I Saw Her Standing There (8 page)

The temp rose to 34 or so at the sugarhouse for a few hours, and the skies finally cleared by late afternoon. We turned the vacuum pump on for a while but didn’t get much sap.

—Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, March 5

C
olton sat straight up in bed, the covers pooling at his waist. What the hell had woken him up?

“Colton? Where are you?”

Was that . . .
Will
? If Will was here, Cameron probably was, too. “Oh my God, what’s he doing here?” Colton bounded out of bed, dragged on a pair of shorts, pulled the covers up over Lucy, who was still asleep, and was heading for the bedroom door when his brother appeared in the hallway. Not sure where to look, Colton glanced over his shoulder at the bed to make sure Lucy was well hidden and then returned his attention to Will. “What’re you doing here?” he asked in a low whisper.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Is he decent?” Cameron asked as she joined them.

“Be quiet, will you?” Colton asked as he tried to get them to leave the room.

But Will wouldn’t budge. He looked around Colton. “Who’ve you got in there?”

“None of your business. Get out, and leave me alone.”

“Oh, wouldn’t you love that?” Will crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, an infuriating smirk on his face that made Colton want to seriously punch his older brother in the mouth.

Colton felt like he was having a heart attack as he tried to figure out what Lucy would want him to say to them. And how was it possible that she was sleeping through this?

Will might’ve been older than him by seven years, but Colton was stronger thanks to a decade of wielding an axe on the mountain. He put his hand in the middle of his brother’s chest and gave him a hard shove.

“Hey!” Will said as he stumbled backward. “Watch out for Cameron.”

Will’s angry cry finally got Lucy’s attention. She sat straight up in bed, auburn curls rumpled around her face, bare breasts visible to anyone who might be looking, and Will and Cameron were definitely looking on with shock on their faces.

“What was that?” Lucy asked as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Colton moved quickly, lunging for the blanket on the end of the bed, which he all but threw at her.

“
Are you freaking kidding me? My
Lucy is
your
mystery woman?” Cameron’s shriek could’ve woken the dead.

Lucy let out a scream of her own when she apparently realized her best friend was now in the room staring at her, not to mention that her best friend’s boyfriend—who also happened to be Lucy’s boyfriend’s brother—had gotten a good look at her breasts. What a mess. “What’re you doing here?” she asked Cameron.

“Oh no,
no
,” Cameron said with a pointed finger. “We all know what I’m doing here. The question is what’re
you
doing here? Someone has some rather significant explaining to do.” Cameron crossed her arms and looked between Colton and Lucy. “Well?”

Colton sent his brother an imploring look, which Will thankfully understood.

“Cam, honey, let’s give Lucy a chance to get herself together, and then we’ll talk.” He took her by the arm as he gave Colton a scorching look. “We’ll have a good long talk.”

Colton slammed the door shut behind them and turned to face Lucy, fearful of how she would react to what’d just happened. “I’m so sorry. I have no idea what they’re doing here.”

“He . . . Your brother . . . He saw my . . .” She gestured to her chest.

“You couldn’t see much of anything. Don’t worry.” He told himself the lie didn’t really count as a lie because he was trying to protect her.

“Nice try, but I was out and proud, and he saw everything.”

“Then he knows I’m a lucky man.” He crawled onto the bed and leaned in to kiss her.

She turned her face away.

Colton dropped his head to her shoulder. “Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t turn away from me, Lucy. We’re in this together. We decided together to keep our friendship private, so let’s face the music together, too.”

“I don’t know what to say to her. Cameron was so shocked. And hurt.”

“Tell her the truth.”

“The whole truth?”

He tried again and this time she let him kiss her. “And nothing but the truth.”

Her hand curled around his neck as she leaned her forehead against his.

“Shower?”

“Yes, please.”

He got up and reached out to her.

She wrapped herself in the blanket and took his hand. “We’re not showering together when they’re out there waiting for us.”

Colton led her into the spacious master bathroom and turned on the water. “It’ll be quicker that way. We can talk to them, get rid of them and get back to our weekend already in progress.”

“It’s not going to be that simple.”

“It
is
going to be that simple.” He tugged on the tight grip she had on the blanket. “We’re both adults—consenting adults. We chose to take some time to ourselves before we told the world we were seeing each other. We’ve done nothing wrong, so please, don’t ruin this for either of us by trying to convince yourself that we owe anyone explanations.”

“You don’t understand,” she said softly.

The shine of tears in her eyes infuriated him. She’d been so happy earlier and now it had all gone to shit. “Make me understand.”

“Cameron and I . . . We rely on each other. We talk to each other about things. Important things.”

“So you’re saying this is an
important
thing?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

As he eased her under the warm water, Lucy rolled her eyes, which was a relief. That was better than tears. Anything was better than that. “She’s going to be mad at me for keeping this from her. Especially because of who you are. To Will.”

“Will’s my brother, not my keeper. We’re family, and we’re close, but we’re not up each other’s asses.”

Her button nose wrinkled adorably. “That’s a hideous visual.”

“But you get my point. Despite all our ball busting, my business is my business. I leave him alone, for the most part, and I expect the same from him. From all of them.” As he worked shampoo into her hair, he planted strategic kisses on her neck, hoping to remind her of the connection they’d shared before they were so rudely interrupted.

“Thank God they didn’t get here a little earlier.”

“That’s the way. Let’s be thankful for small favors.”

“That’s a very big favor.”

He pushed his erection against her back. “Why thank you, darlin’. That’s really kind of you to say.”

