Christmas in Silver Springs

by Brenda Novak

  Uriah nodded to show he’d heard. “I’ll be in the garage waiting for you.”

  Tobias had just gotten out of the shower when he heard a knock at the door. Assuming it was Uriah getting impatient, he threw on a pair of jeans and an old sweatshirt, a castoff of Maddox’s, and opened up without checking the peephole. “I’m almost ready—” he started. But when he saw Harper standing there instead of Uriah, the rest of the sentence died on his lips.

  She looked nervous, but as beautiful as ever. She was wearing the gold bracelet he’d given her. That caught his eye right away.

  “I texted you last night,” she said before he could offer any sort of greeting.

  He felt instantly uncomfortable. He’d tossed and turned for two hours after that text had come in, trying to decide how to respond, and had ultimately decided not to say anything. If he remained in contact with Harper he’d never get over her. “Yeah. I saw that. I’m sorry. I haven’t had a chance to get back to you.”

  “Do you mind if I come in?”

  He hesitated. He didn’t want to be rude, but he wasn’t ready to be friends. He needed to continue to try to block her from his mind, not start interacting with her again. “Actually, Uriah’s waiting for me in the garage, so...maybe we can talk on the phone once you get back to Denver.” Or never, he thought, but he didn’t add that. “When will you be leaving?”

  “Are you that eager for me to go?” she asked.

  It was difficult to look at her without softening. No one had ever affected him quite like she did. “Isn’t Axel pressing you to get on the road?” Or was her ex now so confident he’d decimated the competition that he was no longer worried?

  “I’m not going back to him, Tobias.”

  Tobias’s breath caught in his throat. She was available—but not for someone like him, he reminded himself. “I’m sorry to hear you and he are still struggling.”

  Her eyebrows knit. “Are you?”

  “I’m doing my best here, Harper,” he said. “What else am I supposed to say?”

  “Tobias, I’m so sorry—”

  He lifted a hand to stop her. “You’ve already apologized.”

  Her chest lifted as she drew a deep breath. “You’re not making this easy on me, are you?”

  “Making what easy? I don’t understand what you’re doing here.”

  “I’m trying to tell you that I’ll stay in Silver Springs if you want me to—that I’d like... That I’d like to try again. With you,” she added.

  “No.” He shook his head, adamant. Maybe in a few years, when he owned his auto body shop and had had more of a chance to prove himself, he could find someone like Harper, but he couldn’t allow himself to get sucked into the false hope that had burned him so badly already. “You could have anyone. Go find another celebrity. You could never be satisfied with someone like me.”

  She started to blink faster. “That isn’t true.”

  “It’s absolutely true.”

  “But I want you. I—” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I think I’m in love with you.”

  Love. She’d just tossed out the most tempting lure possible. He wanted to bite, to believe it so badly. But that was precisely why he couldn’t allow himself. Anything that was too good to be true usually was. “Stop. It would never work. I knew that at the start. I just lost sight of it. It was my bad.”

  “Tobias, please...”

  “Axel is right. You deserve better than what I can give you. But thanks for stopping by,” he said and closed the door.

  * * *

  Harper was at a complete loss. He wouldn’t believe her, wouldn’t trust her. And she had no idea how to overcome that.

  She started to go to her car. But as soon as she opened the door, she shut it again.

  “What’s going on?” Uriah asked, coming out of the garage.

  “I’m going to make him listen to me,” she said.

  A crooked grin broke out on Uriah’s face. “Good for you. Go get him. And if he gives you any trouble, I’ll be here to help.”

  She might’ve laughed at Uriah’s willingness to gang up with her, but she was too focused to allow herself that much of a distraction. Brushing past him, she knocked on Tobias’s door again. “Tobias?”

  No answer.

  “I’m not leaving,” she said, to herself as much as anyone else, and walked in to find him sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

  He stood as soon as he saw her, obviously shocked that she would barge in, but she didn’t care. If he’d said he didn’t want her anymore, she would’ve left. But he hadn’t said that.

  “Do you still feel something for me?” she asked.

  “Harper—”

  “Just answer the question.”

  He scowled. “It’s not that simple.”

  “It’s absolutely that simple.”

  “You can’t settle for someone like me.”

  She stepped closer to him. “I’d only be settling if I wound up with someone else. Tobias, I don’t care about the past. Let’s not let one tragic night cost us what we could have. The past has caused enough pain. Maddox and Jada have gotten past it to be able to have a relationship, haven’t they?”

  “That’s different. Axel will give you nothing but trouble. He’ll try to block me from being around your kids. You realize that, right?”

  “He’ll try, but we’ll fight back, because he’s in the wrong. And we won’t give up until he realizes what I’ve come to realize—that you are a good man, every bit as good as he is.”

  He seemed shocked. “You mean that?”

  “I do. So will you take the risk, brave the hurt, give us a chance?”

