Chapter 9 Nicole #2
“With three roommates?” He rolled his eyes. “No, thanks. Anyway, not only do I love this place, but I can keep an eye on Elise and on my folks. I know, by today’s standards, they’re not ‘old’ at sixty-eight, but I like to be nearby.” He shrugged. “It works for me.”
It worked because he put family over fun, freedom, or a fast-paced lifestyle that a lot of thirty-year-old men might want. She couldn’t deny that she found that incredibly attractive.
He pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. A minivan sat under the carport, and Nicole instantly spotted the blue accessibility icon on the side door. A low ramp sloped up to the front door, with sturdy rails and non-slip treads dusted from the night’s snow that blew into the carport.
“I know she won’t go out today, but I have to salt the ramp,” he said, almost to himself.
Then he glanced at Nicole. “You’ll get used to ramps, low sinks, bars to get around.
It’s not out of a magazine, but this house is tricked out for Elise.
She could live alone, which she likes to remind us regularly, but none of us would have that. ”
They sat in the quiet for a beat, not quite ready to end their long date with another person in the mix.
“Hey. About Elise,” he said, breaking the silence. “She’s a firecracker, just so you know. She talks about her accident easily, so you don’t have to dance around the wheelchair. Figuratively. I suppose if you want to actually dance, she’d be all about it.”
Nicole laughed. “I’m game if she is.”
He didn’t laugh, though. His face actually grew serious. “You should also know that I, um, have never brought anyone home for my family to meet.”
Her heart did a slow somersault. “Really?”
“Really.” He searched her face. “And I guess you won’t meet my parents this time, since they’re on a cruise, but Elise is, well, she’s…really important to me.”
“I get that.”
“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t really see something with you.” He exhaled the admission, as though he’d been holding his breath to make it.
Her throat tightened. “I see it, too. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
Then he smiled and it brought a light to his blue eyes. “Good.”
With that, he hopped out of the truck and hustled around to open her door before she’d completely finished taking off her seatbelt. Because…of course he did.
Inside, the house was warm and sunlit, a sweep of south-facing windows flooding the living room with winter brightness. The space was open—furniture arranged with clear, generous paths.
From the entry, she noticed a low, rolling coffee table in the living room with rounded corners, and space for a chair she imagined wheeled into place.
“Elise!” Cameron called. “Home!”
“I heard the truck.” The clear voice came from the hallway. “I also saw the text that said ‘bringing a friend,’ so I got all beautiful.”
She rolled out of the hallway with ease, propelling the chair with quick, practiced hands..
Nicole’s first thought was that Elise Hale was bright, like sunshine and candlelight. Her golden hair was pulled into a loose half-knot with wispy, wavy strands framing a chiseled face. She had greenish-hazel eyes that had been carefully made up, a delicate pendant glinting at her throat.
She looked athletically strong through her shoulders and arms, with textbook posture. In fact, from the hips up she looked fully healthy, as though the chair was an extension of her rather than a limitation.
She grinned and leveled curious eyes on Nicole. “Oh, Camelot. You weren’t kidding when you said gorgeous brunette. Hello, stunner.”
Nicole laughed, warmth blooming. “Hi. I’m Nicole.”
“Oh, I know who you are. I’m Elise,” she said, offering a hand, then laughing and opening her arms. “Please, who are we kidding? Girls hug.”
Nicole leaned down and hugged her, and Elise squeezed back with surprising strength.
“Okay, you pass,” Elise decreed. “You smell like pine and sunshine. Very on-brand, big bro.”
Cameron rolled his eyes and kissed the top of her head. “Be nice, E.”
“I am always nice,” Elise said cheerfully. “Selective about it, but nice.”
Nicole glanced around, taking in the four stockings hung on a mantle, each embroidered with a name—Elise, Cameron, Nancy, and Jim. There was a poinsettia on the piano, and a tree laden with mismatched family ornaments.
“Starving,” Cameron announced. “Soup and grilled cheese work?”
“Yes,” they said in unison, which made Elise wiggle her brows like this was proof of destiny.
While he headed into a kitchen just around the corner, Elise spun her chair and led Nicole into the living room.
