by Vivian Lux
"Well, it's the off-season," I pointed out. It was true. As we rolled to the center of town, I noted how most of the stores were closed up, the store owners heading somewhere warm for the winter months. Either that, or they'd given over their stores to seasonal renters, giving rise to a strange mélange of merchandise. The ice cream shop was now some sort of sweater store, and the lake cruises storefront had been turned into some sort of outdoor excursion place.
"Hey, is that Cal's place?" I asked as we passed.
Rett nodded. "He mostly just does it out of his house, bookings and such, but rent is so dirt cheap in the wintertime that he figures it's good to at least have a storefront on Main Street. With signage and all that. Good way to grab the people who were coming for skiing, right?"
"Right," I nodded. Then I regretted nodding.
We rolled up into the parking lot of Bob and Lou's. I pulled out my phone and snapped a quick picture, posting it to my Facebook page. Someone I’d never met before, but who had commented on all my pages, immediately commented on how picture-perfect it looked, strung with Christmas lights gleaming in the snow with the white-dusted hump of Whaleback Mountain behind it.
Of course it was, because I framed it that way. Cropping out the dumpsters in the back and the parking lot full of dirty melted snow. "Ha," I said out loud.
Rett looked at me. "You on your phone?"
"Posting something to my page," I said shaking my head. "I swear, I feel like I spend more of my life online then I do in real life."
"Why the hell you do that?" my technophobe brother asked.
I shrugged. "Image, I guess."
"What would they do if I went onto your page and told them how you used to dance around to Britney Spears videos with cantaloupes in your bra?"
I smacked him in the shoulder. "I'd probably lose my job, asshole," I chastised him as we hurried into the warmth of the diner." "My publishing company owns my image, and I'm contractually obligated to not do anything that would embarrass them."
"Sounds awful," my brother said, signaling to the hostess that there were two of us.
I shrugged. "It's part of the territory I guess. Besides, I don't really get much opportunity to do something that would be considered embarrassing. Swear to God, I spend about fifteen, sixteen hours a day working. I haven't got time to do anything other than sleep and go to the bathroom."
"I remember you doing some pretty embarrassing things in the bathroom," Rett observed.
I smacked him again, laughing, but part of me was still stuck on the fact that I had to check in, even when I was supposed to be having Christmas time with my family. There was very little in my life now that wasn't calculated for maximum likes and reader interest. Everything was so polished, especially if Cecily got her hands on it. Harper McCabe, Children's Book Author definitely wasn't me anymore. She was some kind of polished perky little automaton. And it was Harper McCabe, Children's Book Author, who was heading back to the City in less than a week to accomplish her lifelong goal of getting her work on television.
I just wasn't sure if Harper McCabe, Children's Book Author and I shared the same goal.
If ever there was a person that was good for brooding with, it was my brother. Rett didn't talk much, never had. He kept his words to himself, except when it came to giving me shit. It was a trait he learned from our father, who only spoke when he had something incredibly meaningful to say. You'd think it would be annoying, but Rett's silence had a sort of reassuring quality to it. Comforting, like an old blanket that smelled like home. I'd spent a lot of time just talking at him, growing up. Expounding on my ideas for books, whole worlds I wanted to build, and his silence never seemed like he wasn't listening. In fact, I was fairly certain that he absorbed more then most people just by virtue of taking the time to be still.
I was on my third cup of coffee when I looked up to see Autumn Melton walking by. She'd been a grade above me at Reckless Falls High, and I remembered hearing last night that she and her high school sweetheart Cole Granger had gotten back together two Christmases ago.
She smiled when she saw us and hurried over. Her red hair was also piled on top of her head and I grinned to think that maybe she was feeling similarly hung over. "Good morning! you guys are up. I'm impressed," she said, wavering slightly.
"Merry Day after Christmas," I said. "You have off today?"
She nodded. "Yeah, the primary grades are off for the next ten days," she said, doing a happy little shimmy.