  He studied her for several seconds and, at last, she saw a small smile curve his lips. “It’s impossible to say no to you.”

  “Then don’t try.”

  She was about to run to him when he said, “Just a sec.”

  He went to the door and poked his head out to tell Uriah he wouldn’t be working on the car today, after all. Then he returned to pull her into his arms.

  She closed her eyes, feeling the same rush of pleasure she always felt when he kissed her. “So are you giving in?”

  “I didn’t have a chance to begin with,” he said and carried her into the bedroom.

  Epilogue

  Tobias’s thighs were burning and his heart was slamming against his chest like a sledgehammer by the time they started the final ascent of Half Dome but, even though it was Maddox’s turn to carry Atticus, Tobias refused to relinquish the carrier. They’d all worked hard for this, but he was going to carry Atticus the last mile. And he knew Maddox understood why.

  “It’s getting dicey up here,” Atticus said as the wind picked up.

  Tobias clung tighter to the cable that was hewed into the granite on this steep, slick part. “I got you.”

  “I know you do,” he said.

  Fortunately, Tobias hadn’t had to reassure Atticus very often. Jada’s brother’s confidence in him had made the hike much easier than it would’ve been otherwise, but Atticus had to be able to tell how fatigued Tobias was getting, which was why he was beginning to worry.

  “You okay?” Maddox asked when Tobias stopped to catch his breath.

  “Fine.” He wiped his forehead in an effort to keep the sweat that was rolling off him, soaking his shorts and causing his T-shirt to stick to him, from getting into his eyes. Fortunately, they didn’t have much farther to go.

  Tobias was getting excited to have accomplished his goal—a goal he hadn’t been positive he could reach in the beginning but just the attempt of which had brought him, Maddox and Atticus closer than ever.

  “This is fucking spectacular!” Atticus yelled.

  His voice echoed back as they continued to climb. Atticus had taken a lot of footage with his GoPro, gotten some goo
d stuff, too. They’d taken a few moments here and there to watch various parts of it when they’d needed a short rest. “I should’ve gotten one of those drones that takes video,” he said. “Can you imagine what we could do with that right now?”

  “Those things are fifteen hundred dollars,” Maddox said with a tired but victorious smile.

  “Might’ve been worth it,” Atticus said. “For this.”

  “Drones are for people who can’t climb to the top,” Tobias joked.

  The last few steps were grueling, especially while fighting the wind, but the triumph of reaching the top gave Tobias a fresh surge of energy. “We did it,” he said. “We did it.”

  “Woo-hoo! I’m on top of the world!” Atticus yelled as Tobias stood, gazing out at the exquisite beauty he’d wanted to share with the eleven-year-old boy he’d once mistakenly shot.

  “Was it too scary for you?” Tobias asked Atticus after several moments of silence during which they’d simply enjoyed the view.

  “Riding in this thing feels pretty unstable at times—I’m not going to lie. But I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.”

  Finally, Tobias let Maddox prod him into taking Atticus, which was nice since he wanted to be able to see Atticus’s face—especially when Atticus tilted it back and closed his eyes as if he was absorbing not only the sun but the memory of the whole experience.

  “Happy birthday,” Tobias said.

  “Too bad we couldn’t bring the girls,” Atticus said.

  Jada had had her baby two months ago, so she was at home. Harper and her sister had come with them as far as base camp and had, for a brief time, considered trying to hike the whole way. At the last moment, however, they’d told Tobias that they didn’t want to give him anyone else to worry about or concentrate on except Atticus.

  “I owe you, man,” Atticus said. “This was beyond incredible.”

  Atticus’s smile was something Tobias knew he’d never forget. “This doesn’t have to be our last hike,” he responded and laughed when Maddox shot him a look that said, Are you kidding me?

  “At least let me recover before you start planning another trip,” he grumbled, and Atticus laughed, too.

  * * *

  Don’t miss the stunning new novel by New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak,

  One Perfect Summer,

  coming soon from MIRA Books.

  Some families we’re born into

  Some we find for ourselves

  When Serenity Alston swabbed her cheek for 23andMe, she joked about uncovering some dark ancestral scandal. The last thing she expected was to discover two half sisters she didn’t know existed. Suddenly, everything about her loving family is drawn into question. And meeting these newfound sisters might be the only way to get answers.

  The women decide to dig into the mystery together at Serenity’s family cabin in Lake Tahoe. With Reagan navigating romantic politics at work, and Lorelei staring down the collapse of her marriage, all three women are converging at a crossroads in their lives. Before the summer is over, they’ll have to confront the past and determine how to move forward when everything they previously thought to be true was a lie. But any future is easier to face with family by your side.

  ISBN-13: 9781488035111

  Christmas in Silver Springs

  Copyright © 2019 by Brenda Novak, Inc.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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