Chapter 24—Aspen
One week.
One long, miserable week since Aspen had heard from or spoken with Connor.
Aspen must have picked up her phone a hundred times to call or text Connor, but stopped short before allowing the message or call to go through.
She said such horrible and hurtful things to him.
While his penchant for avoiding using a person’s first name and his need for control were correct, the fact his sister died along with the fractured relationship with his father had a profound impact on the development of his life. Who was she to judge?
Before she cocked her arm to toss a stone, Aspen should have taken a hard look at her own glass house.
How could she be hypocritical about doing things on her own but turn away from programs and grants like the ones Connor suggested.
Yet another area in which Aspen fell short.
Instead of constantly complaining about the mess her parents left her in, she should have been finding unique ways to better serve herself and her business.
So, taking Connor’s advice, she did.
In the last week when her tummy twisted and turned at the lack of resolution with Connor, Aspen applied for a handful of grants.
Grants specifically for businesswomen, grants for Colorado natives, and the list went on.
She also had an appointment with the Small Business Administration to examine her loan and potentially shift to one with almost zero interest.
None of that would have been possible without Connor’s suggestions. Let’s not forget about his direct offers of help.
At the root of it, Connor’s kindness and generosity covered in his thick, don’t-mess-with-me-shell, touched Aspen at her base level. There was no way she could walk away from him and the possibilities of what they may become.
He could slam the door in her face after their horrible fight in her shop. He may even say their relationship was strictly sex, but Aspen couldn’t let this moment in her life pass without her options being exhausted.
A smile curled Aspen’s lips, a feeling that was foreign to her in the last week of angst, as a lightbulb moment struck. She instantly knew how to engage her Viking. She set to work to find her small, square baking pans. Round simply wouldn’t do.
Two hours later, baking complete, Aspen drove to Connor’s house. She saw his truck parked along the curb and his SUV in the driveway, so she knew he should be home.
She’d leave her peace offering behind and hope it didn’t suffer a similar fate to the giant carrot-shaped cake that the Bridesmaids movie fictional baker made for her cop in her own olive branch moment.
Nevertheless, Aspen looked around for raccoons.
“It’s daytime, you idiot. Those critters don’t come out until nighttime.”
I think.
Aspen continued her slow-roll by Connor’s house like a lovesick teenager looking to spy her crush, except she was a grown-ass adult.
Although she didn’t want Mia to see her display of desperation and completely freak out at her ‘grand gesture’ attempt, Aspen wished Mia was here for support, to tell her to go for it.
After she confessed to Mia about her relationship with Connor over the past few weeks, Mia launched herself at Aspen and gave her a hearty hug, even crying at her excitement about Aspen’s connection with her uncle.
In a twist of irony, Mia offered the same bit of hope that all would work out, just as Aspen stated to her friend last week.
Aspen wished she had the confidence Mia displayed.
Once in Connor’s west Denver neighborhood, Aspen parked her car a few houses down and slipped out of her Rav4 to grab the box containing Connor’s gift.
It was obvious Aspen wasn’t meant for stealth operations. She squealed as she tripped on a piece of buckled concrete, slightly juggling the boxed goodies until she righted herself. She nearly wore the cake when a runner guiding three dogs on leashes got tangled with Aspen on the sidewalk.
The bead of sweat trekking its way down Aspen’s back reminded her that her nerves were fried, not the fact that it was a hot, Colorado summer day.
“It’s now or never,” Aspen whispered, tiptoeing her way up the sidewalk leading to Connor’s front door, the rubber soles of her tennis shoes cooperating in the effort to avoid disclosing her presence.
Aspen carefully set the cake on the porch by the door. Taking two steps back, she pressed the doorbell, then ran like hell.
She sprinted down the block a short way and ducked behind a massive ash tree growing next to the sidewalk.
She carefully peered around the thick bark of the tree as not to be detected. She spotted Connor exiting his plum-painted front door and spying the gift.
He lifted the box she rested on the front door mat and opened the cardboard lid before she swiveled back around her shield to maintain her cover.
After a few dozen beats of her rapidly pounding heart, Aspen bent around the tree just a fraction to check out Connor’s response to the cake. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see because his face was hidden behind the box top.
Damnit.
As the lid closed, Aspen whipped back around the tree for fear of being detected.
A text ‘ding’ from her phone startled her. She smothered a scream to avoid discovery.
She yanked her phone from her pocket of her jeans to silence the device when she noticed the display.
