Home > Lost Love (Arrowood #1.5)(2)

Lost Love (Arrowood #1.5)(2)
Author: J.R. Gray

I wiped my eyes hoping he didn’t notice. “Nothing.”

“Exactly. Come to dinner.”

“You don’t think it will cause a big scene?” I didn’t think my parents would mind too much but Adam was another story altogether. I’d tried to talk to him a few years after I’d left to explain but he told me to fuck off, that I was dead to him.

“No one is going to care.” He was shifty as he said it and I didn’t wholly believe him. “You can’t spend Christmas here.” He waved around.

“Yes, I can.” I’d done worse at eighteen. I’d rented a room in a garage for a year after I’d left Arrowood. Nothing was worse than that place.

"Ellie can’t spend Christmas here then. You don’t even have a tree.” He left the presents thing unspoken, which I had tucked away in a suitcase, but I could tell he was judging me.

“Fine, but it’s going to be a disaster.” I put a hand over my mouth.

Aiden shrugged, brushing it off.

“Let me go get you two some food. I wanted to ask what Ellie likes to eat.”

“McDonald's!” She burst out of a closet.

“Kids,” I scoffed. “There isn't one in town.” At least I doubt they’d added one even in the last fourteen years.

Ellie looked like she was going to throw one of those fake tantrums while at the same time seeming entirely betrayed I’d bring her to a place that didn’t have a McDonald's.

“I’ll go grab burgers and fries, Ellie. They’ll be just as good. I promise.”

She pointed at Aiden. “They better be.”

“Otherwise I get negative uncle points?” Aiden asked.

She stuck her chin out in the most attitude move I’d ever seen. “Correct.”

“Tough customer.” He walked towards the door reaching for his keys then froze, there was a second knock on the door.

We both jerked in surprise and I met his gaze.

“Are you expecting anyone?” he whisper-yelled.

I shook my head. “Shit.” No one knew I was here but Aiden. I pushed past him to open the door and found myself face to face with the love of my life.

Danny.

He was irate.

Fuming.

More handsome than I’d ever expected him to be.

“So it’s true,” Danny threw his words at me.

“What?” I choked, knees shaking.

“You’re fuckin’ standing here.”

He turned and stalked off like that night so many years ago, and it broke me a second time.

 

 

Two

 

 

AVERY


As expected, Christmas came and went. My parents welcomed me with open arms, and Adam stormed out. They’d all insisted I stay in the family house while I sorted things out. Arrowood was nestled between two mountains, hours away from Denver. The town fed a massive resort, which being the busy season, was the only reason I’d gone unnoticed for so long, but the news was starting to leak. My parents were getting call after call.

The only person who didn’t say another word was Danny.

Was he still mad at me after all this time?

Did he have a right to be?

“Have you decided what you’re going to do?” My father asked as I was making breakfast for Ellie.

“No,” I replied. I didn’t want to think about it yet. I wasn’t even sure I could stay here with Danny looking at me like he wanted to kill me every time we passed. “My only plan is to stay while Ellie is on break.”

Aiden had dragged himself in and started shedding winter clothes. “Will you cut him a break. He’s only been here for a few days,” Apparently the floor was an appropriate place for the garments. “He’s having a mid-life crisis.”

My father looked at his watch. “You’re home a little late.”

“It’s eight in the morning,” Aiden said.

“Okay, a lot late,” he replied. “I thought you were a lady.” There wasn’t even a hint of humor to my father’s voice but I knew he was teasing.

“I am a lady!” Aiden rolled his eyes and headed towards his room. “I didn’t have a curfew in high school. You don’t get to make up one now.”

“What? A guy can’t comment on his son's whereabouts anymore?” our father called after him. “Been sleeping at Jensen’s every night?”

“It’s like we don’t even know him,” my mother commented.

“Are you two honestly upset about this?”

They both gave me a strange look.

“We like giving him a hard time. He’s funny when he gets flustered.” My dad went back to his knitting.

“Do you want to help me with my puzzle?” My mother asked when Ellie finished eating.

She ran over nodding. “YES!” She had her hands in the pieces already, and I cringed.

Mom was forever putting together complicated puzzles, and I couldn’t imagine an eight-year-old actually helping.

She winked and held up a box with a dragon on the front and it was two-hundred pieces. I breathed easier.

“Do you mind if I run out for a few minutes?” I asked on a whim.

Both parents looked up.

“For what?” My mother asked.

“Is he seeing someone in secret now too?” My father said.

“Who knows. Seems to be what our children like doing best,” my mother replied.

“Not in front of Ellie.” My words were a bit harsh but I didn’t want her thinking as much or saying anything to Fiona the next time she saw her.

My mom rolled her eyes. “Enjoy your secret tryst.”

“What does tryst mean?” Ellie asked.

I gestured at Ellie from behind her and glared at my mother.

She shrugged and turned to Ellie. “It means meeting, dearest.”

“Why does dad need to go to secret meetings?” Ellie asked.

“We wish we knew,” my mother replied.

I sighed. “You two are going to be the death of me.”

“He’s still using that line. You’d think he’d have grown out of the teenage angst after high school,” my father said without looking up.

I closed my eyes and counted backward from ten. It wasn’t easy going from being an adult for the last fourteen years to being back with family, and I was going to have to take their sarcasm. They didn’t live here. They’d moved into a condo closer to the resort and let my brothers have the house. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

My mother and father exchanged a look I did my best to ignore.

They were right of course, which I hated. But it was less a secret tryst and more of a trying to clear the air.

I pulled up to the garage Danny owned, then just sat in my rental. Not sure I had the balls to face him after he showed up at the motel the way he did. When Aiden had pressed me for info I’d lied through my teeth, telling him Danny had been my best friend, which was true, but he was mad I’d abandoned him like everyone else, which was a massive lie.

My brother had filled me in on his life. Danny’s father died about ten years ago then he’d taken over the family shop. I wasn’t surprised. Danny’d been set to take over the shop since he could walk, he loved it as much as his father had.

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