"Awesome, have a great vacation," I said.
She rolled her eyes. "It's could not be less of a vacation. I'm spending most of it doing wedding planning." She clapped her face into her hands. "I'm sorry, I swear I try to talk about other things, but it's like just creeps up into my consciousness and suddenly I'm talking about the fucking wedding again. It must get so boring for the people around me."
I laughed and then groaned as my head still throbbed. "No, it's really exciting. So happy about you and Cole."
She nodded. "Yeah, that's the thing. Me and Cole, that's great. I can't wait to marry the guy and you know, be married. But it's the wedding stuff, all this stupid nonsense for the day itself that makes me crazy. I never thought I'd be the kind of person to care about cake knives, but all of a sudden I'm freaking out over cake knives!"
Her voice had taken on a little bit of a wild quality, forcing my brother to finally look up from his plate. "How about Derek and Aria? How are they doing with their wedding plans?" he asked, causing me to raise my eyebrow at his strange lapse into gossip. "Do you know?"
Autumn sighed, her shoulders unwinding a little bit. "Oh it's going to be so cool. Their wedding's gonna be at the Falls in October."
"Oh, that'll be so pretty," I sighed. "With the foliage and all?"
Rett winced and tapped his chin philosophically. "You know, October weather can be dicey around here."
"Rett!" I swatted him. "No one wants to hear doom and gloom about weddings."
"I'm just saying, I've trick-or-treated in the snow before."
"We all have," added Cole Granger, walking up to us and snaking his arms around his soon-to-be wife. "Hey guys. Surprised to see you up and about."
"Seems to be a running theme," Rett said, darting his eyes significantly at me.
Cole graciously ignored my brother’s dig. "Well, since you are, you should come out to the lake front. It's the Polar Bear Plunge!"
"You're kidding me!" I said. "I've never been awake early enough to actually catch that."
"Well you're actually just in time. We're meeting my brother and Jesse Klingman there in a few minutes. You should come on by!"
I laughed. "The Polar Bear Plunge, holy crap, any idea who's doing it this year?"
"Gabe Foster always does it. I'm pushing my brother in, whether he wants to go in or not."
"My money's on Derek drowning you if you try that," Rett observed. I smacked him.
"And, I don't know, a bunch of people," Cole went on with a grin. "Actually, isn't Grayson Abbott signed up?"
"What?" my brother and I sputtered in unison.
Cole smiled wider. "Yeah so, we'll see you there, okay?" he said, helping Autumn back into her coat.
We waved goodbye and then sat there staring at each other, dumbfounded.
"He said nothing about doing this at the party," I said. And I would have known since I spent most of the night pressed up against his thigh, I didn't add.
"Probably signed up spur of the moment, knowing him," Rett said.
I threw a couple of twenties down on the tabletop and stuck my tongue out at my brother as he growled at me for paying. "Come on," I urged him. "I gotta see this."
Chapter Eight
Callum
"Bye. Have fun! You're a fucking nutbag!" I called as I waved to Grayson.
He grinned and shot me both middle fingers, then went trotting off the join the rest of the complete idiots as they readied themselves to jump into a frozen lake. Voluntarily.
I opened the l
iftgate of my pickup and hauled myself up there to sit and watch as volunteers in rowboats broke the ice up at the shoreline into big, jagged chunks. This was sheer lunacy.
This morning, as I suffered through a killer hangover, I resented the hell out of Gray for signing up to do something so stupid as the Polar Bear Plunge.
But then again, one of the basic tenets of being a good friend is this: when your best friend is doing something completely idiotic, you show up to cheer him on.
"Yo, Cal!"
I looked up, surprised to hear Rett's voice. I figured he'd be working, or doing chores, or alphabetizing his DVD collection. Something finicky and no fun at all.
"Hey, Cal!"
I sat up straighter and grinned. There she was, looking as sunny as the bright morning sky.
