Chapter Fourteen
W ren took the mile-long gravel road up the mountain to her father’s retirement cabin. It was a two-thousand-square-foot cabin with a primary suite, a kitchen, dining room area, living room area, and loft. It was essentially his man cave. He’d sold the home all his children grew up in to his oldest son, Luke, when he got married, and then he’d bought this place. The old hunter’s shack that had been the original home on the property sat off to the left with a little outhouse next door her dad had turned into a shop where he tinkered and worked on things all day.
Wren couldn’t blame her dad for wanting solitude after so many years of listening to other people’s bellyaching, but as he was pushing seventy, she thought about the safety issues of him being up here all by himself. Cell service was an issue, as was the road when it snowed, but her father said he’d just use his quad and plow down the road when he needed to. Wren’s fear was that if an ambulance and paramedics had to get up the hill after a bad storm, he would be out of luck.
Robert Little didn’t want to hear these things, though, and she didn’t feel it was her place to say anything. Instead, Wren usually went to Luke, Pete, or Garrett with her concerns and let them say something.
Wren parked next to her brother Garrett’s truck. He was the tech guy for the Mistletoe School District. Anything went down, he was the one they called.
“You ready, Duke?” Wren opened the door, and the big dog followed her across the seats, trailing beside her up the walkway.
On her way toward the front door, it flew open, and a strawberry blond toddler raced outside, screaming her name. “Wen!”
Her nephew, Lukas, launched himself off the top step and into her arms. Wren gave him a big hug, swinging his legs back and forth. Duke jumped around them, barking excitedly until Wren said, “Quiet.”
“Hey, big guy! What are you doing?”
“Keeping his dad and mom on their toes,” a sweet voice said from the doorway. Wren looked up and met Elizabeth Little’s blue eyes. Elizabeth stood in the doorway, her pregnant belly leading the way. She was a year younger than Wren with honey blond hair and delicate features.
When her brother had decided to get married, he’d gone all in finding a great girl. She’d given him a picture-perfect replica of himself, with his mother’s sweet disposition. They planned on at least two more after this pregnancy, and Elizabeth had quit her job to stay home and raise their kids. She seemed happy enough, but Wren thought her brother took Elizabeth for granted.
“He’s just preparing you for when the new little one gets here and you have double the trouble,” Wren teased.
“Hopefully, he makes an appearance sooner rather than later,” Elizabeth said, arching. “My back is killing me.”
Wren stared wistfully at her sister-in-law’s belly, wishing she could use that excuse for why her back hurts.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself . It will happen soon enough.
She patted Lukas on the back and said, “Should we go inside and say hello to everybody?”
Wren carried Lukas inside with Elizabeth leading the way and Duke trailing behind. The first thing she saw was Luke, Pete, Garrett, and her father all sitting on the couch, watching football and stuffing their faces with various sandwiches and chips. The open room with the high ceiling was wall-to-wall cedar, with vinyl flooring nearly identical in color. Sports memorabilia hung on the wall between the windows, and a huge, curved TV took up nearly an entire wall. The kitchen island was covered in food, and the stairs that led up into the loft were blocked off with a baby gate to keep Lukas from climbing up and taking a tumble.
“Hey, who decided to start the party without us?” Wren called out, but none of the men turned her way.
Duke whined, and her dad finally looked over, holding his arms out. “There’s my dog.”
“My dog,” she grumbled before she released Duke. He rushed into her dad’s arms, the traitor. The two of them had fallen for each other the moment they met. Her dad hadn’t replaced his last canine companion, Ralph, because he said he was too old to own a dog. Wren knew that Robert missed having one, though.
“Alright, buddy, go to bed,” Robert said, pointing to the giant fluffy dog bed in the corner. Duke trotted over, picking up the stuffed duck her dad had bought him, and curled up in the middle.
“We started eating because you were late,” Pete said.
“I was not.” She pointed at Luke, who finally looked away from the TV long enough to acknowledge her existence. “You said noon.”
“But like Dad always says”—Garrett paused and lowered his voice, doing a near perfect imitation of their father—“Fifteen minutes is early, ten minutes is on time, and five minutes before, don’t even bother showing up.”
Robert Little reached out and smacked his middle child on the back of the head. “Smart-ass.”
Wren rolled her eyes. “How could I forget?”
