Page 33 of Reeve

When Aaron knocks on my door at a quarter of nine, I grab my ridiculously small purse (à la H&M, of course!) and I’m shrugging into my parka when I open the door to find…my dad.

He takes one look at my outfit and chuckles.

“And here was me, thinking you were spending your last New Year’s Eve at home all alone.”

“Nope,” I say, grinning at him. “I’ve got plans.”

“Clearly. Care to fill me in?”

“Deputy Adams is squiring me to the Purple Parsnip,” I say, joining my father on the tiny cabin porch and pulling the door closed behind me. It’s a crisp, cool evening, with a million stars in the sky and the smell of woodfire wafting on the breeze.

“I approve of Aaron,” says my dad. “You know, he’s liked you for ages. I appreciate it that he waited until you were all grown up to ask you out.”

“I like him, too,” I say, thinking about that time I made a pass at him when I was only seventeen. “But he could’ve asked me sooner.”

“Nah,” says my dad, adjusting and readjusting his hands on the porch railing as he looks up at the stars. “This is good timing.”

“How’s that? I’m about to leave for college.”

“Exactly,” he says. “Impossible for you two to get too serious too fast.”

“You’re the worst.” I shake my head at him. “You, Gran, and Paw Paw having a fire up at the lodge?”

“Of course. And watching the TV. That stupid crystal ball probably just dropped in New York. Half finished with a bottle of bubbly already.” He shrugs. “Might have a couple more in the basement if we need ’em.”

Suddenly, standing on my porch, looking at the stars on New Year’s Eve with my dad, I’m reminded of Aaron’s and my conversation on the car ride to Canada a few weeks back, specifically, my thoughts on how some humans are meant to live life in pairs.

“You lonely, Dad?”

“What? Nah. No way.” He gestures to Tanner’s cabin, which is the only one in the campground with lights on, besides mine. “Your brother and McKenna live here with the baby, and Tanner said he’s going to have an architect come draw up plans for a second floor. They’ll be here long after I’m gone! You’ll be back in summertime. Hunter and Isabella, too. Harper, Parker, and Sawyer are all down in Skagway. Just a stone’s throw, really. More babies seem to be coming all the time. Lonely? Nah…”

“Dad,” I say gently. “I’m not talking about family. I know you have family. I’m talking about—”

“You didn’t know her.”

“What?”

“You don’t remember her.”

“Mama? No, I don’t, but I lost her, too.”

“She was something different, that woman. Something special.”

“And beautiful.”

“Lord, she was beautiful.”

“You miss her.”

“Like crazy,” he says, rubbing the shadow on his chin. “Every hour of every day.”

“That’s torture, Dad.”

“That’slove, Reeve.Reallove.Truelove.”

“It’s no way to live,” I say. “You’re still young…ish. You’re only fifty-six! You’ve got, like, forty or fifty years left.” I smack his arm. “You’ve been grieving her for eighteen years now. Isn’t that enough?”

“I guess my heart’ll let me know when it’s enough, huh?”

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