Page 41 of Never In My Wildest Dreams

“No, they wanted to get me away from my friends. My mom always hated the wild shit we did. But my dad would remind her where we lived. That extreme sports were the draw to living in a mountain town like Calamity.”

“Until that night.”

“Exactly. After that, he happily got us out of there. But anyhow, like I said, never heard from any of them again.” He shrugged “Out of sight, out of mind.”

“Are you sure that’s why? I could see it happening with one guy, but not all of them. You know what I mean? What are the odds all of them were self-involved assholes?”

Declan wasn’t. Cole was a cocky son of a bitch, but he wasn’t selfish. “I didn’t think they were. But...”There you have it.

“Something’s off there. The guy who gave up hockey to help save the family ranch? That doesn’t sound like a guy who’d bail on his good friend. Did you ever ask them about it?”

“I asked my mom about it once, thinking maybe the hospital sent them away. She just said, ‘I guess they moved on. Out of sight, out of mind.’ So, I never brought it up again.”

“I mean, speaking as a total outsider, something’s fishy about that story. If it still bugs you, you should look into it.”

“Maybe.”

A log snapped, and sparks flew out. Finished with the garland, he stood up. “Let’s get this on the tree.”

They brought their supplies to the hearth, and together, they started from the top and wound the long strand of popcorn all the way around. When they ran out of length, they stood back to take it in. It didn’t reach the bottom.

“I can make more,” he said.

“No, we have cats.”

“Cats?” What was she talking about?

“Yeah, let’s pretend we have to leave the bottom bare, so the cats don’t eat the popcorn.”

He laughed. “Fuckin’ cats.” Whatever she wanted. It was her tree, after all. He’d be leaving the moment he could get out.

A pang of disappointment struck his chest. He didn’t want to leave her. He liked this woman, and that wasn’t something he’d experienced in a very long time.

Like what exactly?

You don’t even know her.

“Okay, now, let’s hang my gorgeous snowflakes.” She dangled a bunch of them off a finger.

As they worked together, he said, “Okay, your turn. Favorite pet?”

“Guess what? I’ve never had one either.” She sounded sad about that. “Seems like we have a lot in common.”

“What would you want if you could have one?”

“I don’t know. Unlike you, I didn’t have a picket fence life, so I didn’t grow up around people who had pet hamsters or cats or…bearded dragons.”

“Did you want a picket fence life?”

She got up on her toes to reach a high branch. “Deeply. Painfully. But it was probably because I didn’t have play dates and proms and stuff like that, so the thing I was shut off from became a big deal to me. Now, you…I’ll bet you were Homecoming King.”

A picture formed of him and the guys in a party bus, their dates shrieking with laughter as they worked the poles. There was a before and an after. And as good as his life was now, he couldn’t ignore the longing for the time when his happiness was embedded in knowing he had the rock-solid foundation of his best friends.

“Come on. You can tell me.” She kept tossing the string, hoping it would catch.

He came up behind her, taking the ornament from her and hanging it where she wanted. Into her ear, he said, “No, I wasn’t.” He was close enough that he got to watch goosebumps pop up on her arms. For a moment, they both stilled. He breathed in her sweet, feminine scent and let the heat from her body sink under his skin.

“No?” Her voice sounded breathy, almost shaky.

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