by Marks, V. R.
"So she's a fighter." Ethan worked to keep Tyler talking, wanting to capture the small smile on his face as he recalled the effort that had gone into Tessa's recovery.
"She wasn't about to let that dog get the best of her."
"No, but she's about to get the best of your hems." Ethan snapped a few pictures of the porcupine chewing on the bottom of Tyler's jeans.
"Just letting me know she wants another salt cube." Gently, the young man moved Tessa away and stood. "Time to get down to business."
Ethan spent the rest of the morning much the same way. Hearing the stories, finding the angle that sparked Tyler's enthusiasm. That passion would carry into the photographs, would be what captured the imagination of visitors to the website. He pitched in plenty – Tyler had been more than happy to let him clean the camel stall.
Ethan doubted the spit would ever come out of his hair, and his shirt would never be the same again.
But there was a chance Lucifer and Gerard had gained some respect for the idiot that had tolerated their curious mauling. Tyler had happily documented their abuse with Ethan's camera.
The cleaning done, Ethan gratefully followed Tyler to the lodge to clean up before finding lunch.
Kate had finished the supply orders and sent out responses to several school groups looking for a speaker, ignoring the temptation to walk to the barns and see how Ethan fared. He had never been particularly vain, but you couldn't be in the arts without knowing the image you projected. Ethan had always enjoyed being a rebel without being too slick or too slimy. And slick was impossible to maintain while shoveling mud and straw.
Taking a break on the porch wasn't giving in to temptation.
It wasn't.
But oh, the sight of an obviously chewed-upon Ethan Myers emerging from the barn made her regret her self-restraint. His jeans had fresh stains and green-gray smears marked his blue shirt. A chuckle escaped her lips, causing the man to turn towards her, a self-deprecating grin crossing his face.
"Enjoying the view?"
Her lips curved. "I am now."
"Let me get cleaned up and I can go through the raw pictures with you."
"Got it. We have sandwich fixings in the office fridge," Kate called out. Returning indoors, she pulled plates and napkins from one of the cabinets and poured two glasses of water.
When she caught herself messing with her bangs, she froze. She might give Ethan the chance to earn a job at the Reserve, but she was not about to give him a second chance at her heart.
Was she?
The sound of boots stomping across the cabin porch helped Kate pull herself together. All business. Right.
Ethan pulled his camera over his head, setting it on the desk before making a beeline for the kitchenette. As he heaped ham and Swiss between two slices of wheat bread, Kate switched the camera on and began to scan through the recent images.
"What do you think?"
She cleared her throat. "They're great. You really caught what we do here, what it means."
He leaned over her shoulder, reviewing the photos with her. "Well, I'm not done yet. I want to do pictures of everyone out there, find everyone's place in things. Do a write-up, a mini-interview and give them all a page on the site."
Kate eased away. She could feel him breathing – definitely too close. "Human interest. Makes sense, gives the public something to relate to."
Ethan just followed her. "Yeah. I'm good at that." His tone was matter of fact. No need to boast when he spoke the truth.
"It's what grabs everyone's attention whenever you do an exhibition."
Ethan could hear her frustration. The bite of it. "Why?" he asked, before he could swallow the question.
Her blue eyes snapped to his, wide and confused. "Why what?"
In for a penny. . . "Why does that make you angry?"
Kate's exasperated sigh set Ethan's teeth on edge.
"It doesn't make me angry, Ethan. The pictures are great, I can't wait to see what else you can come up with."
He actually growled, satisfied by the flash of surprise in Kate's face. "Something does. I want to know what. You're the perfect professional. If we're going to work together I deserve to know what it is about my career, about my art that makes you angry."
"It's not the damn pictures! It's the fact that you can only understand what you see through your lens!" Kate looked ready to hit him.
"Seriously? That's the best you've got?"
She glared daggers. "You were so focused on your work, on that camera, you couldn't even try to make what we had work."
