Chapter 2 #2
“We were supposed to fly out tomorrow morning.” I didn’t know why I was telling him. The honeymoon should’ve been another red flag, and I was tired of feeling like a fool, but I also didn’t wish to spend time in the past. “Before the worst of the snow hit.”
“Where were you going?”
“Bali.”
He let out a low whistle. “Nice.” His profile was harsh in the dash lights.
All ridges and angles. His face was narrower than his brother’s had been.
A sharp line of a nose. Dark slashes for brows and thick lashes.
His hair had been shaggy the few times I’d caught a glimpse of him in town, but today he’d neatly brushed it with a smart part on the side.
I preferred the shaggy look. “Do you want me to take you to the airport?”
God, no. I was almost more relieved to skip the honeymoon than the wedding. “He’s probably going or has canceled everything.” I continued scrutinizing my passenger window. The familiar landscape eased my nerves. I’d quit shivering a few miles out of Bourbon Canyon. “I didn’t want to go anyway.”
“You didn’t?” He did the quick-glance thing. The lick of heat from his attention was hard to ignore. The man was focused on driving, but he didn’t miss much.
How long had it been since one of the guys I dated had focused on me and what I felt? When they weren’t thinking about what I could do to them or for them? Was that why I’d stayed with Boyd?
His nitpicky and controlling behavior came off as personal concern and I was attention starved? “Bali, right? Should be a dream vacation.” I shuddered. “I hate planes.”
“Did the jackass know that?”
“Yes.” What a stupid little girl I’d been. “He said he’d help me relax. Told me it’d be fine, and I . . . let him steamroll right over me.”
“Don’t do that,” he growled, so deep, almost menacing, but the shivers that traced over my body weren’t from fear.
I was all mixed up inside. “Don’t do what?”
“It’s not unreasonable to expect to trust your partner. You didn’t let him bulldoze you. You trusted him and he abused it.”
I turned from the window. His jaw was tense and his knuckles were white on the wheel. Jonah was upset. On my behalf.
Today wasn’t the worst day of my life, but I needed the reassurance.
I never thought I’d find comfort in Jonah Dunn.
The tangle of emotions inside my chest added a few more knots. To take my mind away from my destroyed wedding and my unlikely rescuer, I hunted for a view of his cabin through the flurries. The peak of a building I hadn’t seen before poked through the fir trees.
“What’s that place?” His cabin should be tucked farther in, but he’d either moved it, which was absurd, or he’d had a few trees removed since I’d been here last.
“My shop.”
“You have a shop?” How long had it been since I’d been to Jonah’s barren cabin? Over fifteen years had gone by since I’d last ventured up this mountain.
“I have a shop,” he echoed.
The area overall hadn’t changed, but the scenery was different with the giant metal-sided shop with one large garage door on the side and a smaller one on the end. A regular door was beside it, facing the cabin across a short expanse.
The view was still stunning. Jonah had built the cabin halfway up the small, sprawling mountain, overlooking a valley that had a stream cutting through it. He used to hunt waterfowl with Eli, and I’d been invited to their parents’ house for pheasant stew or roast duck.
The water was mostly frozen with a few wet-looking spots from the recent unseasonably warm days, but the grasses along the back were brown and much of the growth was covered with snow.
Trails laid down by the wildlife tracked from the tree line to the water’s edge.
The other side of the valley was Bailey land.
No matter the season, the area was pretty.
Jonah turned into the driveway and—whoa. The shop was nicer than I’d first thought, with timber accents the same color as his house and a brown tin roof. There was a rocking chair sitting outside by a side door.
Did Jonah watch the sun rise over the lush stream in the summers?
I shouldn’t dwell on Jonah’s habits, but thinking about him was easier than dwelling on how my family was handling the Harringtons. Or how disappointed the guests were that they’d made the trip to Bozeman for nothing. Did the drama make the trip worth it?
Nope. Not dwelling on today. I focused on Jonah’s house.
The cabin was an A-frame structure made out of thick round logs with a brownish-red tin roof.
It was just as simple and stunning as it had always been.
Large windows took up the wall, and with the sparse trees, the view of the valley would be breathtaking.
I could enjoy my favorite winter drink, a spiced coffee with a splash of bourbon, and admire the view.
A garage had been added using the same materials. Jonah pulled inside. He hit the button for the garage door and we were enclosed in darkness.
“Are you sure you want to stay here?” he asked. He’d killed the engine, but neither of us made a move to leave. “The snow’s getting heavier and you know what it’s like. Doesn’t take much to block you in.”
I nodded. Where Mama lived, it was easier to get in and out when the weather was bad. We had the equipment to move snow if needed, as long as the visibility was there.
“I can take you to your mom’s,” he offered.
He’d have to go close to town to get to Mama’s, and then he’d have to get back before the snow got too deep or the wind kicked up too strong. “What if you get stranded in town?”
“I can stay with my parents.”
From his tone, I could tell bunking with Adam and Vera Dunn wasn’t ideal. I didn’t want to inconvenience him more than I had, but also, I didn’t want to leave his side. He’d stepped in when I’d been too stunned to move. I’d been a rabbit before a hawk.
Why was Jonah so willing to help me? I thought he hated me.
My siblings would do the same for me, but they were family. They’d feel like they had to. They would know not to berate me for impulsive weddings or last-minute cancellations. Jonah didn’t have to. He didn’t owe me. He should hate me.
When I fucked up in life, I did it big.
“I’d like to stay.” I picked at a nail. My pretty manicure was a soft wild-rose color, the same shade I would’ve made the bridesmaid dresses without Corinne’s pushy influence. Her lips had thinned when she’d seen my fingertips.
She’d said black and white with a touch of silver was the perfect winter look. Maybe the next bride Boyd manipulated would have the same style as her.
“I just need quiet, and I wouldn’t get that with my family.
” Fatigue overwhelmed me. My adrenaline was crashing.
Weeks of late nights following days of running between appointments for cake tastings and with photographers and the church staff were calling in their debts now.
I rubbed my eyes, letting out a long sigh.
“Take the guest room upstairs. Go get some rest.”
The guest room had been his bedroom, once upon a time. Before the accident that had claimed his brother’s life and left Jonah with lifelong injuries. If Jonah knew the role I’d played that day, he’d kick me out and make me walk home.