Page 112 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

It hurt him to the core, that small sentence. Jonas, better than anyone, knew that you couldn’t always talk later. Sometimes, later never came. A car went off the road. A plane crashed. A heart stopped. There were a hundred ways to lose out on possible futures.

Rachel picked up the diaper bag and put it over her shoulder. No,no.Time was going too fast, streaming around him in a way that made him slightly dizzy. “I’ll let you know if we need anything else for the album,” she said.

Jonas wanted to block the door. He had the intense desire to stand in front of her and the equally intense desire to let her be free. Rachel didn’t belong to him. They weren’ttogether.He wouldn’t stop her from leaving if she wanted to go.

They headed down the stairs, and he helped Scott into his little coat, the hat from the gift shop, and his small mittens. Rachel put on her coat and brushed the black waves of her hair over her shoulders. He had the wrenching vision of having another child with Rachel—a child with her hair, but his nose and his chin—and he found he couldn’t let her walk out without sayingsomething.

“Are you sure?” He bounced Scott on his hip, taking a deep breath of his warm scent. “Are you sure this is the best plan?”

“It might not be the best for you,” Rachel admitted. “But I know it’s the best for me. I can’t be here anymore. You understand that.”

It wasn’t a question, more of a wish. She wanted him to understand it. But the ground was shifting under his feet, the planet tilting off its axis, and he had to get it back on track. “No,” he said finally. “You’re right. This is the best for both of us.”

It was the only way to protect his brothers. The only way he could protect Rachel and Scott from any criticism from the family drama that would ensue. The choice was out of his hands, and one he’d make for Rachel and his son before it got any more out of his control.

Rachel held her hands out for Scott, and he let his son go to her, knowing with a pang that if she left, she might never come back. “Let me drive you back to the resort.”

“No,” she said quickly, a faint smile on her face. “We need a little walk, don’t we, buddy?”

“Walk,” Scott repeated, rubbing at her cheek with one of his mitten-covered hands. He was so cute. It was unbearable to watch him go, this little boy he’d only just met. “Walk, walk.”

“Goodbye,” Rachel said, and he felt the word down to his bones.

Jonas opened the door for her, the cold sharp on his skin, and she went out, the scent of her lingering in the foyer as a painful reminder of everything he was losing.

12

RACHEL

Rachel knew Jonas was floundering with his new reality. There had been friction between the two brothers as they sat in Jonas’s living room, and she’d heard it in his voice.I don’t knowechoed in her mind over and over. He didn’t know what? What to do about her and Scott? Or his plan of action? Or any of it?

She shook her head and focused on the self-service machine at the print shop. This was the last of the photos, and she shifted Scott on her hip as she pressed the buttons on the screen. The sooner she could get these photos in hand, the sooner she could finish the album, and they could leave.

Leave Jonas. Leave his family. And leave Elk Lodge.

“Just a few more minutes, buddy,” she murmured. “Then Mommy will figure things out.”

“Mama,” he said. “Walk.” Scott loved the outdoors, and she used every opportunity to make sure they spent time outside. This place had been idyllic for him.

“We can’t right now, but soon.” Rachel finished the last of the printing and walked out of the shop. The snow was falling prettily all around, her son’s face lit with joy as he tried to catch the flakes. She set the bag of photos into the front seat of her car before slipping off Scott’s jacket, making it easier to buckle him into his car seat. She tested the straps.

Rachel tucked his jacket over his legs and handed him the ball Jonas had given him for Christmas, hoping to keep him occupied. She slid into the front seat and let out a deep breath. Suddenly, the clouds broke apart, and the sun shone down on the quaint Main Street of the small town she’d fallen in love with. If she lived with Jonas—

She didnotlive with Jonas. Elk Lodge wasn’t her home, though at times she hadn’t been able to keep from wishing it was a place she could always return to. She could only attribute her fondness for the place to the fact that her son had been conceived there. But it wasn’t what sheneeded.Not at this moment.

Annabeth.Her best friend since fourth grade would be able to give her the perspective she needed. One that wasn’t centered on the Elkin family. Scott played happily in the back seat while she dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed.

“Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,” Annabeth answered merrily the instant she picked up the phone. “Are you home? Did your mother talk you into going to Montana?”

Rachel laughed, part of the knot in her gut unclenching. “I’m not home, actually. I’m at Elk Lodge.”

A beat of silence passed. “What? Why?”

“Remember when I texted you about that job?” She rushed through the preliminary details—the last-minute hire, the drive to the Lodge—and then dropped the news. “So, it turns out Jonas Elkin, part owner of Elk Lodge, happens to be Scott’s dad.”

“What?” Annabeth shrieked. “He is? How? Explain. Now.”

“He was the one-night stand.” Rachel put a hand to her forehead. “I thought he was a guest, but I was way off, apparently. It’s been a roller-coaster ride since the minute we recognized each other and he found out about Scott. Bad, then good, then trying to be professional.” She spilled the whole story to her friend. The portraits. The hiding from his family. The makeup Christmas in his house once Jonas had discovered that she’d cut her own holiday short for the job. The growing bond between father and son. All of it, up to this morning and what she’d overheard, and how she’d left. Her throat went tight with emotion. “I can’t avoid him forever, and I won’t prevent a man from seeing his son, but I can’t stay here. I’m leaving early.”

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