“What I’m really starving for?” Elise said, gesturing toward the sofa. “Girl talk. Tell me all the things, Nicole. Where do you work? Why do you like my brother? And what is your skin care routine because, girl, you are glowing. Or would that have to do with question number two?”
Nicole laughed again, shocked at how this young woman could put someone at ease. It was a gift, really.
“Let me see. I run a ski rental and equipment sales business at Snowberry Lodge just outside of Park City. My mom’s family has owned it forever.”
She nodded. “Cool, cool.”
“And I like your brother because he persuaded me to ski down a mountain again after nineteen years of steadfastly refusing because of an accident. And I wash my—”
“Hold up, Nicky.” She raised her hand. “An accident? Are you my people?”
Nicole laughed again, but her smile faded. “I guess I am,” she said. “But I didn’t get hurt.”
“Nicole almost died,” Cameron corrected, calling from the kitchen where he was obviously listening to every word. “Fell in a tree well head first as a nine-year-old.”
“Oh.” Elise drew back, her long lashes wide to arched brows. “Impressive. I was ten, so, hey. We are practically sisters.” She pressed her hands together. “But not like my brother. I’m surprised he didn’t refuse to let you on the lift.”
Nicole frowned, not following. “Why?”
Elise sighed and leaned in, whispering, “Maybe I’m the only one he suffocates.” She shook her head and mouthed, “We’ll talk later.”
Nicole nodded, remembering Cameron’s comment about the same thing. Instead, she got back on skin care, then the lodge, the ski shed, and, at Cameron’s urging, a little bit about her famous father.
But it was Dad’s return to run the sleigh rides that brought a soft gasp from Elise.
“You have sleigh rides at this lodge?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. They—”
“Then you have horses.” The longing in her voice was palpable.
“One,” Nicole said. “Copper, who is sweet and gentle and sometimes stubborn and occasionally ridiculous. Addicted to peppermints and…” She stopped talking, stunned by the tears that pooled in Elise’s eyes. “Cameron said you love horses.”
“More than life itself,” she said simply. “I love everything about them. And I miss them.”
Nicole nodded, a sharp pang of empathy in her heart. “I felt that way about skiing,” she said softly. “I didn’t know it until yesterday when Cameron took me out again and we…” She searched the pretty face across from her, seeing the yearning in those beautifully made-up eyes. “Could you ever…”
Elise glanced down at her lap, then up again, expression frank. “I could,” she said. “But I can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could get on a horse and ride it—not like I did before, obviously, but people in my condition do it at therapeutic riding places all the time.”
“Why don’t you? What do you mean you ‘can’t’ if you…can?”
She made a face. And poked her finger repeatedly in the direction of the kitchen. “My self-appointed knight in ski patrol armor won’t let me,” she said, very soft, so he definitely couldn’t hear over the sound of sizzling from the stove.
Nicole leaned back on the sofa, considering this new twist.
“Maybe you could ride mine,” she said before she let herself think too much about it. Surely Cameron wouldn’t refuse his utterly adorable sister the chance to sit on a gentle horse and slowly walk the paddock? Could he refuse her anything?
Elise stared at her, quiet for the first time since Nicole arrived.
“I’m sure it’s complicated,” Nicole said, thinking out loud.
“But we have this contraption at the lodge—my grandpa built a ramp and we had a harness for a guest who came every year. Whistler, our old horse, used to take her around our fenced-in paddock and the lady was just so happy. It took a little strength to get her on the horse, but she rode.”
Elise’s face lit brighter than the lights on the tree behind her. “Therapeutic riding places have the lifts and platforms. I know exactly what you mean. If I could just—”
“No,” Cameron said, appearing in the living room doorway with a spatula in one hand. His tone wasn’t harsh, just immediate, protective instinct firing. “It’s not safe.”
“Cam—” Nicole started.
“I’m not trying to be a jerk,” he said gently, looking between them. “It’s the falling that scares me. If she falls wrong…no. We can’t take that chance.”
Elise looked skyward, the classic eyeroll of a younger sister. “Oh, please. He thinks if I ride once, I’ll ask to go every weekend. He’s not wrong.” She lifted a shoulder. “I miss it so much, it’s stupid.”
