It always made Grey smile. In fact, Aspen was where his grandparents married only months after that first meeting.
Grandpa had put in his will that his last wish was for the family to gather at the large cabin in Aspen for his birthday. How was Grey—or anyone else—supposed to say no to that? Grandpa always had said it was better to face your problems than run away from them. Grey suspected this was Grandpa’s way of making them all do that.
It was some time later before Grey discovered that Grandpa had included Cora on the invitation list. Grey shouldn’t have been surprised. Cora was at his family’s house nearly as often as he was through high school. Grandpa had seen the hurt Cora experienced growing up and knew that she needed someone to play the grandparent figure in her life. With her own family highly dysfunctional, and bordering on abusive at times, Cora spent as much time away from her own home as possible.
Cora and Grandpa had become close. So, when Grey spotted Cora at the funeral in San Antonio months ago, hanging out at the back of the church, it felt right for her to be there. But his heart had still leapt in his chest, and all the amazing memories that included her, collided with the painful ones.
He’d given her space during the funeral and never spoke to her, which was probably for the best. Except now he thought it might have been easier if that first conversation—no matter how brief or awkward—was already behind them.
They were going to be in the same cabin together for the weekend. Throw in Flynn, who he figured was probably livid that she’d been included, and it was not a good combination. It was unlikely he and Cora could avoid each other forever. Not for the first time, he prayed they’d all make it through this reunion without fistfights. If for no other reason, to make Mom happy and honor Grandpa’s memory.
Chapter Two
Cora took in a deep breath the moment she stepped off the plane. She hated flying. No, she despised it. She’d only been on a plane twice before, but this flight was the worst. It was bad enough getting to the gate at the last moment before boarding. Add to it the horrible turbulence and the blizzard they could barely fly through, and Cora was a bundle of nerves.
As soon as she walked through the tunnel that led to the airport, she made a beeline for the restroom. The Aspen/Pitkin County Airport thrummed with activity. She heard people mention that her plane was the last one in until the blizzard cleared, and that many flights had been cancelled going out as well. It would be a real mess to sort through.
All Cora was hoping for at this point was that the cabin wasn’t too far away, and that she could hire a taxi or rent a car to get her there before it became impossible to travel. She did not want to be stuck at the airport for the weekend.
Once she left the restroom, she located a sign telling her where to pick up her luggage and then headed for the counter to find some transportation. The smell of snow filled the area as the main revolving doors continued to bring in fresh, cold air.
For the tenth time that day, she wished she hadn’t come. She patted the back pocket of her jeans where the ticket stub from her flight resided. Maybe it was silly, but the stub reminded her of how much Grandpa Jackson wanted her to be here today, and that’s what had given her the courage she needed every step of the way.
Just thinking about him made her bottom lip quiver a little. She pulled it in between her teeth and steadied her emotions as she waited in the long line of people needing transportation. Her reason for being here alone was enough to make her cry over the loss of the only man who’d truly been a grandfather to her. There were enough difficult emotions involved seeing as how she was going to have to deal with Grey. The last thing she needed was for him to see her face all red and blotchy from crying.
No, Cora needed to hold it together. She had no idea what this weekend had in store and was determined to keep her reactions in check. She rolled her shoulders back and confidently awaited her turn. When she finally reached the counter, the grave look on the man’s face there did little to offer encouragement.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes, I’m trying to get to this cabin…” She pulled out the information Maria had sent her and handed it to the man. “Is there a shuttle or anything like that?”
“I’m afraid not, miss. We’ve had to call them all in with this storm.”
“Do you have cars for rent? Anything?” Cora’s stomach sank. See, she should’ve gone with her gut and stayed home. As it was, she was going to be stuck at the airport and still not be part of this family reunion thing. At least at home, she’d be enjoying the seventy-degree weather and watching re-runs on TV.
The man gave her a map of the area, circled the cabin she was supposed to be staying in, and then gave her a map of the airport as well. “If you’ll go here,” he told her and circled that area, “you can speak to someone who’s trying to find everyone here some kind of accommodation while we ride out this storm. With any luck, it won’t be as bad as they’ve been predicting.”
“Great. Thank you.” It was impossible to keep the disappointment from her voice. She walked away from the counter, her carry-on bag over one shoulder, one hand on her rolling suitcase, and the other holding the map. A voice spoke from behind her that jolted her heart into overtime.
