28. Jared
JARED
I did my best to avoid Lacie for the rest of the day, but when she caught me after dinner and asked me about the bonfire, I couldn’t tell her no.
So here we were.
I had to come. I had to comfort her—not break her heart all over again. I’d done my fair share of that last night in the barn.
Guests were packed tightly in the entrance to Harper’s Inn, each peering out the windows for a sign of the promised sleighs that would ferry us all up the mountainside for a starlit bonfire in the snow.
Lacie seemed to be doing better on her foot. She’d gotten a brace from Junie and said wearing her shoes and the brace made it almost feel ordinary. I doubted that. But I wasn’t going to say anything.
We’d also given the journal entry to Junie when we’d gotten the brace from her.
“Reindeer gave you this?” Junie asked.
“Yeah,” Lacie said. “I know that sounds crazy, but we got an invitation to meet Santa’s reindeer hanging in a stocking in our room. So when we went out there, they were like, there. And this was on one of their antlers.”
Frowning, Junie had taken the paper and perused it.
“Do you think it’s legit?” I asked.
“It sounds like Santa implied that the radio makes mistakes,” Lacie added. “I think it made one with us.”
“I…I don’t know,” Junie said, tucking her lips into her teeth. She met my gaze first and then Lacie’s. “Do you mind if I keep this?”
“Not at all,” Lacie said before I answered.
I just shook my head.
“Thanks for showing me,” Junie said, tucking it into the drawer of the reception desk.
Shaking the memory away, I offered a hand to help Lacie down the stairs, but she sniffed and rejected my help.
It was just as well. I’d been doing the same to her, but I couldn’t understand what had shifted between us. Was she upset that I refused to act like we were married?
How could she just go along with this? My heart told me what reality was.
I nodded my chin toward the clustered guests in Harper’s Inn’s small entryway. “Why don’t they head outside to wait?” I said.
“We’re going to be in the cold for some time,” Lacie said. “Probably want to stay warm for as long as they can.”
“Makes sense.”
There was more space in the inn’s living room—where the radio was—and Lacie meandered in that direction, situating herself in the light of the Christmas tree. I followed, holding my beanie and gloves under my arm.
I didn’t want to overheat before we made it outside. That would make me sweat, and then when the cold hit, I’d be that much colder.
“Here they come!” a woman near the window called out, turning to let her voice carry to the others. Other guests let out excited cheers and one even clapped her gloved hands in excitement.
“This must be as amazing as they say,” I murmured, “if everyone is this excited about riding in the freezing cold to sit on top of a mountain in more of that freezing cold.”
I’d had my fair share of cold.
Lacie nudged me, presumably for my cynicism. “Stories are told at the bonfire,” Lacie said. “That’s why they’re so excited.”
“Is that why you’re doing this?” I asked.
“Partly.”
“And what’s the other part?”
She lifted her chin and met my gaze, but the look in her green eyes was shiny and distant. “There’s an event center up on top of the mountain. I thought it might be ideal for a wedding, so I wanted to check it out.”
Too hot. It was definitely too hot in here.
I fought the urge to unzip my coat and instead cleared my throat. “Right.”
“You don’t have to come,” she said. “It’s okay if you want to stay here.”
What was with her stoic expression? She was hurt, I knew that much, but not only from her ankle.
From me.
How could I leave her alone now, when I’d come here to keep her company and cheer her up?
I nudged her with my elbow. I couldn’t think of anything playful or otherwise to say, so I just said, “I’m coming.”
She sniffed and turned toward the cold air wafting through the inn’s open door. Guests shuffled out in a group, remaining huddled.
The icy night slammed into me the minute we stepped outside. I threw on my beanie and gloves, glad for the chance to cool off some of the heat gathering within my chest. Lacie hugged her arms around her and led out.
Two sleighs made their way to the front of Harper’s Inn. I didn’t recognize either of the drivers. Boone Harper wasn’t anywhere in sight. I figured he’d taken the holiday off, perhaps to spend Christmas Eve with family.
