by Carol Ross
“Um, I’m not sure. I guess I’m waiting for him to realize that he won’t lose his family, our family, by giving us a chance.”
“Ah.” Margaret joined her by the stove and dipped the thermometer into the liquid. “I can see where he might need a little help with that.”
* * *
AFTER A JAM-PACKED two-day schedule of flying skiers into the backcountry, interacting with clients, answering questions, taking reservations, scheduling flights for maximum efficiency and trying to locate his brother, Cricket still wasn’t looking forward to the downtime stretching before him.
That meant he now had hours to think about how he’d essentially told Hazel he loved her. Having no idea what he’d hoped to accomplish with his confession, the words had just come pouring out. He replayed the conversation endlessly. At least he’d had the presence of mind to take back Kai’s firing.
Just get through the holidays. Only two more weeks until Christmas and another week until the New Year, and then they’d both be gone. Seeing her with another man hadn’t helped him get over her as he’d hoped. Not by a long shot. But maybe now that he’d said the words aloud, he’d be able to let her go? A task that might be a whole lot easier considering her reaction.
All the times she’d wanted to know how he felt and when he’d finally told her, she’d walked away. That had hurt. But how could he blame her? How often had he done that very thing? And much worse was the realization that he’d ever caused her that same kind of pain.
Just as he feared, without work as a distraction, these thoughts and questions were taking up all the space in his head. Until he turned into his driveway, where he immediately and gratefully noticed that Ben had plowed the snow, a favor they often exchanged seeing as how their homes were only miles apart.
Continuing around to the back of his house, he discovered a beat-up SUV parked in front of his garage. It wasn’t blocking his bay, so he pulled his pickup inside and then went back out to inspect the vehicle. The amount of snow piled on top suggested it had been there awhile, several hours at least, and the advanced age and unfortunate condition gave him a clue as to who the driver might be, although no one was behind the wheel. A set of snow-smudged footprints led to the house and back again. With a gloved hand, he dusted the fresh powder from the rear passenger window.
“Hey!” he shouted, knocking this time, because there appeared to be a sleeping-bag-clad body lying across the back seat.
Sure enough, a figure popped upright, jack-in-the-box style. A startled Lee appeared, face framed by a bright red-and-blue ski cap, the flaps tied snugly beneath his chin, tassels flopping as his gaze darted wildly around before settling on Cricket with a huge grin on his face.
Cricket couldn’t help but chuckle. The window came down, and amusement mingled with relief at the sight of his brother whole and presumably healthy. It was always difficult to stay annoyed with Lee.
“Hey, little brother,” Lee said. “’Bout time you rolled in. Where you been?”
“Are you kidding me?” He shot back. “Where have you been?”
“It’s kind of a longish story.”
“You’re not wanted, are you?” Cricket glanced around as if the cops might show up at any second.
“No!” Lee laughed. “I got out early. Good behavior and all. I am always a model inmate.”
“You realize the dubious distinction that is, right?”
“Says someone who has never been behind bars.”
“I’ve been in front of them plenty, though. I went to visit you last Thursday, and you weren’t there. I’ve been concerned and trying to track you down ever since.”
“Oh.” Lee’s face fell. “Ah, man... Cricket, I’m so sorry. I was thinking your next visit was this Thursday. Thought I’d get here before then, which I did. I wanted to surprise you—in a good way. I have stuff to tell you. Wow, it’s so great to see your ugly face. I’ve missed you.”
This was the thing about Lee. He was so likable. Yes, he was a thief, but he would never hurt anyone. The opposite, in fact. To someone he cared about, he’d give the shirt off his back. Granted, the shirt might be of questionable provenance, but the point was he’d do just about anything for a friend or someone less fortunate. Or his little brother. And here he was, shivering in a cold junker car while wrapped in a cheap sleeping bag and wearing a goofy stocking cap. But still smiling. Ugh. He loved his brother, and if that made him a sucker, so be it. He just hoped he didn’t live to regret it.
