Page 280 of Screwged for Christmas

Ivy pictured her younger self and the way he used to look at her, the depths of his eyes filled with unbound energy. Now there was a harder edge to his features she accounted to life’s less-than-gentle experiences.

She imagined she didn’t look the same either. She sure didn’t feel like the optimistic and energetic teenager about to conquer the world. “It’s different. Being back. I wasn’t expecting to...” She paused to think about what exactly she did expect.

“See me?” Aspen jumped in, lending words to her thoughts, no hesitation at all where she would have obviously tripped over every syllable.

A million times yes. “No.” She nearly rolled her eyes. Instead, she worked the ends of her scarf and bit her lip to keep her mouth out of trouble. If her gran and momma heard her now they would be shaking their collective heads at her. One trait all three shared was that they preferred the truth, even when it made you cringe. Well, she just blew that all to hell.

Ivy steered the conversation back to more neutral territory.

“Gran mentioned you moved to California with your brother after I left for college. She never mentioned you guys returned.” Not that she didn’t try and pry for every piece of information she could bribe, con or coax out of her Gran. Tired of filling her in on every single detail of Aspen’s life, she messaged Aspen’s Facebook profile link to Ivy one morning and in bold letters wrote: NO MORE. DO YOUR OWN STALKING.

Pshhh. Yeah right. Looking backward meant you couldn’t move forward and Aspen Kennedy and his sexy dimples had no business in her present, and surely fate didn’t mean for them to be in her future. But there were times when curiosity took over.

That first Christmas away at college she learned a truth that set her on a path she, at first, never planned for.

Without her in the picture, Aspen had moved on.

It took her three solid months to pull her heart out of the gutter and resign herself to another truth. She was the one who ended it, not him.

To drive her thoughts home, she had met her fiancé in her second year and her love for Aspen slowly faded into the recesses of her heart. Only now, she was minus the fiancé, too.

“It wasn’t that easy,” Aspen continued. “Jace and I had a lot of plans, like you and me at one time.” She felt the hurt of his words deep in her heart.

“Things didn’t turn out the way either of us planned,” he continued.

True on all accounts, she supposed.

“What do you mean?”

Aspen sighed heavily. “I thought you knew.”

She turned to him slowly. “Knew what?”

“Jace didn’t make it back home, Ivy Sunday. It’s almost four years now since the accident.” His expression turned solemn as though all the happiness seeped from him in an instant.

* * *

ASPEN LOOKED OUT OVER the hood of his truck and then back at Ivy Sunday.

If he didn’t know better he’d think she was a mirage. Better yet, an angel sitting in his truck.

Her brows pinched at the mention of his brother and he hated seeing her sweet smile faded to a frown. He wished he could steer them off the topic, but he could tell she wanted to know more with how she worked her lower lip, her eyes brimming with confusion and worry.

“What accident?” she asked cautiously.

“You didn’t hear?” Aspen downshifted and took the curve at a steady glide.

Sadness plagued her expression that was happy only moments ago, making his chest tighten. She reached out and pressed a hand to his. “Tell me what happened, Aspen?”

“Two boys out to conquer the world, only the world bit us back.” And that was an understatement. He’d been unanimously selected as the eldest to take over the family business despite his own wishes of being a firefighter while Jace had received the scholarship for football.

When it didn’t work between him and Ivy he shoved dreams aside and went for practical.

Instead of going for his dream, Aspen took business classes in Vancouver in order to be close to home.

Their parents owned the only grocery store in Dixen with the hope to pass it down the line. Out of their six children, everyone assumed it would be him, and Aspen had gone along with it at first.

“Jace had an accident, and after that, it was all over for him on the field. He couldn’t play pro ball anymore. After that disappointment, he came home and decided we both needed a new plan. I was game and as it turned out our parents were totally fine with me picking a different path.” He chuckled lightly. “The things we assume.”

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