Page 13 of Second Chance Christmas

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 practicality.

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.”

“Ain’t that the truth. My dad wanted me to be a lawyer and he thought Jon would be an architect. But Jace a pro ballplayer? Now that I would have loved to see.”

“He was good. Real good. After his injury, he and I talked about what I always wanted to do. One thing led to another and that year Chief Matthews took us under his wing. But that wasn’t enough.”

Ivy nodded. “Small town like this had no adventure for the Big Dix boys, huh?”

He huffed. “We wanted bigger so we went to California where the real danger was.”

Aspen paused. Four years and the words still tied his tongue into knots along with his guts. “Jace died in a wildfire in upstate California a little over three years back. And now, here I am.”

Ivy gasped, a delicate sound but it struck a nerve just the same.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“That’s okay. Plus, how could you?” He drew out the words, hoping as time went on it would help lessen the pain. “We kept the funeral low-key. Just the rest of the Kennedy crew. A few people from town. Simple like he would have wanted it.”

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