"Which one of us gave up, Kate?" Ethan didn't remember grabbing her arms, but his grip firmed. "Which one of us decided it wasn't worth even trying?"
Tears began to swim in the wide blue of her eyes. Ethan resisted the pull, resisted drowning in them as he had used to. "Stop it. It's over, it's done. No use obsessing over those mistakes."
"Does this seem done to you?" Before he could think things through, Ethan pulled her in close, gathering her against him and setting his lips to hers.
The feather-light touch of her lips set the floodgates open. Years of questions, regrets, and memories twisted into the kiss. Passion had never been their weakness. Obviously she needed a reminder of how good things could have been.
She moaned, stretching her hands up, combing them through his still-damp hair. God, he had missed this woman. There had never been anyone serious before her, and only the most casual of acquaintances after. Letting out his own groan, Ethan fell into her, forgetting what it had been like without her. Time seemed to stand still as he held on, refusing to let Kate escape his arms again.
Suddenly, she broke her lips from his, set her hands on his shoulders and pushed. "I can't do this. Not again."
"Can't do what? Run away? Finally found a place you want to stick around?" Ethan couldn't help the bitterness in his voice.
Kate shook her head, stepped back. She paused, seeming to search for the words. "No. I can't get caught up in you. I won't be the only one to bend this time. We – " She caught her breath. "We were so wrapped up in our work. I left before either of us had to admit we couldn't have each other too."
"We could have – " Kate raised a hand, effectively cutting him off.
"I want to keep things between us about business. If you want to stay here, those are the terms."
Anger gripped his throat. "Fine. Professional and nothing more," he bit out.
She nodded, her face solemn. "Great. If you edit these pictures how you'd like them, I can start putting them on the website. Build a gallery while we write the rest of the content."
-Three-
Maybe she had been too hopeful, Kate thought. Maybe she needed a bout of amnesia more than she needed Ethan to keep his distance. He had been the consummate professional for the last two weeks, talking only of his photography or the layout of the website they were building. But that kiss. . . The memory of it still burned through Kate and she found her thoughts on Ethan more often than not.
It was ridiculous.
He had managed to forget it, leave it in the dust. But Kate found it impossible. That kiss reminded her of everything she'd tried to forget. Forced her to face down what she had given up three years ago. Her choice, the reasons for it, seemed paltry in comparison to the connection that still seemed to exist between herself and Ethan.
And now it was Christmas Eve. She and Tyler had made plans for a traditional dinner, which would serve as entertainment while also providing enough leftovers to last them a week. There was no way to avoid having Ethan be a part of things. It would be petty to keep him from the, admittedly small, festivities.
But oh, Kate wished it were possible.
She tried to tell herself it wouldn't be unbearable, that Ethan would behave while Tyler was there, as she cleaned the lodge kitchen and checked the ham roasting in the oven.
"Smells good," Tyler called from the entrance. "We picked up some decorations. Felt the place could use some more festivity."
We. Tyler and Ethan. Ethan was there. Her heart sped up, sending her pulse skittering. Kate's hand slipped, and she burnt her finger on the edge of the oven door. "Ouch!"
"You okay? Watch what you're doing." Tyler's voice mirrored his concerned expression.
Kate waved him off. "I'll be fine. You guys go ahead and decorate then. We've got some time yet before everything will be done."
"Roger that."
Ethan was sick and tired of being polite, of giving Kate the space she seemed to need. The past two weeks had been hell, fighting the urge to go to her and beg for another chance. He had never thought any woman could reduce him to this.
Clearly Kate was something else.
If Christmas were really the time of miracles, he would be able to figure her out. He followed Tyler into a room fitted with a large table, a few boxes cluttering the corners, carrying the bags of lighted garland and fake flowers.
"What do you want to do with these boxes?"
Tyler glanced at them, seeming to have forgotten they were even there. "Those are Kate's. She didn't get a place until two months ago. Guess she forgot some stuff."
