Brady answers on the first ring. “Reese? Did you find her?”
“It’s me,” I say.
“Becca! You’ve had me so worried. Lilith called, said you took her car and disappeared. Are you okay?”
Glancing at Reese, I worry he heard that part of my sordid tale. I stand up, pacing in front of the fire. He sits quietly, as if trying not to listen, but his brow furrows as if he gleaned enough to know that I did not make a clean getaway.
“I’m fine. I just ... I needed a break.” I explain that Lilith wanted me to perform on Christmas for a very questionable foundation that masquerades as caring about kids, but doesn’t in reality—and everything that led me here. “I couldn’t continue. I can’t spend another Christmas pretending to care about things I don’t believe in.” The truth spills out of me.
“So you stole a car and threw your phone out a window?” my brother asks.
“When you say it like that, it sounds bad.”
Brady sighs, and I can picture him rubbing his temples the way he always does when I stress him out. “Where are you?”
“Timber’s Edge Inn.”
I shoot Reese a questioning look.
He mouths. In Huckleberry Hill.
I tell my brother, then add, “It’s actually lovely. Very Christmas-y.”
“And Reese found you?”
He studies his hot chocolate.
“Yeah. He’s here.”
“Good. Becca, listen, we’re snowed-in too. The whole area is. But I need to know you’re safe.”
“I’m safe.” My voice cracks. “I can’t spend Christmas alone, Brady.”
There’s a pause, and then I hear a muffled conversation. Brady is talking to someone, probably his wife, Lindy.
“Please put Reese on,” Brady says.
I walk back to the table and hand over the phone. “He wants to talk to you.”
Reese takes it, and I watch his face as he listens carefully to whatever my brother is saying. His eyebrows lift in surprise.
“You want me to what?” Pause. “Well, I do have the next few days off, so ...” Another pause. “Okay. Yeah. Got it.”
He hands me the phone and my brother and I say goodbye. When I hang up, Reese has a twinkle in his evergreen eyes. Eyes I definitely shouldn’t be noticing—along with his broad forehead and that strong jaw and the way his uniform shirt fits snug across his shoulders.
“So?” I ask.
“So,” he says, a small grin tugging at his lips. “It looks like it’s you, me, and Timber’s Edge Inn for Christmas.”
My heart does a little leap that has nothing to do with the sugar in the hot chocolate.
CHAPTER 4
REESE
Rebecca sets down her mug, concern flickering across her face. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? I can’t have you stuck here with me.”
I lean back in my chair, trying not to smile at how she phrases it. Stuck. Like spending Christmas at a cozy inn with hot chocolate and a crackling fire is a grave hardship. “There’s snow place to go.”