“Colton! Not with my best friend and your brother waiting for us. Knock it off!” She moved away from him to finish her shower. “Stay over there, and get rid of that thing.”

Colton laughed at the disdainful gesture she directed at his poor, misunderstood penis. How was he supposed to control him when she was standing naked and soapy and close to him? He was only human, after all. Resigned to the condition remaining until she was no longer naked, he washed up and got out to grab towels for both of them.

Lucy combed her hair and secured it in a ponytail.

They got dressed in silence. Colton wished there was something he could say that would make her laugh the way she had last night. He wanted to let her know everything was going to be okay, but he wasn’t sure of that himself. They’d been living in their own little bubble, going from weekend to weekend and holding the outside world at arm’s length.

Now their bubble had burst and they were forced to confront realities they weren’t quite ready to face. He took her hand and gripped it tightly. “It’s all good, okay?”

“Sure,” she said with a distinct lack of conviction. “Let’s get this over with.”

They opened the bedroom door and were hit with an ambush. Cameron stepped between them, edging Colton aside with scary agility. He had no choice but to release Lucy’s hand or risk losing his own hand as the door slammed in his face and the lock clicked into place.

What. The.
Fuck?
He turned to find Will leaning against the wall, arms folded and lips tight with displeasure and maybe pride at what his girlfriend had managed to accomplish.

“You’ve got some serious explaining to do, little brother. And there’s no time like the present.”

*   *   *

Lucy had never been scared of Cameron before. She’d never had reason to be. Until now. Her best friend was probably furious—and with good reason.

“So,” Cameron said.

Lucy sat on the edge of the bed. “So.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

“Eventually.”

“
When?
And how long has this been going on?”

Lucy wished she could find a way out of this mess of her own making. If only she’d shown some restraint where Colton was concerned none of this would be happening. “Um, since the night I met him.”

Cameron’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “The night you went to dinner with him and his parents?”

“That would be the one.”

Cameron came and sat next to her. “Tell me everything. Don’t leave out a single detail.”

Lucy sighed and tried to figure out how to explain something she didn’t quite understand herself. “As you know, he’d come down from the mountain to hear the website proposal,” she began haltingly. A big part of her wanted to tell Cameron to go to hell. It was none of her business. Except . . . She would never say that to Cameron, of all people. They’d been through everything together, and she owed her best friend the truth.

“Right . . . And?”

“We went to a place in St. Johnsbury.”

“The locals call it St. J. I just heard that. If you’re going to hang with the locals, you should speak the lingo.”

“I’m not going to hang with the locals. I’m not you, Cameron. I’m not uprooting myself. I’m simply enjoying some fun. It’s nothing like you and Will.”

Cameron swept that comment away with her hand. “Back to the night you met. You went to dinner and then what?”

“We had a lot of fun. He’s funny, as you’ve probably noticed, and his parents are . . . Well, I don’t need to tell you.”

“No, you certainly don’t. They’re amazing.”

“Yes. There was a lot of laughter at dinner. I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun with people who’d been strangers a few hours earlier.”

“They have that effect. I’ve experienced it myself.”

“When we got back to Butler, Colton told his parents he’d see me back to the inn, so they dropped us off in town and headed home.”

“They just dropped you off. They didn’t say anything?”

“No, not really.”

Cameron tapped her forefinger against her lip. “That’s surprising.”

“Why?”

“Never mind. Keep talking. You went back to the inn, and then what?”

“There was a guy playing the piano in the lounge, so we went in and had a drink. Well, a couple of drinks actually . . . Too many for him to drive home, so he came upstairs with me.”

“Did you sleep with him?” Cameron asked, scandalized.

“He slept next to me, if that’s what you’re asking. But mostly we talked. And it was nice. Really nice. He makes me laugh and he makes me feel . . .”

“What? What does he make you feel?”

Lucy shook her head. How could she explain what she didn’t understand? “I don’t know, but I like him. A lot.”

“He must like you, too. He shaved off the beard he’s had since high school.”

“He did that because I told him I wondered what he looked like under all that fur, so he bought clippers and shaved it off.”

“And?”

“Obviously I liked what I saw. I’ve spent six weekends with him.”

Cameron fell back on the bed. “I can’t believe this! You’ve been sleeping with him for
six weeks
and I’m just now finding out about it?”

“I haven’t been
sleeping with him
sleeping with him. Until well, yesterday.” Lucy had no idea what brought on the flood of tears that suddenly streamed down her cheeks. God, she was such a basket case, and she absolutely hated feeling so out of control.

Cameron sat up. “What? Was it bad?”

Lucy snorted out a laugh and shook her head. “Hardly. What’s the exact opposite of
bad
, and don’t say
good
, because that’s not adequate enough.”

“I know,” Cam said with a sigh. “I get it.”

Lucy nudged her friend with her shoulder. “It’s really good to see you. I’ve missed you so much.”

Cameron hugged her tightly. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“So you’re not mad at me for keeping such a big secret?”

“I’m furious! All this time I could’ve been getting the juicy details!” She tucked a strand of escaped hair behind Lucy’s ear, letting Lucy know she still loved her despite the deception she’d perpetrated. “Why did you feel the need to keep it a secret?”

“I’m not sure exactly. Maybe because it’s not going anywhere. It’s just a fling, so why bring everyone else in on it?”

“Just a fling?”

“Of course it is. What else could it be?”

“Call me crazy, but six weekends sounds like more than a fling.”

“It’s not more. It can’t be more.”

Cameron studied her in a way that made Lucy feel raw and exposed. Few people knew her better than Cameron did. “Oh, shit, Luce.”