Cricket waved a hand. “Come in and tell me. I’ve got food. Homemade cookies, even, and I’ll make coffee. You must be freezing.”
* * *
“SETH!” HAZEL HOLLERED at the sight of her triplet brother and launched herself into his arms. She couldn’t help it. She needed him right now. “It took you forever to get here.”
“Missed you, too, Trippa,” he said, calling her by the nickname he used for both her and Iris and squeezing her extra tight because, somehow, he always—okay, almost always—knew when she needed his support. Occasionally, he missed the cue and went straight to joke mode, but the multitude of texts she’d sent over the last two days probably helped him get the hint.
Iris took her turn at hugging Seth, who then fussed over Lily and asked Iris all the right pregnancy questions. More hugs and greetings were exchanged with Victoria and Scarlett. Then Margaret whisked Scarlett and Lily away to begin the cookie decorating.
Hazel, Iris, Seth and Victoria settled in the family room. “I didn’t intend to lead with this,” Hazel said. “But everyone else will be here soon, and I need to figure out what I’m going to do.”
She’d already told Iris what happened in Juneau, and now she relayed the whole story for Seth and Victoria.
“I knew it,” Victoria said. “I told Seth when I saw you two bickering in Florida that it was a love spat.”
“To be fair, the term love spat was never used,” Seth countered with mock sincerity.
Victoria rolled her eyes but couldn’t quite contain her grin. “Sparks were flying that could only come from having a history. When I mentioned that, your brother looked at me like he thought I’d lost my mind—assured me that you and Cricket were like brother and sister. Ha!”
Seth exhaled a comically dramatic huff. “As much as I hate to admit it, that’s all true.”
Victoria smiled triumphantly.
He said, “But, Hazel, seriously? You and Cricket. I missed this. Totally and completely.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Iris said. “Everyone did.”
“Everyone except Mom,” Hazel amended.
“What?” her siblings cried simultaneously.
She explained about that, too.
“Of course, she knew.” Seth chuckled and shook his head. “I doubt we ever actually got away with anything where that woman is concerned.”
“Hazel,” Iris said with a little shake of her head. “Cricket is in love with you. Our Cricket.”
She nodded. “That is precisely the problem. He’s ours. And he thinks I’m someone else’s.”
“Let’s back up a bit,” Seth said. “It’s completely wild when you think about it. Cricket has so much to lose. He’s Hannah’s business partner, probably her best friend. Bering is now his other business partner and very close friend. He works for both Tag and Bering in the off-season. Tag is his best friend since first grade. Pretty much everything he does involves someone from this family.
“And Mom and Dad are like the parents he never had. He spends most every holiday with us. Birthdays, parties, celebrations, Sunday brunch—the only thing that isn’t James about Cricket is his last name. Having a relationship with you would cement those relationships further. But if it didn’t work out, it could...”
“Possibly ruin them forever,” Hazel finished for him as a fresh wave of anxiety rushed over her. “Thanks for the recap, Captain Synopsis,” she jok
ed, even as the gravity of it all overwhelmed her. Then she groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Because I am not already feeling the pressure.”
“Calm down,” Seth urged in a teasing tone. “All I’m saying is that before you—we—proceed to make a plan, it’s important that you are 100 percent positive about this. How many list violations?”
“How many what?” Victoria asked, and Seth quickly filled her in.
A gleeful Iris answered the question. “All of them, pretty much. Though Hazel claims they don’t count where Cricket is concerned. He already knows her likes and dislikes. You can sure tell from his Secret Santa gifts that he knows her very, very well. Like possibly as well as we do, Seth.”
Seth scowled but didn’t look unhappy, just contemplative.
“Cricket is my Secret Santa?” Hazel repeated Iris’s theory, although she knew the answer before she even got the question out. It seemed obvious now. The headlamp, the perfect pillow, the cat pillowcase, the catnap reference—then there was the ebook by one of her favorite authors that came Friday evening after the storm hit.