Although Luke had the darkest hair among them, all the Littles had a similar, light coloring. Her father’s golden hair had turned nearly white, and he’d started shaving his mustache and goatee when Lukas told him that he looked like Santa Claus. Garrett was the only one with facial hair, and he had a reddish hue to his hair that Robert swore came from their mother’s side of the family. None of them was particularly tall, but if they all stood up, Pete would have several inches on all of them.
It was clear as she settled in across from them on the couch that her presence was required to round out the family aspect of “family lunch” but that her father and brothers were perfectly content watching their sports program and ignoring her and her sister-in-law. Elizabeth was in the kitchen with Lukas, washing his hands, and while she felt bad bailing on her, Wren wished she was anywhere but here.
“So, Wren,” Luke said, turning his attention her way with a mischievous grin on his face. “Been staying out of trouble since you got back to town?”
Resisting the urge to scowl at her oldest brother, Wren pasted a sugary sweet smile on her face. “Doing my best.”
“How about your love life?” This came from Pete, who was obviously looking for a little revenge after she’d stomped on his hookup last night. “Anyone special since you got back to town?”
“I’ve had a couple dates, but no one special.”
“Dates?” Pete asked, quirking his brow. “Is that what we’re calling them?”
Wren scratched her forehead with her middle finger, earning identical grins from two of her three brothers. Garrett glanced between the three of them and shrugged, returning his attention to the TV. He’d always been the one to stay out of their sibling squabbles and keep to himself.
Wren turned her attention back to Pete and grinned. “What about you, Pete? Did your friend get home okay last night after that rough fall?”
“If the three of you are gonna yip-yap, take it outside,” Robert snapped, directing his disapproving frown at his children.
While she settled back into the couch, zoning out on the program they were watching, her gaze flicked to the clock. Millie was going to text her in a few minutes, and if Wren sent back a banana emoji, Millie was going to call with a pretend emergency to get her out of there.
The show went to commercial, and Robert focused on her as he climbed to his feet with his empty paper plate in his hand. “You’re not gonna eat anything?”
“I will, but I probably won’t stay long. Millie needed my help this afternoon.”
Her father harrumphed and tossed his plate in the trash as he headed out of the room toward the bathroom.
Wren got up and smacked Pete and Luke on the shoulders, then planted her hands on her hips. “What did you two say?”
“Ow, nothing!” Pete protested.
“He probably is just disappointed that you keep dipping out on family lunch,” Luke said, invested in a detergent commercial.
“Please, the man barely acts like he wants me around when I’m here.”
Luke shrugged. “Just because he’s quietly enjoying Sunday football doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you here.”
“Fine,” Wren muttered, guilt weighing out over comfort. “I’ll stick around until the game starts, and then I’m bouncing. And if the two of you say anything...”
Her dad walked into the room, so she had to settle on a gesture of sliding her finger across her throat and mouthing, Dead .
Neither one of her brothers seemed intimidated.
“Before the commercials are over,” Robert said, taking his seat, “is there something going on I should know about?”
“What do you mean?” Wren asked, hating his pensive expression, as if he were already working out what he missed without her confession.
“Your brothers seem to be giving you a rash of shit. Something you want to share?”
“No, Dad. There’s nothing going on with me.” She ignored her brothers’ expressions and picked up a potato chip, popping it into her mouth. “Nothing at all.”
“I just don’t know how we got here.” Wren sat on her friend Millie Hammond’s couch with a pint of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other, which she pointed at her friend. “Hooking up with no strings should be every man’s wet dream, right?”
“Most guys would be happy,” Millie agreed.
“Right? So, why is he all butt hurt?” Wren had gotten a text from Sam at her dad’s place about her ducking out on him becoming a pattern, which it was, but that was what was expected from a casual hookup. Between Sam’s pouting and her father’s cool attitude toward her, she was ready to throw hands.
“He is supposed to be this big flirt with all these lady friends,” Wren ranted, stabbing her ice cream with gusto, “but he acts like I’m the weirdo because I don’t want to be boyfriend and girlfriend like we’re kids again.”
Millie sat across from her on the love seat with her feet tucked up under her. Her dark curly hair was thrown up into a bun on top of her head, and her glasses perched on the end of her nose pertly. They had been friends in high school, and when Wren left, they’d kept in touch over the years, meeting up for girls’ trips and talking on the phone every chance they got. When they were finally back in Mistletoe together, they’d picked up their friendship as if they had never been separated.
“Oh, is it my turn to speak? Because you’ve been ranting for a full twenty minutes, and I wasn’t sure.”
