Page 21 of Snowed In With You

I burst out laughing and he joined in, the sound ringing strangely but comfortingly and I relaxed into his side.

‘Hey,’ Tanya said, coming over and standing next to the sofa.‘We bought supplies for the lodge on the way, so I made us all grilled cheeses.’

My stomach grumbled loudly and I beamed, standing up and kissing Tanya on the cheek as I made my way to the dining table. ‘I’m so glad my brother married you, Tan.’

She let out a peel of laughter as she strode off to the kitchen and Rob caught my hand before I could completely pass him.

‘In the spirit of honesty,’ he said, face back to its characteristic solemnity but the twitch of his eye betrayed his nervousness for once, ‘I have something I need to tell you. And Fletcher.’

My heart thudded a little faster. Was he going to give us his blessing? Not that I really felt that we needed it, we were grown adults and Rob didn’t own meorFletcher. Or maybe he was about to tell us he hated the idea of us together.

Rob stood and made his way to the table, sitting down in one of the chairs just as Fletcher came down the stairs. ‘I already knew about what happened at the wedding between the two of you.’

Chapter Sixteen

Sara

I stared at Rob, too distracted for a moment by the memory of what Fletch and I had done on the exact spot my brother now had his elbow resting on to really hear what he was saying.

‘Yeah, because we told you, like twenty minutes ago,’ I said, a beat late.

Fletcher caught the blush that was working its way across my cheeks and smirked as he followed my gaze. Rob looked between us and the table before pulling his arm away like it was on fire, grimacing as he asked, ‘Do I even want to know?’

Fletcher clapped him on the back and took a seat next to him on one side of the table, I took the place opposite and Tanya slid in next to me, setting grilled cheese toasties down in front of each of us.

Rob took a breath as if to steady himself and that made me pay attention, Rob wasneverunsure –but I guessed we were both learning new things about each other today. ‘No, I mean, I’ve known since the day after the wedding.’

Silence descended and the bite of toast in my mouth suddenly felt like cotton as I struggled to swallow. ‘Youwhat? Why didn’t you say something?’

Rob raised an eyebrow cooly, ‘Well, neither of you seemed inclined to bring it up either.’

Okay, point. ‘But out on the lake you acted like you were surprised and I don’t–’

My eyes widened as a thought occurred to me. Rob’s lack of anger or concern, the fact that he apparently knew what had happened between me and Fletcherbeforehe’d invited us on this trip– ‘were you trying toParent Trapus?’ My voice had risen shrilly and Tanya patted my shoulder comfortingly. Had she known too?

Fletcher rubbed at his eyes tiredly, ‘What, dare I ask, is a Parent Trap?’

‘He set us up,’ I accused and Rob didn’t even try to deny it.

‘You were both being idiots, pining after each other without knowing the full story. It was driving me crazy. I waited, I swear I waited, because I thought,surely these two people who I care about a lot wouldn’t be so stupid as to let this opportunity pass them by. But a week turned into two and you were both clearly unhappy andlyingto me about it.’

Anger was washing through me too fiercely for me to listen to him right now. I stood abruptly but Fletcher reached across the table and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. I sat back down and Fletcher walked to the kitchen, the now-familiar sound of him opening and closing cupboards drained some of my tension away and I let out a slow breath as he set a cup of tea in front of me and gestured to the pot for Rob and Tanya.

‘So what was your plan? Get us here and ditch us?’ I looked accusingly at the newlyweds and Tanya looked a little remorseful while Rob just took in my anger resolutely.

‘No, I just wanted you to spend more time together, maybe force some team-building activities. To be honest, I hoped you’d sort it out between you on the car ride over.’

My mouth dropped open, having forgotten about that small detail, and my fists curled as I realised Rob would have known just how uncomfortable he was making us by getting in the car together.

‘The snowstorm came in handy, I guess,’ he continued mildly and by that point I’d had enough.

‘Honey, we just wanted you both to be happy,’ Tanya chipped in and I could only stare at her. ‘I told him that he might not get the results he wanted if he interfered, but you know your brother can be a little... single-minded.’ I appreciated Tanya’s attempt to be diplomatic and that Rob was her husband, but we’d started to become friends before the wedding. That she hadn’t even attempted to give me a heads-up about what my brother had been planning stung almost as much as Rob’s meddling.

‘I can’t believe you let him think this was a good idea. You can’t honestly tell me you fully agreed with this madness,’ I rolled my eyes at her silence. Tan was too nice to be a good liar and she looked away quickly, messing with her nose ring and tugging at her pink ringlets.

‘Yeah... ‘ I said slowly, ‘that’s what I thought.’

‘Except for the fact it did work,’ Rob pointed out. Fletcher’s brows furrowed and he inched away from my brother as we both stared him down. Rob sighed and put down his cup, running a hand through his dark hair and levelling his dark eyes on me, ‘You just needed a push and I wanted to help.’

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