Not to mention the scones he’d brought to work and about a thousand other little things he’d said and done in the last couple of weeks. It all made sense. Iris was right; under the circumstances, and adjusting the list accordingly, they could all be interpreted as further proof of his...like for her.
Nodding, she looked at her brother and addressed his concern. “Seth, I have been in love with him my entire life, even before I understood what that emotion meant. I spent a decade trying to get over him, which is how the list came to be.” She briefly explained that logic.
“Okay, then,” Seth said. “I’m convinced. You may proceed,” he teased.
Iris, always the problem solver, said, “Now we need to figure out how you’re going to approach him, what you’re going to say.”
“Yes,” Hazel said, grateful to be talking solutions. “What have you got? I’ll take even the wildest scheme under advisement.”
“We know he’s jealous of Kai. Maybe you and Kai could go to the Festival of Trees together? Really act like a couple. He would help you out like that, right? Maybe seeing you and Kai would—”
“No!” Victoria interrupted sharply. All eyes landed on her. “Sorry,” she said and added a little wince. “I didn’t mean to sound quite so...forceful. But she’s already done that accidentally—and by her account, very successfully. I think the poor guy has suffered enough, don’t you?”
Leaning forward, she went on, “Hazel, listen—when Seth and I were trying to figure out how to be us, there were so many obstacles and distractions and people trying to keep us apart. But the one thing that kept me going, that made me want to work it out, were those moments when we were alone. Just the two of us. When I had any doubt, that’s what I kept going back to, that’s what I focused on, and that made dealing with all the rest worthwhile.
“My advice is for the two of you to have some good old-fashioned alone time. And honesty. Tell Cricket how you feel without putting any pressure on him. Someplace where he won’t be reminded of what he has to lose. And where he can see what he has to gain.”
Seth was gazing at Victoria all hazy-eyed and love-glazed. “I love you,” he said to her. Then to Hazel, “I agree with my fiancée. You two need a date, a real one.” The sweet look he then exchanged with Victoria suggested the strategy had worked for them.
“I love the idea, too. But I still have the problem of how to get him to agree? I’m not sure he’d say yes if I asked him.”
“That’s easy,” Iris said. “You trick him.”
“Uh,” Seth interjected. “From a male’s perspective, I don’t think tricking him is—”
“I don’t mean in a devious way. I’m talking about a simple bait and switch. You know that Christmas benefit concert Cricket is going to with Hannah and Tate?”
“Yes, the one in Anchorage tomorrow night where Rushing Tide is performing.” The band’s two founding members, Clark and Ezra Mayfield, were friends with Cricket and Hannah. They’d accommodated a last-minute heli-ski adventure for the band, and they’d reciprocated with complimentary tickets to their highly anticipated and sold-out Notes of Christmas Concert.
“Well...” Iris said brightly. “What if Hannah and Tate couldn’t make it, but you showed up instead?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CRICKET WATCHED VALENTINE make a fool of herself for Lee, stretching and purring and turning circles on his lap while they lounged together on the sofa. Lee scratched her chin and snacked on cookies while Cricket built a fire in the woodstove. He couldn’t help but think that it said something good about Lee that his notoriously standoffish cat liked him, right?
With a fire now crackling in the woodstove, Cricket fetched them both coffee and then settled in an adjacent chair.
“I’ve gone straight,” Lee announced after he took his first sip. Val curled up for a nap. As if he’d heard Cricket take his seat, too, Mitt padded in from the other room and hopped up next to him.
“For real this time. That’s why I didn’t tell you I was getting released. I wanted to prove to you that I meant it. I know it’s only been a couple of weeks, but I have a job and an apartment.”
“Where?”
“Glacier City. I want to be close to you, but not too close—yet. My plan is to open my own shop here in Rankins eventually. But I’m aware that my, uh, reputation precedes me, and that it rubs off on you. For your sake, until I can show people that I’m reformed, I need to maintain some distance.”