"Morning' Harper," I said, trying and failing to keep the big, dumb grin off my face. "I didn't think you guys would want to see this."
"Are you kidding me?" Harper said, trying to hop up and sit next to me. I extended my hand and hauled her up easily, and she flopped down next to me with a grin. "I've always wanted to see this. And with Gray doing it, I doubly want to see it."
I ignored the mention of Gray and waggled my thermos instead. "Coffee?"
"God, please."
"Me too," Rett piped up.
I had completely forgotten he was there.
"Sure man," I said, sliding over so that he could sit on the other side of me. "Help yourself."
There was a loud whoop from behind the stand of trees that bordered the waterfront, followed by a chorus of answering whoops.
This was totally stupid.
But as I sat in the bed of my pickup, sharing a thermos full of coffee with Harper, I said a silent prayer of thanks to my buddy, my pal: Grayson Abbott, The Complete Idiot.
"Are they getting started?" Harper asked, shimmying in place. Her leg brushed up against mine, and she looked down to where we were pressed together.
But she didn't move away.
My heart thudded harder as I shifted further away from Rett, so that my leg was completely pressed up against the full-length of Harper's thigh. She leaned up against me, her fingers cupped around the Styrofoam cup full of coffee and I wanted so badly to put my arm around her, but I had to content myself with sort of putting it behind her so as not to raise Rett's suspicions. "No idea," I told her. "As far as I know, there's no real rhyme or reason, they just sort of...run into the water."
She shivered dramatically. "That sounds really silly."
"It is," I agreed. "But think how warm you'll feel, watching them from back here while drinking hot coffee. You need more?" I asked, reaching behind me and grabbing another thermos. "I came prepared."
God, I sounded so fucking eager I wanted to slap myself.
"You sure did," Harper laughed. "And I think I do, thanks. This morning it's going to take a full pot before I can start functioning again."
I leaned back to grab the extra thermos, sending the truck swaying gently from side to side. Harper giggled and flopped dramatically into me. "Staaahhhhp," she moaned. "I'm still dizzy."
"Here," I said as I reached over to pour the thermos for her. I closed my hand around the cup to steady it, and all at once I was aware of our fingers touching.
But even more aware of Rett watching us.
I cleared my throat and shifted my attention to the idiocy going on around me.
"Are they lining up?" Rett asked as he leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. "How does this work, exactly? There doesn't seem to be anyone in charge."
Of course he was worried about the rules. I chuckled and sighed. "Like I said, I have no idea. This is the first year I've actually been awake to see this."
"Has Gray done it before?" Harper asked.
"No," I said, shaking my head. Even though we were here to cheer him on, I resented how we kept talking about Gray. "He said he was signing up this year before he got too old and sensible to do something like this again," I said.
Harper laughed and then suddenly leaned forward pointing. I noted with some irritation the look of excitement on her face when she spotted him. "There's Gray!" she called.
I shook my head. "The idiot. He was so hungover this morning."
"Jumping in the lake will cure that," Rett said dryly.
A starting gun went off, causing all three of us to jump, then all of a sudden Harper was on her feet clapping and jumping up and down as Gray went tearing into the water wearing only his boxers.
I watched her instead of him. How could I not? Her eyes were shining, and there were pink roses blooming on her cheeks. She was wrapped up in her brother's scarf, her hair a messy tangle on the top of her head, and I swear she had never looked more beautiful.
But it wasn't me she was looking at with those shining eyes. It was Gray.
Last night had been one thing, but here in the cold harsh light of morning, I could see that she clearly liked him. And liked him a lot. Once again, I told myself that this was good, that I shouldn't stand in the way. But instead of doing the thing I knew was right, jealousy made me stand up and sling my arm possessively over her shoulder as I watched Gray flounder in the water.