Junie remained on the inn’s porch. She wore a bright pink hat with the tuft of yarn bunching out the top like a fuzzy firework and called out to the gathered guests.
“That’s our call!” she announced in response to the bells jingling from the incoming sleighs. “Those who are coming for the bonfire, the time to leave is now. I repeat, the sleighs are leaving now!”
Guests responded, piling toward the sleighs, which were now parked and waiting in front of the inn. Excited shouts and chatter added movement to the frigid night.
Lacie didn’t move. She kept her attention on the inn.
I watched her and then glanced around to see if anyone decided to veer back inside. From what I could tell, everyone who’d been lined up was climbing into the sleighs. The drivers were helping guests secure provided blankets around their laps.
I waited for Lacie to climb up before sitting on the bench beside her.
And my nerves were a total mess.
This is normal , I told myself. We can do this.
Yeah. We could ride up the mountain to inspect the location where she’d hoped to hold her wedding.
“You sure this is worth going a second time?” a man said from the row in front of us.
“Absolutely,” the woman he was with replied. “It’s magical up there. Just wait and see.”
“You’ve come before?” Lacie’s voice was high-pitched as if she hoped they wouldn’t mind her interruption.
They had to know others could hear what they were saying.
“Oh, yes.” The woman’s eyes gleamed. “You see the chef up there? That’s Mason Devries, and he prepares a wonderful spread of decadent food that we all eat up there. Don’t worry—he sent his crew ahead of time. I think he wanted to experience the sleigh ride, since he rarely gets to.
“And then Miss Harper comes of course. When her mother, Meg, is here, she and Junie take over and the show they present is so worth watching. This year it’ll just be Junie putting on a show.”
“A show?” I asked.
Lacie had said they told stories. Was this what she’d meant?
“They have a script and everything. It’s darling!” The woman radiated joy and turned back to the front again.
Junie was still on the inn’s wraparound front porch, talking to the brunette Lacie had introduced me to earlier. The two seemed to be at odds with one another, as though Junie was trying to convince Grace to come.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” someone called from the front sleigh.
“Come on, Junie,” another guest called. “Let’s go!”
“I’m coming!” Junie replied with a smile. She gripped Grace’s arms when a sound ripped through the night air.
I’d recognize the rumble of a snowmobile anywhere. Who was riding it, and how could I get one right now?
A screech of frustration escaped Junie’s lungs. She grumbled about the effect the snowmobile tracks would have on the picturesque landscape around the inn, but Mason Devries continued waving her toward him.
“I’m going to kill him,” she said, taking Mason’s hand to climb onto the sleigh.
Turning back to Grace, who still stood on the porch, Junie went on. “Tell him that, will you?” The sounds of the snowmobile grew louder, so Junie shouted over it. “Tell him I’ll kill him for ruining the landscape!”
Of all things, Grace was grinning from her position on the porch like a little girl awaiting a present.
Hmm.
“What do you think that’s all about?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Lacie said. “Snowmobile tracks will trash the smooth grain of the snow.”
“Not that big of a deal,” I said, still fighting off the feeling that I’d rather be snowmobiling. Or back in our room, sleeping. I’d rather be anywhere but here.
If we had a snowmobile, we could make our way down to West Hills.
One more step closer to sanity. To home.
“To Junie, it is,” she argued. “I’d be upset, too, especially considering the caliber of guests who sometimes come here to stay. They won’t want to glance out their window and find tracks sullying the pristine mountainside.”
Whoever Junie assumed to be driving the snowmobile was, he was obviously someone Junie knew well.
The drivers signaled their horses, and with everyone seated and ready, the sleigh gave a gentle pull. Bells from the horse’s harnesses jingled merrily in the darkness, and soon we made our way up toward the moon.
Irritation settled right into the seat with me. I was sure this was magical for some people. But I’d had another terrible night’s sleep. Thanks to that nap I took, it took me forever to drift off, and I hadn’t been able to sleep on that chair long anyway.
Maybe I should have stayed in our room after all.