Cricket wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Lee’s goal was lofty. He’d once heard Ally’s grandfather Abe say the smaller the town, the larger its collective memory. There was no escaping your past in Rankins.
Lee seemed to read his mind. “Look, Cricket, I know it’s going to take a while for you to trust me. And even longer for most of the people in this town to believe I’ve changed. I don’t blame you. Or them. I can wait. But I want you to know that I’m serious this time. I’m in therapy.”
“Therapy?” Cricket repeated with all the skepticism he felt.
Lee busted out a laugh. “I know how it sounds. But I met this psychiatrist woman at Otter Creek, Dr. Easton, who specializes in rehabbing criminals. At first, I only started going to the group sessions for something to do. You know how it is?”
“No, thankfully, I don’t.”
Lee chuckled again. “I’m grateful for that. Every single day, I’m glad that my choices, and Dad’s choices, didn’t lead you astray. I’m grateful you had Tag and his family to keep you on the straight and narrow. I’m working hard to understand my stuff, like why I steal. Because you know it’s never been about the money.”
Cricket did believe that. He also wanted to believe his brother had changed. Or was trying to, at least. The problem was he always wanted to believe, but he’d been disappointed too many times.
“Dr. Easton started seeing me one-on-one, and then when I got released, she set me up with a new doctor in Glacier City, Dr. Monroe.”
Cricket suspected that this fulfilled specific terms of his release but didn’t ask for confirmation. Because regardless, how could a little therapy hurt? See, there was that wanting-to-believe thing again.
Lee said, “Since we’re on the topic of lawbreaking, have you heard from Frank?”
“No. Frank knows I’m not interested in having any kind of relationship with him. I made that clear years ago. Why? Are you guys in touch?”
Lee shook his head. “No, but I heard through the grapevine that he got transferred to a new facility and is on work release.”
“Ha. Frank working? That’s funny.”
Lee grinned. “Never been his greatest strength, has it? Let’s not talk about him anymore. Any chance you’d let me camp out here on your sofa for a while?”
“I thought you said you got an apartment?”
“I do. It was supposed to be ready yesterday, but the landlord decided to paint and replace the carpets, which is nice. But now it won’t be done for at least a couple more weeks.”
“Yes, you can stay as long as you need. You can sleep in the guest room. Just promise me, Lee, that there’s nothing you’re not telling me here. No surprises, okay?”
“I promise, little brother. No surprises.”
* * *
HAZEL’S ENTIRE BODY hummed with nervous energy. Watching the main entrance, she stood by the tall Christmas tree inside the lobby of the Hotel Ophelia in downtown Anchorage, waiting for Cricket and their surprise date to the concert. With Ashley’s assistance, Iris had gotten Hazel on a Copper Crossing flight by simply telling Tag she was meeting a friend in the city. That way, Hazel could avoid any questions from Tag that would result in her having to skirt around the truth—that she was attempting a romantic ambush of his best friend.
The beat of her heart was erratic and uncertain, just like she felt. Her hands were cold and clammy. Skydiving, cliff jumping, white-water kayaking—she ticked through the most fear-provoking activities she’d ever done, trying to find anything that could measure up to this level of sheer nervousness. She couldn’t come up with a single comparison. A healthy dose of adrenaline-charged anticipation was completely different than this emotional...torment.
Her phone chimed with a text. Sweet words of encouragement from Hannah: I would tell you to break a leg but after trying that myself I just don’t feel right about recommending. Don’t worry. You’ve got this. Your plan is sound.
She answered with a simple Thank you. Waiting in the lobby now.
Hannah had taken the news about her and Cricket much better than she’d expected.
“Hmm,” she’d said after Hazel explained everything. “I’ve always suspected that he was interested in someone. I just didn’t know who.” Brow scrunched, she’d gone quiet, thinking.
Hazel had waited. She’d understood. It would be a lot for her sister to process.