26. Tucker
Chapter Twenty-Six
TUCKER
“Oh, my god,” Skylar moaned after she finished chewing. “This is so good.”
She’d ordered salmon with some kind of lemon mustard glaze, and I’d ordered seared halibut. “I told you it was good.”
She took a sip of her water and glanced around the restaurant.
The ski lodge was a sweet place and pretty swank.
It had been closed down until about five years ago when the family had returned to town and renovated it.
The restaurant had that resort lodge vibe with hardwood floors and exposed beams crisscrossing the ceiling.
It also had the requisite floor-to-ceiling windows, and in this case, they looked out over the ski slopes.
The ski lodge was busy, seriously busy. It had become the most popular one in this part of Alaska.
“You ever been downhill skiing?” I asked.
Skylar shook her head quickly, looking startled that I would ask.
“All right, we’re going.”
“I can’t afford that.”
“We have standing ski passes for the lodge. They send us business, and we send them business. I promise you won’t have to pay a penny.”
“How is it in the spring?”
I eyed the snowy peaks just outside. “We’re at the top of the range, so there’s still snow. Let’s do it.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, and my balls tightened in response. Fuck me. This woman had a direct line of electricity to my balls.
“Okay, but I have never been on a set of skis. Ever.”
I bit back a smile. “It’ll be fine. We’ll do the bunny slope,” I assured her.
Just then, Delia Hamilton paused by our table, catching the tail end of my comment. “The bunny slope is my favorite,” she offered with a smile.
Skylar looked up at her, smiling shyly. “I’ve never been skiing, and he’s trying to tell me I should go.”
“Even the bunny slope is fun, or you could do cross-country. That’s fewer hills,” Delia offered. “How was dinner?”
“Excellent. Always,” I said firmly.
“Amazing,” Skylar added.
“I’m Delia Hamilton, by the way,” Delia said, holding her hand out.
Skylar shook it, replying, “I’m Skylar. I work out at the airport transport place.”
“I heard. We’re glad you finally made it up here to try our restaurant,” she replied warmly.
“Delia is the chef for the lodge. She and Daphne could be competition, but they’re friends instead,” I explained.
Delia laughed lightly. “Of course, we are. Daphne’s amazing. In all honesty, she’s a better chef than me.”
“Your food is excellent,” Skylar insisted.
Delia grinned, lightly squeezing Skylar’s shoulder. “I hope so. I wasn’t professionally trained, but I’ve been a cook my whole life.”
“Delia’s family owns this lodge,” I added.
“Not me,” she returned.
“You married into it,” I teased.
Delia grinned before shifting her focus to Skylar again, explaining, “Gage Hamilton is my brother-in-law. He returned to open the lodge after their parents closed it years ago. Marley, who you might have met at the reception desk, is his wife and does all the magic to make this place run. The rest of the family has mostly trickled back except for Becca. She’s in Seattle, but she comes up a few times a year.
She’s our city connection. I’m married to Garrett, Gage’s brother.
He helps out here, and he’s also a lawyer, so if you need any legal help, I can connect you to him. ”
“Well, I hope I won’t need his help,” Skylar replied.
Delia grinned. “You never know. He handles all kinds of legal cases, from criminal to property law and estate stuff. Anyway, it’s very nice to meet you,” she said warmly. “I hope we see more of you.”
After she departed, Skylar asked, “Do you know everyone?”
“Definitely not,” I deadpanned.
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Everywhere we go, people know you.”
“This is a small town. It’s hard for people not to know each other. Trust me, you will get to know most of the people in town. Maybe not everybody, but a lot.”
She took another sip of her water. She’d been looking worried all night, and I wanted to comfort her.
I sensed if I were to even hint that I might notice her worry, she would shut the door on that conversation so fast my ears would ring from the slam of it.
I kept telling myself I could manage this.
We could have some kind of dating relationship, and she wouldn’t matter too much.
I wanted her to believe people were worth trusting.
Except the way I felt about Skylar was already opening doorways in my heart I hadn’t known existed.
When you fall in love when you’re young, there’s an innocence to it.
When you’re older and more jaded, there’s something pure in a very different way about falling for someone.
Oh, I wasn’t kidding myself. I wasn’t in love with Skylar yet and didn’t think I would ever fall in love. I knew how deep the blade could cut, so letting someone matter at all meant a lot.
When I got back to Skylar’s place, I honestly wasn’t thinking when I pulled around the back to park. It was only when I cut the engine and glanced sideways that I realized Skylar had noticed.
All evening, she’d given off a raw, touchy vibe. After what happened with Ludie, I understood. I wanted to fix everything for her.
“You checked on Ludie, right?” I asked.
“I texted. Dan said she’s fine.”
“I’m sure she will be.”
The second those words came out, I realized that was total bullshit.
There was never any certainty in life. Things went wrong, sometimes terribly, painfully wrong, and I knew that better than most. People who were healthy in the glow of their youth could be struck down.
Ludie wasn’t young. Maybe she would be fine tonight, or even for a little while.
Yet there was one guarantee in life. We all died. At some point, her time would come.
As I stared into Skylar’s worried gaze, I wasn’t going to share that train of thought. The sound of my truck’s engine cooling ticked in the quiet.
Skylar startled me by asking, “Do you want to come in?”