Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Luke
“You’re just as good a cook as I remember, Holt.” I sit back in my chair and push away my completely clean plate. “It’s been too long since I’ve had such a good meal.”
“What?” Holt pretends to look surprised. “If I remember correctly, you used to be able to find your way around the kitchen pretty well, yourself.”
“Dad? He only ever made me Mac and cheese.”
“That’s because that’s all you would eat when you were little.
” I shake my head in her direction, but don’t say anything more because we both know it’s been way too long since I’ve actually cooked for her.
It’s hard to make dinner for your daughter growing up when you’re not around.
And I did my best to keep my distance. For her sake.
Thankfully, she doesn’t bring it up. Not that I really think she will. My daughter and I have been through a lot, and the one thing I know from everything we’ve gone through is that you can’t change the past; you can only look forward and build something new. And that’s what we’re trying to do.
Together.
“Do you have time for a cup of tea, Dad?” Tessa grabs the plates and carries them to the sink, turning around in time to see me shake my head.
“I’d love to.”
“So do,” Holt says easily. “It’s just a tea.”
The truth is, I really don’t have time. I’m already behind on updating client portfolios, and with three meetings I’m not prepared for in the morning, I have a long night ahead of me. I tell them as much, but if I expect to get any sympathy, I don’t.
“You’re working too hard, Dad.”
“There’s more to life than work, man.”
I shoot a glare at my buddy. “Funny, coming from you, since I could have said the same thing to you only a few months ago.”
“Know better, do better.” He crosses his arms behind his head and gives me a grin. “And I’m definitely doing better.” He wiggles his brows, and I look away with a grunt.
It’s not that I’m not happy for this new, happier, lighter version of my buddy; it’s that I’m still having trouble reconciling that happiness has anything to do with my daughter.
“Seriously, Dad.” Tessa rejoins us at the table with a pot of tea and three mugs. “You work so hard, and from what I saw last time I was over at your place, you’re not exactly the most organized person. I don’t know how you find anything in that mess.”
Again, I growl and scratch at a mark on the table top.
She’s not wrong. I’m excellent with numbers, investing, and making money for myself and others, but organization is not my strong suit.
I rely on memory, instinct, and a system that makes sense to me and no one else.
And more and more lately, not even to myself.
“I find things,” I mutter. “Eventually.”
Tessa lifts a brow. “Eventually?”
“I was late tonight because I couldn’t find a file I’m going to need for a meeting in the morning,” I confess.
The words taste like defeat on my tongue, especially when I see the way she’s looking at me.
“Okay,” I admit. “Sometimes my office gets a little out of control, and I spend twenty minutes looking for something that should be right on my desk.”
Holt doesn’t bother hiding his laugh. “And?”
I scowl in his direction. “And it was,” I admit. “Just under a different pile than it should have been.”
“Dad, there shouldn’t be any piles,” Tessa says gently. “Piles aren’t a system. It’s chaos.”
“It works.”
“Clearly.”
Again, I glare at my buddy.
“Seriously, Luke. From where I’m sitting, you look like you could use a little help.”
Help?
He fucking knows better.
I shove my chair back from the table. “I’m not going to sit here and?—”
“I know you don’t want to hear it.” Holt jumps to his feet and stands in front of me. “And you know I wouldn’t suggest such a thing lightly.”
“You shouldn’t suggest such a thing, period.” My voice is low and heavy with warning.
Holt doesn’t back down, not that I expect him to. “All we’re saying is that maybe you could benefit from an assistant.”
“No.” The refusal comes automatically, the same way it always does. Letting someone into my workflow means trusting them with information that isn’t mine. It means letting some into my life. And that’s a no.
Not happening.
“Dad,” Tessa says softly. “Don’t say no right away. I have an idea that might actually help you, and I don’t think you’ll hate it completely.”
“No.” I turn to grab my jacket and get out. “Thank you for dinner. I have meetings in the morning, I need to go.”
They don’t try to stop me, and it’s not until fifteen minutes later when I’m turning down the snow covered gravel road that leads to my own cabin, that I start to feel like an asshole.
I know they’re only looking out for me, even if it pisses me off.
My tires crunch over the snow, the sound unnaturally loud in the dark, quiet forest. There are no other vehicles way out here. No lights. No sign of life at all.
Exactly how I designed it.
How we all designed it when we’d moved to the mountain all those years ago.
Hell, if it wasn’t for my business, I wouldn’t even have cell service or internet capabilities either. The state-of-the-art system I’d installed on the mountain was a necessary evil to work, and stay connected with the guys in case of emergency, but I’d happily turn it off if I could.
The cabin comes into view, a dark shape set against the darker trees. No patio lights strung on the porch, no welcoming glow of a lamp inside, no smoke curling from the chimney. Just a cold, empty house alone in the mountains.
At Holt’s place, there had been noise. Laughter, movement, and life. Love.
Here, there’s nothing.
Normally, that’s exactly the way I like it. But for the first time, driving up to my empty, cold house feels just that…
Inside, I start a fire in the fireplace to help cut the chill in the living room and walk through the space, noticing for the first time just how different it is from Holt and Tessa’s place.
Here, the couch looks like it’s barely been sat on. There is nothing on the countertops, very little on the shelves, and even the kitchen is pristinely clean. It’s as if the house has barely been lived in.
And that’s because it hasn’t. Only one room in the house sees much use.
My office door stands half open, the glow of the desk lamp illuminating the mess I left behind.
Stacks of paper are on every available surface. Reports, folders, and legal pads with half-written notes scrawled everywhere. My pile system always makes sense in the moment, but now the mess blurs together, and I don’t have the energy to navigate any of it.