Connor.
Shit.
She swiped the message to read the text.
See you hiding behind the tree. Wanna come back to the house?
Aspen sheepishly looked around the tree to find a genuine smile dance across Connor’s face as he stood holding the box on the porch, looking her dead in the eye.
Her phone dinged again.
I need some help eating this cake.
“It’s now or never, girl,” Aspen offered herself a pep talk and slowly moved from behind the tree and toward his house, feeling a bit like a prisoner shuffling her way down death row.
It wasn’t lost on Aspen, however, that Connor had said he wanted to eat one of the cupcakes. Could this be the outcome which she’d pinned all of her future wants and dreams on?
Connor stood tall outside his door, like the fantasy Viking he always appeared in her many fantasies. His golden hair swept across his shoulders, the colorful ink trailing down his arms.
“Hi,” she said softly as she climbed the steps of his porch where he stood stoically. “So, you’re going to eat one of the cupcakes?”
“Don’t I have to solve the puzzle first?”
Connor swiveled the box around so it faced Aspen.
She admired her handiwork at recreating a Wheel of Fortune puzzle board.
Square white cupcakes nestled against the twelve-inch square cake iced in green.
The entire thing was covered with spectacular silvery sprinkles that looked remarkably like the Wheel of Fortune board Vanna stood before for decades.
Knowing Connor’s ability to smoke her at Wheel every single time they played, she had no doubt he would solve this puzzle.
“So...the clue at the bottom says ‘person.’ Hmm,” Connor looked to the cake and began spelling out the letters.
“It appears there are two words, with the first word being ‘MY’ spelled out already. The second word is a bit trickier. There’s an F, a V and two Rs.
Does that sound mean that only vowels are left, Vanna? ”
Aspen smiled at the fact Connor was playing the game just as it would appear on television.
“Would you like to solve the puzzle?” Aspen asked, her heart beating so wildly, she thought it might burst through her chest.
“Depends.”
“On?”
“Who is the ‘MY’ in ‘MY FOREVER,’ you or me?”
Only Connor could solve the puzzle and ask a question at the same time.
“Both of us?”
“That’s the best prize I’ve ever received... Aspen.”
To hear her name rumble from Connor’s mouth nearly dropped Aspen to her knees.
This giving, kind, beast of a man literally opened his heart to Aspen and let his true self pour out.
She was humbled. She was in love. Tears began flowing, her voice hitched.
“I am so sorry, Connor,” Aspen gasped, forgetting the game.
“You were simply trying to help me and, instead of working with you and considering your ideas, I pushed you away. You are so brave for your willingness to help me, to want to be with me, after all you’ve been through.
There’s no other place I ever want to be than by your side. You are perfect.”
Silence extended between them, and, instead of bending to hug her or making a move of any kind, Connor stood ramrod straight.
Could she have read this situation so wrong?
“I’m not perfect, Aspen, and there is so much that lives inside me that’s broken. I feel broken,” Connor whispered, pain radiating from his body in thick waves.
“You’re not broken, Connor. You’re one of the most incredible men I’ve had the honor to know, let alone love.” Tears began rolling down her face as joy bubbled up inside. “The fact you called me by my name, let alone consider having me in your life. I’m speechless.”
“Oh, you’re in my life, Aspen. I can honestly say, I wouldn’t be where I am today without your sassiness. Your kindness. Your forgiveness.”
Connor picked up one of the cupcakes and set the box holding the rest of the goodies on a bench sitting beneath the front window on the porch.
“I’m about to enjoy a cupcake with the woman I love,” Connor held the cupcake between them. They both leaned in to take a bite and savored the moment that was so much bigger than a mix of baking ingredients. “Now, I’m going to take my box of sweets inside and eat my other cupcake ‘til I’m full.”
Connor yanked Aspen close and kissed her hard, tangling his fingers deep into her siren-like curls, their tongues twining together.
“I also have a lead on a refurbished air conditioner will set you back about two hundred bucks since I happen to know a guy who can install.”
“Would that guy happen to be a hulking hockey player with muscles for miles and a wicked mouth?
“Come inside and let me show you. We’ll negotiate the terms of your surrender.”
“We’ll see about that, Connor. We’ll see about that.”
Connor ushered her into his house, grabbing his box of sweet treats on the way.
She stepped over the threshold of Connor’s house. A simple act that took her breath away because she knew at this exact moment it was her forever.