Chapter 10
MILA
Groaning, I roll over to my side and slowly open my eyes. Where am I?
Sitting straight up, I look around the room before my eyes settle on Tobias sitting in the corner asleep.
“Wh-what?” I whisper as my head tilts to the side.
Why is he sleeping in a chair that looks so uncomfortable? His whole body is going to ache.
“T-Tobias?” I call out his name hesitantly.
Should I wake him up or should I let him sleep more? How long has he been asleep?
Sliding out of bed, I grab Billie’s arm and slowly walk toward him. Aiden once told me never to wake him up when he was sleeping so he didn’t accidentally hit me. Would Tobias be the same?
Reaching my hand out, I get ready to touch his shoulder but stop. I shouldn’t try to wake him up. No. I should let him sleep a little bit longer. I don’t know how long he’s been here, but he must have been here for a good reason.
“T-Tobias,” I whisper again. “Wake up.” My voice comes out so weak.
Nobody would wake up from the soft sound of my voice. Nobody.
I lightly touch his shoulder. “Tobias, wake up.”
He hums but keeps his eyes closed.
“Tobias, I don’t know what to do here. Why are you in my room?”
Not that I’m mad. It brings me some comfort when I think about him being here all night watching over me. Is that why I slept so well because subconsciously I knew he was watching over me?
No.
That’s not possible. I fell asleep in the car and never once woke up. Unless I was so tired when I did and don’t remember anything.
Impossible.
“Tobias!” I say his name louder. “Can you wake up?”
“Little One?” he mumbles as he cracks his eyes open.
When he sees me standing beside him, his eyes go wide and he sits up straight.
“Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare? What’s wrong? You can tell me anything,” he rushes out as he looks up and down my body.
“It’s morning,” I point out, ignoring all of his questions.
“Little One, answer my questions. Did you have a nightmare? Do you need a hug? Tell Daddy what’s wrong.”
My whole world freezes as he calls himself Daddy. It’s everything I wanted to call him and hearing him say that lights up my whole world.
“I’m okay,” I reply. “No nightmares. I honestly slept the best I ever have last night. Well, and when I was out in the car and in the hotel.”
He sighs. “That’s good, Little One. What time is it?”
I shrug. “I don’t know where my phone is.”
“Have you been up for a while?”
I shake my head. “Just a couple of minutes. Woke up a little scared cause I didn’t know where I was, then I saw you and everything was alright,” I explain. “Why are you sleeping in my room?”
“I was worried that you might wake up in the middle of the night or this morning and get scared because nothing looked familiar,” he explains. “So I slept in this chair last night so when you did, you would see me and know that everything is okay.”
A smile tugs at my face, and I play with Billie’s arm. “That was nice of you.”
Aiden used to do that whenever we went on road trips. He knew I didn’t like to be alone in a random room.
“Did Aiden tell you to stay in my room?” I hesitantly ask.
“No, he didn’t. When you woke up in the car, you looked around for a couple of seconds and I figured you were just trying to work out where you were. I didn’t want you to be all alone,” he explains.
“You’re going to make me cry,” I whisper and look away, fanning my eyes. “I’m not a crier. Yet with you I’ve already done it several times.”
Even when Aiden said sweet things to me all the time, it never affected me this much. What is going on with me?
“I think I’m broken,” I choke out and look away from him.
“Oh, Little One.”
Before I know it, his arms wrap around me and pull me close.
So many emotions run through me and I can’t keep up with them. I’ve never felt like this before.
“I don’t—”
“Shhh, it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay. I know this might be scaring you, but you have nothing to worry about. I’m right here for you. If you want to cry a lot, then you can. I won’t judge you,” he says gently.
“But I don’t want to cry! I’ve never cried this much. Not even when my mom and older brother died,” I wail.
“But it’s time,” he whispers. “It’s time for you to let it all out and start to heal.”
“But why you?” I ask. “Why am I feeling like this with you? Aiden never made me think about it. Never made all these emotions swirl inside of me, and I don’t know what to do with them.”
“Because I see you.”
I shake my head, wanting him to stop talking.
“I see how sad you are. See how exhausted you are from the countless hours you worked at your job. I see that you want to be taken care of and just want someone to hold you then never let go,” he says. “I see all of this and more. And I’m not going to let you go.”
Tears stream down my face as I ugly cry, letting all of these emotions out.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he whispers. “Not now and not ever. You are it for me. We are going to work through this, no matter how long it takes.”