“Falling would be stupid,” Cameron said. “It’s not worth the risk.”
But the look on Elise’s face said anything was worth the risk.
“I understand,” Nicole said slowly, considering each word. “I respect the caution. But this wouldn’t be me slinging her up bareback to dart over hill and snowy dale. We’d be in the paddock. Slow. Safe. I mean, I know I saw that ramp and harness when I pulled out the sleigh last month.”
He looked torn, then sighed and retreated to the stove. “Soup’s ready,” he said, not quite conceding.
While they ate in the sunny kitchen, Elise kept up the chatter, entertaining them and luring Nicole into conversation over delicious grilled cheese sandwiches.
After lunch, Cameron wiped his hands. “I’m going to jump over to my place, shower, and throw on something that doesn’t smell like snow and cheese. You two okay without a babysitter?”
“We’ll try not to set anything on fire,” Elise said solemnly, then winked at Nicole. “Come sit. Tell me all the things you can’t say in front of Cameron the Killer of Joy.”
When the front door clicked, Elise pivoted her chair to face Nicole head-on, mischief replaced by something earnest.
“This is big,” she announced.
“You riding a horse?”
“Oh, that? A dream I dare not dream,” she said, flipping her hand with exaggerated faux drama.
“No. I mean him and you. Cameron doesn’t date, you know.
He’s absolutely certain no one could fall in love with him because he has me, the twenty-four-year-old millstone around his neck who will never be gone. ”
Well, she was blunt. And wrong.
“You’re so not a millstone,” Nicole said. “You’re…amazing. And he loves you very much.”
Elise’s eyes filled, maybe a bit of an easy crier.
“I know. He saved me in a thousand ways after the wreck. But I don’t want to be the reason he misses his life.
I want him to…have a wonderful life with a good woman and his own family.
” She bit her lip and blinked. “If you’re part of that, then I am already your biggest fan. ”
Nicole laughed and touched under her own eye. “You’re going to make me cry.”
They looked at each other for a moment, quietly connected.
Nicole sighed and leaned closer. “What about riding?”
“I’m in. I mean, if there’s a ramp, a harness, and a sainted creature with four legs who will tolerate me, then yes, I would like to sit on a horse again. Once. Twice. Whatever we can manage without making Mr. Safety’s hair fall out.”
“We can try,” Nicole said. “I’ll do what I can on my end.”
“Might take some magic, Nicky.”
Cameron came back after what felt like no time at all, freshly showered with damp hair that was just unfairly attractive.
“You two good?” Cameron asked, amused and wary of the power of two bonded women.
“Perfect,” Elise said. “Go take your girlfriend home and do whatever she tells you to do.”
He choked. “Girlfriend?”
“She’s gorgeous, sweet, and laughs at my jokes.” Elise shrugged. “I demand you keep her.”
Nicole hugged her new friend goodbye, the embrace even warmer on the way out.
“I got this, girl,” Nicole whispered into her hair, getting a grateful squeeze in response.
Outside, the air bit their cheeks and the snow squeaked under their boots. They climbed into the truck and closed the doors, the cab going instantly quiet.
Cameron put his hands on the wheel, but didn’t start the engine. “I know what you’re going to ask,” he ground out.
Nicole slid her hand across the console until her fingers found the back of his.
“Let her ride my horse in the paddock, Cameron,” she said softly.
“She needs that. I promise you she’ll be safe.
My horse is sweet. My paddock is small. We’ll lock her into the saddle and stay with her every step. Cameron, that girl needs to ride.”
He closed his eyes with a long sigh. “I knew this would happen.”
“That she’d find out I had a horse and want to ride it?”
He opened his eyes and turned to her, leaning in closer. “That I’d fall so stinking hard for you, I can’t say no to anything.”
She felt her lips lift in a smile, but before she could take her next breath, he covered those lips with his, kissing her with just enough pressure to make her toes curl.
“Is that a yes?” she whispered.
He threw her a look. “Stop it. Stop being perfect right this minute or I’ll…I’ll…”
“Kiss me again?” she asked hopefully.
“Yeah. That’ll happen.”
She settled into her seat, unable to stop smiling.