“Ha ha, yes, please, speak,” Wren said.
Millie shrugged. “Maybe he’s changed?”
“In a week?” Wren protested around a mouthful of ice cream. “Come on!”
“Could be a game. Maybe he likes to chase girls until they fall for him, then dump them when he knows that he can catch them.”
“Why would he play games, especially one like that?” Wren grumbled.
Millie threw her hands up in the air. “Who knows?”
“All I know is that something happened between us, and it was magical and electric.” Wren knew thinking about being with Sam was a bad idea, especially when it made her want to give in and see him again. “It could be the start of a long run of the two of us getting our rocks off together, but he wants to ruin it by having feelings.”
Millie laughed. “You sound like a total guy right now.”
“Well, I wish he was acting like a total guy right now,” Wren griped, devouring another bite of ice cream.
Millie watched her thoughtfully, tapping the end of her spoon against her full lips before she finally asked, “Would you rather have some jerk trying to mansplain things to you or a sensitive guy who wants to spend time with you?”
“I don’t want either. I’m going to stick to my vibrator from now on because it doesn’t talk back.”
“Then just avoid him. He’ll get over it and move on.” Millie smiled sweetly. “It’s not as if he doesn’t have options.”
“Thanks for that,” Wren said sarcastically, looking around Millie’s bright and cheery home, which was full of paintings of landscapes with rainbows and vibrant throw blankets and wall-to-wall bookshelves. Her house screamed librarian, which was what Millie was. She worked as the librarian at the middle school, and she loved it. She was even dating the school’s science teacher, although she shared with Wren that she had the biggest crush on the PE teacher, Matt. Wren had teased her about a possible “why choose” romance brewing at the middle school, and Millie had rolled her eyes and informed her that that kind of thing didn’t happen outside of books.
Millie pointed her spoon, wagging it like a finger at Wren. “I’m just saying that this town has very few studs, and Sam is one of them, but it sounds like he really likes you.”
“I don’t know if you’re trying to pacify me or irritate me more.”
“I guess it depends on how you look at life.” Millie took a bite of her ice cream before adding, “If my dreamy ex-boyfriend was hurt that I snuck out on him, I’d be giddy about the prospect, but you run away to hide with your best friend and a couple pints of ice cream to avoid your feelings.”
“And what are my true feelings?” Wren asked.
“Your mom and dad had a shit relationship, and it fucked you up.”
Millie’s blunt delivery stung like a slap, and Wren winced. “That is just one of many reasons why I know relationships don’t work. Choosing to go see my mom showed me why they should be avoided at all costs.”
“Please, the only reasons you went and saw your mom all those years ago was ’cause you happened to be going to college an hour from where she lived and your dad told you not to.”
Wren smirked. “Are you saying I’m rebellious?”
Millie huffed. “I am saying that if somebody said you were too chicken to jump into a burning building, you would do it just to spite them.”
“Depends on how many floors the burning building had and if the firemen had set up the blowup for jumpers down below.” Wren caught Millie’s wide-eyed stare and shrugged. “What? I’m not suicidal.”
“Thank heaven for that,” Millie muttered, setting her ice cream on the side table before turning Wren’s way with a solemn expression on her face. “But seriously, with the amount of emotional baggage you’ve got between your mom walking out and your dad being overbearing, it’s no wonder you’re hesitant to get involved with anyone. And honestly, the way your dad was with you and Sam was not my favorite moment of his. I like your dad, but—”
“Millie,” Wren broke in with a laugh. “You do not have to defend yourself for liking my dad. He has always been nice to you. I understand.”
“No, I’m saying I thought what he did was pretty jerky.” Millie reached out and squeezed Wren’s hand. “If my dad did something like that, threatening my boyfriend with jail time, I would have lost it.”
“Thank you,” Wren said, squeezing Millie’s hand back before releasing it. “But that’s in the past, and I’m over it. Back to the matter at hand...” Wren sat forward with her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm, mumbling, “What do I do about Sam?”
“It seems like you already took care of that situation by ghosting him. As long as you don’t hit him up for a third round of fun, he should get the message.”
Wren bit her lip, knowing Millie was right, but she couldn’t help wanting him, thinking about him. Maybe she could explain everything to him, and he’d be down to keep things casual?
You are trying to get pregnant! You are going to be someone’s mother, which means you do what is best for everyone and not just your loins.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” Millie asked, her tone laced with suspicion.
“Just that you’re right. Letting things rest is what’s best for everyone.”