31. Aspen
ASPEN
It’s been a couple of days since Blake’s birthday, and I haven’t confronted Levi. We’ve managed to stay out of each other’s way, though whether that’s deliberate or accidentally, I’m unsure.
A small part of me is relieved. I don’t have any proof he’s the one responsible for my missing chunk of hair, and I don’t want to cause more tension than there needs to be.
I’m tempted to search his room, but I realize I don’t know which one is his.
I’ve never seen him coming in or out of a particular room of the hotel—most of the time, he isn’t here at all.
I wonder again if he has something to do with my missing sweater. If I found his room, would I also find that, together with my cut hair?
To put nagging thoughts of Levi out of my mind, I’m sitting around the side of the hotel, working on a sketch of the mountains. I’m interrupted by the grumble of a car engine and the crunch of tires.
Since I’ve been here, we haven’t had any visitors to Windridge Hall, so the arrival of someone new catches my attention. I wonder if it’s one of these contractors Blake has talked about but I’ve never actually seen.
The engine shuts off and a car door slams. I hurry to the front of the hotel, preparing to greet the new arrival, but as soon as I round the corner, I screech to a halt.
“Tobias?”
Standing beside his car is my boyfriend—or possibly ex-boyfriend, though we never had any closure.
Technically, we were never really official either.
He hadn’t wanted to commit, and I’d been too pathetic to either insist we become an item or walk away from him for good.
I don’t really think of him as my boyfriend now, though, I realize with a guilty pang.
I don’t think about him at all. We didn’t officially break up, but how could we have if we were never officially together?
Besides, it’s not as though he seemed to give a shit about me leaving.
Not that I’ve been much better. I could have made more of an effort to try to get in touch with him, but unfortunately, it’s been less of a case of absence making the heart grow fonder, and more a case of absence making the heart not really give a shit.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I blurt.
The words are out of my mouth before I can think them through. I don’t exactly sound welcoming.
His brow draws down. “What are you talking about? You invited me, remember?”
“I did?”
“Yeah. When you said goodbye at my place, you said I could come and visit, and then you sent me a text telling me that you couldn’t wait for me to come and see it.”
He’s right, I did, but that had been on the first night after I’d arrived when I’d by some chance had one bar of service—service I haven’t come across since.
I’d still been bitter about him not coming to the funeral with me, and also about him barely seeming to care that I was leaving.
It had only been because I’d been leaving with another man that he’d even bothered to put down the controls for his game.
I’d sent the text partly because I’d been showing off, but maybe also because I’d wanted him to think about me.
I’d wanted him to miss me, just a little.
I clench my fists at my side. “Well, sure, I did, but I figured you’d arrange an actual time and date. I didn’t think you’d just show up.”
Is he checking up on me? Trying to catch me doing something he wouldn’t like? Like fucking my father’s best friend? Not that what I do is any of his business anymore.
“I tried. I sent you a couple of messages, but you never replied. I remembered you said the service wasn’t too good out here, so I figured that was the problem.”
I sigh and hook a strand of hair behind my ear. “No, you’re right. The service is terrible, and the Wi-Fi is broken.” I don’t tell him how I haven’t exactly pushed to get it fixed. “I didn’t get your messages.”
His lips thin and his posture is rigid. This clearly isn’t the reunion he’d pictured. He’d probably imagined me racing toward him like we’re in a movie and throwing myself into his arms while he spins me around.
He gestures behind him, at the mountain road he’s just driven up. “I can leave again, if it’s not convenient, though I did just drive for hours. I didn’t think you’d have much going on up here. It’s not as though you’re busy, is it?”
I open my mouth to reply, though I’m not one hundred percent sure what to say. A part of me definitely wants to say, ‘Actually, I am busy—I’m busy with my art and helping to renovate the hotel, so yes, please leave,’ but before I can, he cuts me off.
“I did take time off specially to see you. I have a job, you know, Aspen.”
That’s always been a bone of contention between us.
I haven’t been able to work a regular job because of taking care of my dad.
I tried—believe me, I seriously tried—but one day I came back from a night shift at a local factory to find my dad lying on the floor.
He’d tried to get to the bathroom and had fallen and been unable to get up.