"Alright. I'll put them in the back and she can take them home with her after dinner."
Tyler shrugged, drawing out strings of lights.
"It's going to be tacky as anything."
"Can't be worse than the campus dorms."
Ethan chuckled to himself as he grabbed a box. Leaving the room, he remembered the hundreds of lights he and his roommate had hung at school each year. Turning to the back room where Ethan planned to stash Kate's things during dinner, he barely caught himself as he tripped over the threshold.
He didn't quite catch the box, and a few blankets spilled out. Pausing to stuff them back in, Ethan noticed some scraps of paper and Polaroids scattered on the floor.
Had she really kept them?
Ethan had given Kate an old Polaroid camera and film for her birthday. It had been a way to share his art with her, while letting her explore her own. She'd loved it, laughing as she snapped candids of the two of them and their friends out around town.
Digging into the rest of the box, Ethan began pulling out photo after photo.
Kate had saved every picture she had taken of him, every picture where the two of them were smiling together.
Maybe love had been on both sides after all. But neither of them would be winning awards for best communication skills.
Gathering his collection of salvaged photographs, Ethan shoved them deep into his coat pocket. Quickly, he finished clearing the rest of the boxes from the room now filled with multi-colored light bulbs and acres of artificial evergreen.
Poking his head into the kitchen, he spotted Kate pulling the ham out to rest on the counter. "We need to talk."
She turned, frowned. "About what? I promise, I made plenty of potatoes. No need to worry."
"Can you just come outside with me?" He reached out towards her, sighing when she ignored his hand.
Kate shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans, following Ethan out the door. She didn't know what kind of mood he was in, wasn't sure if she wanted to hazard a guess.
"Look, if this is about your trial period, it's over. You're hired. Marley will be back next week and we can – "
"It's not about that. But thanks." Ethan was smiling. Why? Yeah, sure, it was Christmas Eve, but what on Earth had happened to make him this happy?
"What is this about? We're supposed to be eating soon and Tyler is – " He cut her off with a kiss, quick and hard.
Letting her go, he took a step away and reached into his pocket. "So I was moving those boxes you'd forgotten. And when one of them fell over, I found these." He pulled his hand free, clutching a small stack of white squares.
"You went through my things?" God this man tried her patience.
"Not really. Either way, I'm glad. You kept the pictures. You kept all of them."
Defensive, Kate crossed her arms. "Yeah. They were mine."
"Exactly."
"You're not making any sense."
"Since when did we make sense?"
Kate tapped her toe against the porch. "You're going to start now unless you want me to go back inside. It's cold and dinner's almost ready."
Ethan waved his hands through the air, as if to erase the gibberish he'd been speaking. "Okay. Alright. I messed things up last time."
She sighed. "So did I."
He nodded. "Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry we missed out on three years together. I missed you. Never could find anything that mattered to me as much as you."
Kate could feel tears welling in her eyes. No, she wouldn't cry.
Ethan reached forward, snagged her hand in his and pulled her just a bit closer.
"I couldn't find that light in my photographs any more. The spark that set them apart. You're the one who helped me find it and I was lost without you."
Kate found herself squeezing his hand. "Ethan."
"That's why I left. I couldn't make it work without you and I tried to figure it out. But that just led me right back to you." He took a deep breath. "I never thought I would see you again. That I would get a chance. But I found you. Kate, I love you. I never stopped, and I never will."
She took that last step towards him, wrapped herself in his embrace. "I never thought that would be what I wanted to hear."
Ethan looked down at her. "These pictures. You never really forgot us."
Kate laughed a bit, shaking her head. "No. I hoped maybe I would. But I couldn't really bear to get rid of those. I guess I was hoping you would come looking for me." She turned her face up to Ethan's.
This time the kiss was soft, slow and sweet. It swept Kate under and the joy of the moment lifted her up, made her feel floaty and giddy.
