Page 81 of His One True Wish

“Billie! That is enough.” Mom hit the table with both her hands. I jumped in my seat at the sound, feeling like a teenager getting called out for disrespect. “Abby, I’m sorry,” Mom added.

“It’s okay,” Abby whispered.

“I’m going upstairs,” I said, tears stinging my eyes. My heart raced, and my legs felt wobbly as I stood.

“You do that,” Mom said. “You must be tired.”

The dull thud of construction echoed down the hall. It was steady and relentless. My breath shaking, I left the kitchen, my mother’s voice trailing after me.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into her,” Mom said.

“It’s okay,” Abby said. “She’s hurt. Selling a home is hard sometimes.”

The kitchen door swung shut, muffling whatever Mom and Abby said next. I didn’t want to hear it anyway. Three men were tearing up the floorboards in the powder room. I pressed myself up against the wall to walk past them, biting my lip to keep my tears at bay. Reaching the staircase, I bolted up the stairs two at a time.

I hated how I felt. I ached in my belly. My heart throbbed with pain. I was sad and angry. I felt betrayed by Axl, betrayed by Abby, and I supposed I felt betrayed by Mom for not understanding that I was the only person she should be listening to. We were Preston women, and didn’t need anybody else in our lives.

I closed my bedroom door and fell onto my bed, my hands reaching for the familiar stitching of the shooting star quilt Gran made me years ago. I sobbed into my pillow, my body racked with grief for all the wishes I’d made that never came true.

CHAPTER 24

AXL

Isat by the fire, Cam at my feet, a whiskey in hand. A couple of days ago, I would have thought it was blissful to be alone in the cabin with nothing to worry about besides walking Cam and watching the weather.

The glass felt cold in my hands, even though it was plenty warm inside. After Billie left, the temperature continued to rise. I could already feel the difference in the air outside. The snow covering the back field looked heavy and dense. It was going to be a hell of a mess out there when the temperature rose another few degrees.

Louise was gone. She’d been gone for months. I thought of all the updates I’d sent her and swallowed. My eyes burned, knowing she’d never be back to the cabin she loved. The sadness in Billie’s eyes made sense to me. I wished she’d told me from the start, but who was I to judge? I was the king of withholding information, and it had fucked me up completely. I figured that Billie was home talking with her mom about having me move out. It was clear that Billie was close to her mom, and I imagined the grief she felt for Louise was strong.

I took another sip of my whiskey. I wasn’t close to my family, and it wasn’t often I thought of my own parents. They were alive and living in Modesto, California. I hadn’t spoken to my mom in about amonth. That wasn’t unusual. Mom didn’t like to talk on the phone any more than I did. When we did talk, it was about easy topics like her garden or the weather. We didn’t speak about my father.

I closed my eyes and sank back into my chair. I liked the feeling of the fire warming my skin. I took another sip of whiskey, enjoying the heat of the liquid going down my throat. Billie was here for less than three days, and she’d changed this place for me. I looked around the cabin, knowing full well that nothing was visually different. It was as if Billie being here had messed with the structure of the walls or tilted the foundation.

The cabin had felt like home to me from the moment I walked the property. After Ft. Lauderdale, I needed a change, a place to put down roots where nobody knew me. But I’d unknowingly drawn Angel here with me.

Billie was right. Angel was married.

I rubbed my eyes. Fuck my bad decisions. I knew it was probably time I head into town and back to the Buzz on In to talk with Mason and Angel. Mason had a ton of work ahead of him at the airport and the boys were home, but it would take more than the three of them and the regular crew to clear those runways and check out the planes.

That was it. I stood up and cleared my throat before downing the rest of my whiskey. I only had one glass, so I was okay to take the sled back into town.

My phone beeped, and for a split second, I hoped it was Billie, but I’d never given her my number. I guessed things were going back to normal. I had a signal again.

I glanced down at my messages. It was my buddy and former business partner, Miles Decker.

Can you talk?

Snowing like hell here. I have a few.

I looked at his message. Somehow Miles always knew when I needed a friend. We met during basic military training. Miles was tall like me, which put a target on us with the other pilots. We were assigned the same military training instructor. He was a hard-ass with a target on Miles since he came from money. I, on the otherhand, was a nobody from Modesto, so between pressure from the pilots and our MTI, Miles and I became fast friends.

I sat back down, watching my phone and the three dots of typing. The phone rang.

“What’s up, brother?” I said, surprised to feel a smile cross my face.

“And there he is, the invisible man is alive.”

“Yeah, alive and cold. We got dumped on this week. A total surprise. Nobody saw it coming.”

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