“What if I never get through it?” I manage to get out through my sobs.
“Then you don’t, and I’ll be here for every time you cry, want a hug, or just want to talk.”
That doesn’t sound promising.
“What—” But I stop myself from asking a question.
I’m only here for two weeks. While he says he wants to be with me, maybe he just means for these two weeks and that’s it. I shouldn’t assume anything, but it’s so hard when it’s him.
“What was that?”
I shake my head.
“No, we aren’t going to do that. I want to know what you were going to say,” he says. “Tell me. No secrets between us.”
“What about after I leave Whiskey River Mountain Lodge?” I whisper, not looking at him.
I don’t want to hear him say this will be over when I leave. I can’t start something that is only going to last two weeks.
“We’ll figure it out, but I’m not giving up on you. If you want to go back home, we can do long distance and we’ll both take time off to visit each other until you’re ready to move here.”
I could just move here now because I don’t have a job. But how would I contribute financially when I don’t have a job? I know I can’t cook to make up for it.
“We don’t have to know everything now. We can figure it out along the way,” he murmurs. “Now, are you ready for breakfast?”
My stomach rumbles.
“Mila!” Aiden yells as he walks into the cabin.
I force a smile on my face. “Aiden.”
He stops and searches my face. “Are you alright?”
I nod. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You don’t look excited to see me,” he points out.
“She’s worried that you are going to scold her,” Tobias says as he walks into the room.
“And why would I do that right away? I haven’t seen you in five years. Come here!” He holds his arms wide open.
I run toward him and melt into his embrace.
“No running in the house. I don’t want you tripping and falling,” Tobias states.
“No running in the house,” I mimic.
Who makes that type of rule?
“Your Daddy does.” Tobias raises an eyebrow.
“Did I say that out loud?”
He nods. I push my face into Aiden’s chest and take a deep breath. I feel my face turn red when I realize he called himself Daddy.
“Let’s go eat and talk. I want to know everything that has happened in the past five years,” Aiden says, leading me to the table.
Tobias gives me a pointed look, and I shake my head. There is no way I’m going to tell him about what happened after the car accident. Not on the first day when I haven’t seen him in forever.
“You call me at least twice a week. You know what’s happened,” I point out as I sit down.
“Yes, but I know you haven’t told me everything. Some of our phone calls were short because you were so tired.”
Sighing, I nod. “Okay, you have me there, but nothing has happened really. I go to work, go home, call you, then sleep.”
“You don’t do anything on the weekends?” he asks.
“I visit the coffee shop sometimes.”
But most of the time I was working one of the days, then sleeping the other day.
“Have you lost weight?” he asks, looking my body up and down. “Let’s do a full checkup while you’re here.”
“I think that would be a great idea,” Tobias chimes in.
“I don’t need it.” I cross my arms over my chest.
Tobias and Aiden raise an eyebrow.
“When was the last time you saw a doctor to get checked up?” Aiden asks.
I think about it. “A month after my accident. He said I was healthy.”
Tobias snorts, and I glare at him.
“I’m not lying. He said my arm was healed and everything else looked good,” I say.
“That was three years ago. Have you gone any other time?” Aiden asks, and I shake my head. “Yep, it’s time for a checkup. We’ll do one while you’re here so you don’t have to make an appointment when you get back or pretend to.”
I gasp. “I would never pretend to get an appointment, and I’m insulted you would think that.”
“Mila, I know how much you hate doctors and getting checkups. I grew up with you, remember?” Aiden points out.
“I still hate them, but I wouldn’t fake getting one. I’ve been meaning to go but I’ve just been busy with work,” I mumble toward the end.
“Which we are going to talk about later,” Tobias says. “I don’t like you working sixty-hour weeks and not getting any time to rest. So we are going to send a message to your boss.”
I look down at my plate, the guilt eating me up. I need to tell them I got fired, but how am I going to bring it up?
“Enough of that right now. Let’s have breakfast and just be together,” Aiden says. “I’m so glad you are here for two weeks. I do have some work, but when I have free time, we are going to hang out. But ultimately you are going to rest because that is what you need.”
Right. This is why I came to Whiskey River Mountain Lodge: to relax and live a stress-free life for two weeks. Once I get back… that’s when I can search for a job. I have all of this money saved up and won’t have to worry for a little while.
“What are you thinking?” Tobias asks. “You look stressed.”