Page 297 of Screwged for Christmas

For what? Hoping to have her run to him, throw her arms around him and say she missed him? Could they have another go? Hoped things could go back to the way they were? Yeah, well, if he thought that they were even a possibility maybe he did deserve a skillet to the head.

His armor of indifference didn’t seem to stand up to the insistent peppering of Kade’s questions. But he hadn’t cracked it yet and the last thing on his mind was admitting he still had a weakness for one Ivy Sunday Winters.

But he did.

“If you would say something that made sense, maybe. But since you’re wrong, the only thing I have is a job to see we keep in top shape. Especially with all the newcomers rolling in for Dixcemberfest.”

A wide, goofy grin spread over Kade’s face and made him look every bit of his twenty-five years. “Every time I hear the word I hear dick fest and pussy galore.”

He stared at his brother. “You would. You leave me to deal with the crowds alone while you chase ass again, I’ll put your ass on kitchen duty for a month.”

His brother’s eyes went wide.

“No arguments. You have a job to do.”

Aspen brushed by him without another word.

He needed coffee. Fuck it. He needed whiskey. But he’d settle for the caffeine.

“Nice try in changing the subject. Ivy has your gut in knots, man, and you don’t know what to do about it.”

“What can I do?” he snapped. “She’s only here for a few more days at best and then she’ll be gone again. Maybe for another eight years. Forever. Who the hell knows?”

Kade leaned a shoulder against the rig with a fucking grin on his face that made Aspen want to hit something.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

He rocked back on his heels, head thrown back, looking for some divine intervention to keep him from thunking his brother on the head.

His game plan consisted of him staying away. Aspen told himself a million times after learning Ivy would be back in town for Christmas that he would do just that—stay away. But that didn’t happen just like his brother wasn’t likely to drop the subject any time soon.

“There’s nothingtodo,” he finally admitted.

Kade closed the hatch to the apparatus compartment and nailed him with a look that said he didn’t buy what he was putting down. That made two of them, but it didn’t matter. Not anymore.

“She doesn’t know, does she?”

And there is was. The crux of what Kade really wanted to talk about.

“And she never will. Now drop it, Kade, or so help me God I’ll help dent that damn hard head of yours.” He rubbed a hand down his face, feeling tired for the first time in a long while. “She doesn’t need me to stir up past memories or give her doubts about thewhat ifsthrown at her right now. Or ever, as far as I’m concerned. What would it change, anyway?” He snatched up the clipboard and made his way to the other end of the garage where the station stored extra equipment in a back locker room.

Kade followed.

“Nothing,” he answered his own question as he flipped the lock and started unloading box after box.

“You have to tell her sooner or later, Aspen.” Kade took the boxes he handed over and stacked them on the outside.

“She was barely eighteen and I was too old for her. It wouldn’t have worked out. Maybe it was for the best I didn’t find her when I went looking for her.

“Bullshit. You’re barely two years older than her and it sure didn’t matter when you guys were high school sweethearts. When she got cold feet, you let her slip away. Plain and simple. And is it too late? I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the one that was out at her place at the ass crack of dawn today Hell, you beat the sun. That’s volumes, brother.”

Irritated Aspen reached into the dark recess of the storage room to flick the light switch but banged into the stash of mop pails and brooms with a clatter.

“You talk too fucking much.” He bit out as he righted the whole mess. His brother’s words sliced a little too deep for comfort. Normally he didn’t pay attention to anything the kid of the family said but lately, he made more sense than not. Cold feet? Seeing Ivy Sunday run from their wedding and make a mad dash to a waiting cab left a hole in him not easily filled.

He could have run after her, convinced her to come back, but he’d let her go and decided to wait. Let her have a few days to herself and then he would search her out. Only the week he’d waited had been too long. She and her whole family had left town.

“You know the entire crew was out this morning doing the same. I didn’t want her or Mrs. Winters to freeze to death. Part of the whole job description.”

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