I wondered how the pass-clearing was coming. A cynical part of me also wondered if we would have been able to take a sleigh back to town, but the snow drifts in the lot were huge. Even horses couldn’t traverse over something so deep.
The road curved one way, then another. My shoulders bumped Lacie several times, a sign of the rough ascent. She placed a hand on the side of the sleigh and stared at the lines of pine trees in the snowy surroundings.
“Any idea where these sleighs are headed?” I asked, needing conversation, needing something to keep me from pulling my phone from my pocket and playing games.
“Just up the mountain,” Lacie said with a shrug. “That’s all I heard.”
“The Harpers own some land on the mountaintop,” the guest we’d spoken with earlier turned around to say. “They take trail rides up there during the summertime, and during the winter, we get the most immaculate view of the stars you’ll find anywhere.”
“Sounds amazing,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Can you believe people lived like this?” Lacie said as we passed more trees. A lantern hanging from the front of the sleigh lit the way, swaying light across the snow. “Horse-drawn sleigh used to be the main source of travel.”
“I love my Beemer,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as annoyed as I felt.
She nudged me with her knee. “Come on. You have to admit this is amazing.”
Inhaling, attempting to settle my irritation, I lifted my chin toward the open sky. The stars speckled, and the round moon was the biggest flashlight I’d ever seen. Sure, it was beautiful. But it was still slower than walking.
I couldn’t say I’d take pretty over speed and convenience.
“It is, but I wouldn’t want to have this be the only way to get around,” I said.
Lacie tipped her head to one side. “But if it was the only way to get around, you’d never know otherwise.”
“I know, but I know there are faster, warmer modes of travel. I wouldn’t pick this every time.”
She pouted her lips. “You’re being a downer. Don’t ruin my Christmas Eve excitement.”
“Sorry.”
We rode in silence when, joy of joys, singing broke out from the sleigh in front of us. Soon everyone joined in singing “Jingle Bells , ” “Silent Night , ” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
“They’re singing now?”
“Sure, Grump. Give in,” she said. “You know you want to.”
I rolled my eyes, but after two strains, I did just that. I gave in, adding my bass to the chorus, earning a tight-lipped smile from Lacie.
Once we reached the top and guests piled out of the sleighs, Lacie paused, leaning on me and staring at the surroundings. I had to admit, the landscape was breathtaking beneath the stars.
There was so much snow. It was piled over boulders and clustered around an immaculate, decent-sized lodge made of cut logs.
“Is that the Event Center?” I asked, tucking my hands into my pockets.
Snow had been cleared about thirty yards off from the event center’s porch. The clearing was situated with benches around a fire pit built up and encircled with bricks.
Lacie still hadn’t answered me. She stared at the lodge with an unreadable expression.
I couldn’t imagine what thoughts must be running through her head. She’d said she loved me, but she had wanted to marry Wyatt. His breakup had been devastating enough to make her cry.
What was she feeling right now?
“Is that the place?” I asked.
She inhaled and long, full breath. “That’s it.”
Mason, the chef whom the other guests had pointed out to us, stopped at my side and set a cooler down on the snow. He jutted his chin toward the Event Center.
“This is where a lot of events take place during the summertime,” Mason said. “The Harpers have all kinds of bonfires and parties here, and the horses need somewhere to rest and recuperate during their longer trail rides where the guests camp. There’s also a kitchen and sleeping area in there, should anyone need it. It’s where I prep the refreshments.”
Lacie turned away as Mason spoke, which was unlike her. I watched the line of her shoulders, the tension in her throat. The way she ran her gloved hands over her face.
Was she okay? I considered asking as much, but maybe she needed a minute.
“Let me give you a hand with that,” I said, offering to help haul one of the coolers to the log cabin.
“Thanks,” Mason said. “Go ahead and take that into the kitchen. I’ll be right behind you.”
I glanced at Lacie. She kept her back to me, her shoulders slouched as if heavy with inner sadness. So I nodded and followed the chef’s directions, deciding to give Lacie a moment to herself.