Page 30 of Second Chance Christmas

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 it 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 that 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.”

“Right. They were. Only you got a two-hour jumpstart on the schedule.” His brother clapped him on the shoulder. “Man, had I known this job came with built-in excuses to visit pretty girls, I would have joined the team long before now.”

Aspen tossed the box of decorations he’d been looking for and it landed against his kid brother’s chest a little too hard. “Uphhh. I’m kidding, man, lighten up. How long is Ivy staying in town?”

“If Mrs. Winters has a say, her granddaughter would be here indefinitely.”

“And you? And by the way, does Ivy know that?”

He stopped shuffling through the boxes and pegged his brother with a glare. “Doesn’t matter what I want, Kade, now drop it. I do know that Mrs. Winters has something up her sleeve. I only wish she’d included me in on it.”

“And we’re back at square one.”

“Moving back here was a good choice after Jace, no regrets there. But Mom is still not happy you signed on so don’t push your luck. I could have you on kitchen duty indefinitely. Don’t push the Ivy subject.” He had to draw the line somewhere. “It’s just not going to happen. No matter how much I wish I could change the past.” He couldn’t even get her to have dinner with him. Years of training honed his senses like a razor’s edge. So why couldn’t he slice through his own thoughts and get down to the true grit of why Ivy showing up in his town messed with his head more than he cared to admit?

It wasn’t about the one that got away or ego.

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