I exhale slowly and turn away. I don’t want to believe that Tessa and Holt are right and I could use help.
They’re not entirely wrong. But letting someone in is something I can’t do.
Not even professionally.
Letting people in means giving them something to lose.
I tried that once. A woman. A child. A life that was supposed to last.
And I still managed to screw it all up, hurting Tessa in the process.
Sure, life on the mountain can get lonely.
But loneliness doesn’t destroy people the way disappointment does. And I won’t do it again.
Lilly
The hotel room smells like industrial cleaners and some type of manufactured floral fragrance, no doubt designed to cover up the cleaner. It’s a combination that’s making my eyes burn, and my head hurt.
Then again, the headache is probably more from everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours, and the whole ending my relationship with my cheating piece of shit fiancé situation.
Yes, that’s definitely played a role in the pounding of my head.
After my discovery, things moved very quickly.
I grabbed what I could on my way out the door. To be honest, I didn’t have much more than the clothes in my suitcase, my laptop, and a few books. After living in shared houses for the last four years while I was getting my degree, I didn’t have a chance to accumulate much.
But it never mattered, because Barrett had everything. An apartment, a career, a whole life I’d been preparing to step right into.
Yet another wash of relief flows through me at the reminder that I’d just dodged a huge bullet by finding Barrett and Sarah together.
There’d been so many red flags in our relationship for far too long. I know I should have broken up with him months ago, or at least talked to him about my concerns. That’s what I’d tried to do when?—
The image of Barrett’s shocked face when he’d seen me, along with Sarah’s casual nudity and the way they’d both acted like it wasn’t a big deal for them to be fucking in the bed Barrett and I hadn’t even had a chance to share, makes me laugh.
There’s no humor in the sound.
But there’s also no hurt.
Maybe the pain will come later.
Right now, everything feels muted. Like, somehow the dial has been turned down on my emotions so my brain doesn’t short circuit while I try to figure out my next move.
I can’t go home. Dad and I have barely spoken since I moved out four years ago. Besides exchanging holiday greetings and half hearted birthday wishes, we don’t talk at all, so it’s not like I could go home.
Besides, home was a tiny town in Northern Alberta. The whole point of attending school in Calgary was that’s where a future in finance would be. I’d dreamed of being a success in the financial world for too long.
It was part of the reason a marriage with Barrett wasn’t going to work out.
He wasn’t shy about telling me he expected me to play the role of the executive wife and put my career on hold while I worked to help further his.
I thought I could change his mind when he saw how excited I was about my future.
But that was only one of the many issues there were in our relationship.
Not that it was my problem anymore.
No. The only problem I had now was where I was going to go next.
I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them, suddenly aware of how quiet the room is and how truly alone I am.
My entire future is in front of me. And I don’t have the slightest idea of what to do with it.
I pick up the remote and click on the television to fill the silence at the same time my phone rings.
An unfamiliar number flashes across the screen. For a moment, I consider ignoring it, but with so many resumes out in the world, I can’t afford to let any calls go to voicemail.
I hit mute on the remote and answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Lilly?”
“Yes,” I say tentatively. “This is Lilly.”
“Lilly! It’s Tessa! Tessa Morgan from?—”
“Finance class. Hi! It’s been…”
“Over six months,” she finishes. “I know. I kind of dropped out of school and disappeared.”
Her warmth and laughter come through the line and make me smile. Tessa and I had been classmates for years, and we’d hit it off. I’d missed her when she left school, but then things got busy with finals and the wedding.
Ugh.
I shudder a little, but I don’t dwell on it.
“How’ve you been?” I refocus the conversation.
“So good.” I can hear the genuine happiness in her voice. “Honestly, I wasn’t in a good place when I left school, but Lilly…I found the man of my dreams and…anyway, life is really good right now.”
“I’m so happy to hear that,” I say and I mean it. At least one of us ended up with the fairy tale version. “Where did you end up?”
“It’s funny you should ask because I was actually calling you about a really amazing job opportunity out here.”
A job?
The words are like a lifeline.
“A job?” I repeat, my voice rough.
“Yeah. You popped into my head because it’s finance-related, and you were always the smartest person in class. You’d be working with a top financial analyst and investor. The experience would be incredible.”
It does sound incredible.
“It’s a little unusual, though,” Tessa continued. “The position is pretty remote, and I know you were supposed to be getting married soon, so I wasn’t sure if?—”
“I’m not.” The words come out sharper than I intend. “I called it off,” I add more quietly. “So now I’m actually looking for a job and a place to live.”
Another pause. Not awkward this time, just careful.
“I’m really sorry, Lilly,” Tessa says gently.
“Thanks. But it’s definitely for the best.”
“Well, in that case, this is actually going to be perfect,” she says, her tone brightening again. “Because the position comes with accommodation. It’s a complete change of scenery. Fresh air and mountains. A literal fresh start.”
Fresh start.
My grip tightens on my phone. “When do they need someone to start?”
“As soon as possible.”
“That works.” I laugh a little. “Because I have nothing keeping me here.”
We go over the details, including the name and address of a remote mountain town I’ve never heard of. By the time we’re done, the hollow feeling in my chest has eased enough to let in something else. Hope and even a little bit of excitement for the future.
Before we hang up, Tessa’s voice softens again. “Lilly, I don’t know what happened, and you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I never thought Barrett was good enough for you. But I’m really glad you’re not marrying him.”
A surprised laugh escapes me.
“Me too, Tessa,” I say. “Me too.”