I quit my job there and then. I wasn’t going to allow my dad to suffer the indignity of lying on a cold floor for hours just so I could stand on a production line.
I’d needed the money, but I told myself I would figure things out.
I’d known Dad didn’t have very long, and I’d had little choice but to put him first.
I shake my head. “I know that, Tobes. I’ll have to check with Blake, that’s all. This is his place, after all.”
Tobias blinks. “You told me that he invited me.”
“Well, yeah, he mentioned that you were welcome to visit.” That was the truth, too.
He shrugs one shoulder. “So, what’s the problem?”
What is the problem? Hadn’t I wanted Tobias to make an effort for me? He’s driven all the way up here to see me, and I’m still not happy. Perhaps I’m the problem?
I release a breath and force myself to smile. “You’re right. I’m overthinking things. He did say it was fine for you to visit. He wants me to treat this place like my own.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Generous.”
“Yes, he is. Very.”
Unlike you, who preferred to see me homeless rather than have me come live with you. I keep my thoughts to myself, but they do make me feel resentful and bitter.
Tobias goes to the back of his car and hauls out a duffle bag, which I assume contains his clothes and toiletries. My heart sinks. It looks like a lot of stuff. How long does he think he’s staying? I know he’s going to want to be here for more than one night after such a long drive.
He slams the door shut again and locks the car. The headlights flash.
“Show me to your room, then.”
“We should probably let Blake know you’re here before that. He’ll wonder whose car is parked out here. We get tourists who come and stay in the hotel sometimes.”
Tobias arches his brow. “We?”
My cheeks warm. “I mean he does, and I don’t want Blake to think he’s got someone wandering around his property.”
Of course, Blake isn’t the only other person here.
I think of Levi, and my stomach coils. Fuck.
I really don’t want Tobias to meet Levi.
I can’t see that meeting going well at all.
It’s one thing Tobias thinking I’m living out here with someone he considers to practically be an old man—though he hasn’t actually seen Blake yet, and he might be in for a surprise—but it’s quite another for me to be living with a guy who’s not much older than us, and looking the way Levi does, too.
It won’t matter to Tobias that Levi is a complete asshole.
He’ll still assume Levi will want to fuck me.
Considering the way Levi speaks to me, Tobias probably wouldn’t be wrong.
I’m not sure where I’m going to find Blake, but I lead Tobias into the hotel.
He cranes his neck as he follows, taking in the grand scale of the place. “It needs a lot of work.”
“Yes, it does.” He’s pointing out the obvious. “But it’s a project of love. Blake’s not in any rush to get the place completed.”
“Shouldn’t there be a whole heap of contractors here?”
“Blake has a few people he works with, but mostly he’s restoring the hotel himself.”
Tobias frowns. “Are you sure it’s safe to live in?”
“Yeah, this wing, where I’m staying, is perfectly safe.
It’s mostly completed, as far as the renovations go.
There’s still some work going on, but it’s mainly decorating and stuff.
You can’t go into the east wing, though.
That side of the property hasn’t been touched, and it’s structurally unsound and completely off limits. ”
“Right.” He continues to look around. “This place is huge.”
“Yeah, it is. Let’s go and find my dad’s best friend.” I use the phrase deliberately to remind Tobias of who Blake is. He isn’t some random man who picked me up. We have history, more even than Tobias and I.
We head off in search of him.
I find Blake inside the hotel, working, as usual.
He has an electric screwdriver in one hand and is wearing a toolbelt.
He’s wearing a tank top, and the small amount of clothing shows off his muscles and tan skin perfectly.
I can’t help but be drawn to his massive shoulders, biceps, and tattoos.
I wouldn’t be human not to notice. I bet Tobias has, too.
I clear my throat, and Blake glances away from his work and over his shoulder. He starts back when he discovers I’m not alone.
“Who’s this, Pen?” He climbs down from the stepladder.
Why do I feel like I’m introducing one boyfriend to another? I know I shouldn’t feel this way about Blake, because absolutely nothing has happened between us, but my guilty conscience is coming into play.
“You remember I told you about Tobias? My—” I almost say boyfriend but cut myself off at the last minute. I don’t want to put that thought into anyone’s head, especially as Tobias has always insisted things are casual between us. “You said it was okay that he came up to visit.”