Chapter Nine
Grayson
The starting gunshot made me think perversely of my older brother Jonas, and the hours he'd spend out at the back or our scraggly property line shooting at targets. He was hell bent on getting the hell out of our house and out of Reckless Falls, and his skills as a marksman did just that. He was somewhere out there now, shooting bad guys on some far-flung continent and I hadn't seen or thought of him in years.
Then I forgot him again as the swell of bodies pushed me forward.
"Oh shit!" I cried gleefully as we pounded across the rocky shore. "Oh shit here it comes!"
A roar, a splash and then suddenly my whole body was being stabbed by a million knives.
"Holy shit!" I roared as I lurched out of the freezing cold water. "Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!" I gasped. My whole fucking body hurt, and it hurt to breath and steam rose off my body and I was laughing and splashing with my fellow idiots because holy fuck, what a rush!
I lurched and danced my way back to the shoreline, feeling like I was somehow on fire at the same time I was freezing my ass off. A numbing pain was settling into my joints already, and my heart pounded dully in my head.
I rushed to the shore, desperate to get out of the water and into some dry clothes.
Then I stopped short and stared.
Somehow, in the blinding pain of ensuing hypothermia I registered that Everett and Harper had shown up in the last twenty minutes. And Harper was by Cal's truck.
Jumping up and down.
Cheering for me.
I broke out into a dead run, suddenly able to move because her laughing green eyes took the chill off of my skin.
"You are the biggest dumbass on the planet," Rett observed as he moved to clasp a blanket around my shoulders.
"Fuck you, old man," I grinned through chattering teeth. "I know how to have a good time. You should try it some time."
Harper handed me a piping hot cup of coffee. She was laughing so hard that I didn't even care that I was standing, shivering and knock-kneed, clad only my sodden boxers. "Something funny?" I said, striking a dignified pose as water dripped in a circle around me.
"You're an animal!" she laughed, shaking her head.
I raised my eyebrows over the rim of my coffee cup at her. "So they say," I said.
She wrinkled her nose, and then laughed even harder.
It was only then that I noticed Cal, standing there with his hand resting on her shoulder. She wasn't moving away from him, and she didn't seem to be shrugging it off at all. And suddenly some of that high-flying adrenaline I felt after leaping into the frozen lake drained away.
There was something going on between them, clearly. I needed to stop this, stop making those dirty jokes to make her laugh, stop feeling like I should get her alone.
But a flood
of possessiveness made me fling off the blanket and start dancing toward her. In a second I had her by the wrist and was dragging her towards the lake.
She screamed and I caught her up around the waist. "You wanna laugh?" I shouted, dashing towards the lake. "See how it feels! We can both be idiots!"
She was laughing, screaming, pummeling me on the back, and I ran right up to the water's edge. "You're going in!" I threatened, lifting her up.
Of course I would never do that to her, but it was worth it just to feel her in my arms. I liked making her squirm like this. I liked it way too much.
She flailed helplessly and caught me with an elbow to the back of my head. I stumbled forward against a rock, toppling us both forward, but at the last minute I caught her under her back so that she didn't hit her head. I landed hard on my elbow directly on top of her.
We lay there, breathing hard, her wide green eyes staring up at me. I was on top of her clad in only my boxers, and my naked, goosebumped skin was suddenly superheated. "I wasn't going to throw you in," I whispered.
She licked her lips. "Good," she whispered back.
My words from last night still echoed in my head. She had to know how I felt about her.
And right then, I could have sworn she felt the same way.
I lowered my head just a fraction. There was so little distance between us. I only had to move my head three maybe four inches and her lips would be on mine and years of pent up desire would be satisfied.
The thought made the blood rush to my groin, and I felt my sodden boxers pressing against my erection. Her eyes somehow got even wider and she turned her head a fraction, back up to the top of the beach. Where Everett and Cal were watching us...right now.
I pushed myself upward and away from her, feeling my like my blood would start boiling any second. I took one last look at her, splayed out and breathing hard.
Then ran right back into the freezing lake.
Chapter Ten
Harper