Tucker pursed his lips, folded his arms, and studied her. After a long moment, he said, “I have a few arguments I could make, but they can wait. I do understand where you are coming from. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, and again, I apologize if I’ve pressed too hard, too fast. A strategic error on my part.” His mouth lifted in a self-deprecating smile and added, “I don’t make those very often. You knocked me off my game, Glory.”
“It’s not you. It’s me.”
His smile went crooked. “The relationship death knell.”
Turning her head away, she focused her gaze on the towering wall of layered rock on the far side of the canyon as she searched within herself for words. She needed to get them right.
From out of nowhere, tears stung her eyes. She looked at Tucker imploringly. “Don’t you see? I don’t need a relationship right now, but I do need a friend. I don’t want to screw up our friendship.”
It took a long moment for him to respond. His expression was unreadable to her. “You want to be friends. Just friends.”
“Yes.” Please, Tucker. Something within her relaxed when the teasing twinkle returned to his fawn-colored eyes.
“With benefits?” When she sighed with exasperation, he added, “I didn’t think so.” Nevertheless, his smile was tender, his tone sincere as he stepped toward her and took her hands in his. “I’m pleased to be your friend, Gillian Thacker. Just your friend. For now. Until you’re ready for something more.”
She swallowed hard. “I may never be ready for anything more, Tucker. You shouldn’t count on otherwise.”
“Consider me duly warned.”
Bittersweet relief eased through her. “Great. Thank you.”
He gave an exaggerated sigh, then said, “Just to be clear, does being just friends mean no more kissing?”
She rolled her eyes. “No more kissing!”
The crestfallen little boy’s look he teased her with ignited a devilish desire within her. She couldn’t help but indulge it. “Although, since it’s Valentine’s Day, and you saved me from stupid Cupid, maybe we could have one for the road. Or, the trail, as it were.”
She went up on her toes, slipped her hand around the back of his neck, pulled his head toward her, and proceeded to kiss him senseless. She felt powerful when she finally released him, and he stepped back dazedly. Off the trail. He lost his footing and fell on his ass. She laughed as she reached out a hand and helped pull him to his feet.
Gillian grinned all the way back to the spot where he’d left his truck. Her happiness lasted through dinner and the ride back to Redemption. There, in the spirit of friendship, she’d insisted he kick her out at the curb rather than walk her to the front door like he’d wanted.
Her good mood lasted, and she remained relatively upbeat even when she awoke on Saturday morning. She didn’t get teary until her mother, her aunt, Maisy, Caroline, and Angelica Blessing showed up with plane tickets in hand and abduction on their minds.
Ten hours later, she joined them in hurrying through the frigid evening air on the grounds of Angel’s Rest Healing Center and Spa in Eternity Springs, Colorado, headed for the resort’s hot springs pools.
“Oh, wow, isn’t this fabulous?” Gillian said as she sank into the steaming water and gazed up at the star-filled sky.
Maisy nodded her agreement as she set a tin tub filled with ice and two bottles of champagne beside the pool. “I’m a warm-weather girl as a rule, but there’s something sublime about soaking in outdoor hot springs when the air is freezing cold.”
“Sheer luxury,” Barbara Thacker added. She went to work filling plastic glasses sporting the Angel’s Rest logo with bubbly and passing them around, one for each of them. “This is such a darling little town.”
Angelica whipped a tie-dyed caftan over her head and tossed it toward a nearby bench where she’d left her towel. “My cousin calls it a little piece of heaven in the Colorado Rockies.”
From out of the darkness, Celeste said, “It is exactly that.” She stepped into the light carrying a tray filled with more glasses. “It’s a slice of heaven on earth. Now, I want you all to be sure to drink water along with your champagne. Mixing alcohol and hot springs puts one at risk of dehydration.”
“Yes, Mother,” Angelica said.
“Now now, cousin, don’t be snotty. Not everyone tolerates heat and champagne as well as you do.” To the others, she added, “I’ve always assumed that her devilishness factors into her body temperature regulation.”
“Cousin?” Angelic drawled. “Like we say in the South—bless your heart.”
At that point, Caroline jumped in and played referee by sighing with satisfaction and observing, “I love Eternity Springs when there’s snow on the ground. It’s like a little Victorian snow village. You feel like you’ve stepped right into a Hallmark card.”
“I’ll bet it’ll be beautiful here in June too,” Gillian said. “On your wedding day.”
The words wedding day hung in the crisp mountain air like a bubble of sulfur. The love shown her by family and friends had kept her tears at bay all day, but as Gillian felt the weight of the other women’s concerned gazes, she could hold them back no longer and her eyes overflowed.
“Oh, baby.” Barbara sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” Tears spilled down Gillian’s cheek.
“Don’t be sorry,” Maisy said. “You have every right to cry today.”
“You need to cry,” Caroline added. “Today of all days, you need to cry and curse and grouse and grieve and get the poison out of your system.”
“We’re here to listen to you, Gillian.” Angelica lifted her champagne glass in a toast. “If you want to tell us all what a lowdown, scum-sucking, snake-belly, rat-whisker, roach-knee, louse-liver guy that Jeremy is, well, we’re ready to listen. And contribute, if you’d like.”
“Louse-liver?” Maisy mused. “I like that one.”
Before anyone else spoke up, Celeste handed Gillian a glass of water. “Drink your water, dear, and then sip your champagne, and share what you need from us tonight.”
Gillian swiped the tears from her cheeks, drained the water glass as instructed, then sipped the bubbly wine and debated how to answer Celeste’s question. Finally, she said, “I’m not crying over Jeremy. Truly, I’m not. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I’d have called the wedding off if he hadn’t done it first. I’m crying because, well, I had a dream and it died.”
“That’s true,” her mother, always a tough love champion, said. “Mourn that dream tonight, and tomorrow, start seeking a new dream.”
“I’m afraid that’s easier said than done. I worry about my own judgment. For a long time, I thought he was perfect for me. I thought he loved me and that he wanted the life I wanted. I thought he and I could build a family and a future together and that we’d be happy. How could I have been so wrong? Obviously, I can’t trust my own instincts. Did y’all notice red flags flying that I overlooked? Seriously, I want to know.”
Following a moment of silence, Aunt Cathy said, “I never thought you were making a mistake by marrying Jeremy. He seemed to make you happy, and that’s what I cared about.”