“Fancy car,” I comment. Now that I have a better view, I see that the car is a brand-new Honda Accord coupe, all decked out with tan leather, a sunroof, and a spoiler.
She avoids returning my gaze this time while reaching into her trunk. “Can you believe it’s the first car I ever purchased for myself? The clunker my parents gave me in high school was good to me, but it started breaking down every day the moment I moved to Seattle. I tried fixing her countless times until my boss convinced me to move on.”
I remember her old car well. She’d barely driven it, but it was unmistakably hers, with its faded cherry red exterior and fuzzy dice in the mirror. It always seemed like she was so proud of her one and only possession that she’d brought to camp.
Hope pulls out a large suitcase and sets it by her side.
“Let me get that.”
She waves a hand to tell me it’s okay, she’s got it. “Where to? I assume my old cabin is gone.”
Her pinched smile twists at my insides. “It is.” I reach for her suitcase again, this time ignoring her when she tries to keep her grip on it. I’m not letting her lug her suitcase half a mile in those heels. “This way.”
I take the lead through the main trail she used to frequent then take a turn down a trail she may not remember all that well since it was finished after she left town. “I’ll give you the full tour tomorrow morning. Tonight, I figure you can get settled in and…”
She cocks a brow at me, and I can’t help but notice how well she walks along the gravel path in her heels. “And?”
“Well, I had all this stuff planned today to get to know whoever would be coming to help me with this grand reopening, but I wasn’t expecting it to be you. Seeing as you already know the place and me, it’s—”
“Wait. What?”
I’m so caught up in my rushed explanation that I didn’t realize she’d stopped walking seconds ago. I stop and face her, confused. “What did I say?”
Her brows pinch together. “What do you mean you didn’t expect it to be me? My boss mentioned Silver set this all up, but—you didn’t request me?”
My mouth opens but no words come out. I’m too afraid to speak when the realization about this reunion becomes much clearer. Silver may have arranged the whole thing, but clearly she’d done it without Hope’s knowledge. “Um,” I start. “Well, Silver stopped by a couple of weeks ago and I let it slip that I needed help with the reopening. She said she’d find someone.” I swallow. “She didn’t tell me that it was you.”
Something about Hope’s fallen expression crushes me, reminding me of the last time I’d seen her. The last thing I want to do is hurt her again, but it seems all I’m capable of.
“I didn’t realize Silver was involved, but I guess it makes sense now.” Her eyes darken with a coldness I’ve never seen before. “You would have never asked for me to come back. You didn’t want me here to begin with.”
“Hope, that’s not true.”
She coughs out a laugh. “It is true, or you would have called the moment you needed to plan this grand reopening of yours. You and I both know I’m the right person for the job.”
“You are.” I can’t argue with that.
“So then why didn’t you call, Anderson? What is it about me that repels you so much that you can’t even pick up the phone and ask for my help? Your blueprint for the camp’s remodel was created by me. It may have been your vision and your execution, but it’s all my design.”
Every question and point made is like another brick thrown at me. “You don’t repel me, Hope. You never did. I didn’t call you because rumor was you were perfectly content in Seattle, and I wasn’t about to ruin that for you.”
Hope scoffs and starts to walk past me. “Cop out. Everything you say is yet another excuse to keep everyone away.”
“Wait a second,” I boom, ready to have it out right here and now.
She flips around, pinning me with a hard stare. “No, you wait a second. I didn’t choose to come back here, but you’re my first real client, and I really need this to go well. I’ll do my best to keep the past behind us, but don’t for a single second think that I’ll be your puppy dog, hanging on to your every step, like I used to be. That’s not who I am anymore, Anderson Bexley, and the quicker you realize that, the better off we’ll both be.”
My chest squeezes as I assess the woman who’s both a stranger and the one who got away. “You’ll get nothing but glowing feedback from me. Just tell me what you need, and it’s yours.”
She sucks in her bottom lip like she always used to do to stop herself from saying something she shouldn’t, and her eyes dart between mine. The next second, she’s righting her shoulders and inhaling a deep breath. “Thank you.” She averts her eyes. “I’d like to go to my cabin now.”
Chapter Four
HOPE
My rush to get to my cabin subsides after a handful of steps. While I’m playing up my confidence in these toe-crushing heels, I can’t wait to take them off and soak my feet in the tub. As I grit my teeth and bear the pain, I look around at my spacious surroundings. It’s everything I remember and then strange at the same time. While the nature of it all is the same—the rustling trees that shade the long, winding pathways, and the beautiful soundtrack of nature echoing all around—the sense of home I had always embraced before is nowhere to be found.
“It’s so quiet.” My words are so soft, I almost expect Anderson to have missed them.
“It’s always quiet here.”
I shake my head, my frustration with him stemming from far more than his response to my comment. “Not like this. It feels—different.”
“Welcome to the off-season. You never stuck around for one of those.”
I shrug. “No one did. It was like the uncool thing to do, especially if you had a family to go back to.”
His brows bend as he darts a look my way. “Then where did you always jet off to?”
Anderson’s question could sound harsh coming from anyone else, but I know he doesn’t mean it that way. He’s one of two people I’ve ever shared my story with, and at one point, I could have sworn that my story had brought us closer together.
He knows that my mom was, is, and always will be a junkie. I’d spent my entire senior year of high school picking her up from bars and pulling her out of alleyways. It was terrible. And my dad was no better, considering he’s been behind bars most of my life.
“That’s for me to know and for you to never find out.” My stomach twists at my words, but my familiar response makes him smile.
“You always were quite the mystery.”
With that, I frown and dare a glance in his direction. “All you had to do was ask.”
“I have asked, and you would never tell me.”
I sigh and shake my head. “Not about that. Anything but that. You knew more about me than anyone, even Silver.”
His eyes flash with surprise, and then he’s turning his head forward, his gaze fastened to something ahead.