"If I stay, do you promise not to leave this time?" Ethan's voice shook, still not quite sure.
Kate broke way, gave him a full grin as a light snow began to fall and swirl around them.
"I promise."
Before Ethan could respond, Tyler shouted from indoors. "If you two are finally ready to eat, I'm starving!"
Laughing, they linked hands and moved towards the door.
"Welcome to the Reserve, Ethan. It's home."
The End
Snow-Covered Resolutions
A Hobbitville New Year's Eve Adventure
By Regan Black
Prologue
He'd spotted Andrew Kelley in the music aisle of the bookstore and realized now was as good a time as any. Better, really, than waiting until they got back to school after the holidays. They'd been friends when they'd been too young to know how different they were, too young to care about goofy names like Daniel Llewellyn Oosterhouse.
If he were honest, Daniel knew his name was only part of the reason he and Andrew ran with entirely opposing social groups now, though they remained friendly enough. Steeling himself, he walked over to join Andrew. "Hey."
Andrew turned, blinked, and then smiled in that slow way the girls at school sighed over. "Man you look different without the glasses."
Daniel agreed, and he wasn't all that pleased with the change. Wearing contacts had been his mother's idea, and he still felt ridiculously exposed. Like those horrible dreams–nightmares–where he'd gone to school without his pants.
"My mom's on a campaign to improve my social life. I figured you knew enough people to make it relatively painless."
Andrew looked as pained as Daniel felt. "Moms are so into the New Year's Resolution thing."
"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "I just wish there was some law against resolutioning for your kids."
Andrew gave a half-shrug, half-laugh. "So would coming to a New Year's party help?"
"Sure. She'll be thrilled, and I'll be okay as long as my appearance doesn't, you know, cause the world to self-destruct."
"Well…" Andrew pretended to stroke a beard thoughtfully. "You have been out of the loop awhile."
"I've been around and done stuff," Dan
iel protested, but Andrew waved him off.
"For a smart guy, you're slow sometimes," he teased. "You know Brianna Fairchild's address?"
"Yeah."
"Come on over, and I'll introduce you to my sister. She'll be a big help for getting your mom off your back."
Daniel thought about it. "Thanks, Drew." He hadn't talked with Andrew's twin in ages, but rumor had it she was about as blonde as girls could be. She was pretty and popular, but knowing Andrew would pave the way eased his nerves about stepping up his social life.
-One-
The party was going strong. Music pumped from the speakers, the selections were an eclectic mix of everything from big band to the latest pop sensation. Austin Kelley wasn't hearing any of it. In her head, the clock was ticking. Her heart seemed to slow in opposition to the passing time as each second of the year clicked away, slipping closer to midnight. A new year would be here in moments, but it was that special place between this year and the next that put a knot in her stomach.
Midnight.
She glanced around, soaking up the happy faces of her friends, hoping her own face mirrored those bright expressions. It wouldn't be right if anyone guessed the real disappointment in her heart. It was almost jealousy–which was ridiculous. Her best friends, the other three Pixie Chicks, were sharing an amazing night with their boyfriends. She was happy for them.
Really.
Claire and Shane were inseparable but not in a gross way, and it was understandable since Shane lived in Scotland. Lana and her guy, Neil, hadn't stopped dancing all night. Brie and Troy were as happy tonight as they'd been since finally admitting to the mutual crush at the start of the football season.
Soon, the clock would strike twelve, and three out of four Pixie Chicks would kiss their special guy. It should be enough for her to be happy for them. But, just for a moment, Austin hated tradition.
A face with big brown eyes and a quick smile too much like her own invaded her personal space. Andrew, her twin brother. It was like looking in a mirror–if she discounted the mascara, lip gloss, and hairstyle. He liked his honey-blonde hair a little shaggy and over his eyes, while she knew how to use conditioner and kept hers sleek and swept back from her face. She scowled at him.