Hung By the Fire (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 1

one

BETHANY

“Why not? What do you have to lose? It’s not like you have a lot going on here.”

“Hey,” I yelled, throwing a cushion at my sister, though neither action had any heat behind them. I mean, she wasn’t wrong, but there was no need to point it out so blatantly. “I’ve got things here.” I did, though not as much as I thought I’d have at the ripe ol’ age of thirty-three. “You’re all here.”

Alexis stuck the throw pillow behind her and settled back against my couch. “And we’ll be here when you get back, Bethie. I just think it’s a good move for you right now.”

What my oldest sister didn’t say—and didn’t need to—was that I could stand for anything good to happen to me. I’d lost my job a week ago, on top of having not one, not two, but three guys cheat on me in the past year. That had to be some sort of record. Of course, if I really thought about it, none of those were actually bad things. I hated my job, and all three of the guys hadn’t been anything to write home about. So, while all of it sort of sucked, it didn’t mean I had to run away and hide. Though staying in my apartment and licking my wounds for a little longer sounded like an option.

“I’m sure it is, but I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

Shrugging, I tried to figure out exactly what I wanted to say. “I mean, the holidays are right around the corner. I should be here for them. Mom is already a kid down for Christmas.”

Normally, I was the one who studied people. The family member who sat quietly, watching what others said even when they didn’t say a word. I did it all the time—at work, at home, with friends. Usually people said quite a lot, way more than they probably wanted or actually meant. Right now, I felt like a bug under the microscope. A flash of sympathy for all the people I’d done the same to over the years overcame me. Except for cheating ex number one. He said he’d cheated because it weirded him out when I was too silent and “watching him.” I don’t know what that had to do with him not keeping his pants zipped, but it was his loss.

Alexis had her patented “worried for one of my baby chicks” left-eye-twitch going on, along with a deeply disturbing stare.

“The fact that Matteo and Izzy are going to visit her family is not what’s holding you back.” She narrowed her eyes at me. I was eternally grateful we were having this conversation before the rest of my sisters got here to cheer me up as they put it. “You don’t want to go back there, do you?”

“I mean, it’s a reason.” My stepbrother was spending Christmas with his fiancée’s family, and it would be the first time since Mom re-married that we weren’t all together. I didn’t touch her other comment as it was a little too close for comfort.

Alexis rolled her eyes and reached for the wineglass she’d put on the coffee table before we started down this road. “Yeah, yeah. That’s still not the main reason.”

I could lie, but just like I was attuned to seeing people more deeply than they showed the world, Alexis could spot a serious lie from her siblings like it was her job. So, my only option was to give her the truth and maybe she could help me figure it out.

“I don’t know.” Sadly, this was the truth. “I love Aunt Nadine, but I don’t know. I never planned on going back.”

In some weird twist of fate, the day after I got fired, my dad’s sister had called me, asking for help running her florist shop in a small Nevada town. The same town we’d gone to on vacation as a family growing up with Dad’s siblings and their families. The trips had stopped when Dad died. Aunt Nadine had wound up moving there, but we, on the other hand, hadn’t stepped foot in Evergreen Lake again. I think, at first, it was too hard, purposely going back to a place he loved so much. Most days, living in the same house was hard on Mom, my two sisters, and me. We couldn’t really handle much else. Then, when Mom re-married, they focused on making new memories for all of us. I love my aunt, and we saw her often, but never traveled there again.

Now she was trying to get me to willingly come back and stay for a while.

It didn’t feel right after all this time.

“We had so much fun back then, didn’t we?” I couldn’t deny my sister’s words, and she knew it. “Remember the night it was just us girls and Dad on the sleigh ride? It was so cold, and we all huddled under blankets. I thought Mom would be upset he didn’t take her too.”

I grabbed another pillow and curled my arms around it. I had thought the same thing my sister had. “Until we walked into the lodge and saw her and the aunts around the fire with hot chocolate, talking about books.” She’d come by her love of reading naturally, same as her sisters had. Laughing, I continued, “Looking back on it as an adult, I highly suspect it wasn’t only hot cocoa in that mug.”

Alexis smirked and nodded her head. “Oh yeah. Nor was she upset to get some time for herself.” In a blink, her expression changed, growing serious. “See, those are happy memories. It’s not like we ever stopped talking about Dad. We’ve always remembered him, each in our own way, but we’ve always treated Evergreen Lake like the boogeyman.”

What she said was true. I couldn’t deny it. We’d put a distance between us and there for whatever reason. Maybe because it was a tangible place we could avoid, or because Dad had been fine there and gotten sick so soon after our last trip. It held memories, so many good, but some I didn’t particularly want to have anything to do with. Going back there would call every single one of them up, wouldn’t it? Did I want to have to deal with them in addition to everything else I had going on—or more accurately, not going on—in my life?

I didn’t know.

“Could you think about it?” She obviously didn’t know me well enough if she thought I hadn’t been doing exactly that, ad nauseam, since the phone call. “Okay, that was stupid. I know you are.” She grinned and took my hand from the pillow. “Do me a favor though and don’t over think it. You’ll work yourself into a tizzy when it should be a decision from the gut. What was your first thought when Aunt Nadine called?”

I hesitated for a single moment, which probably gave me away if the raised eyebrow on Alexis’ face told me anything. “I wanted to say yes.” I glanced around my apartment at the plants that took up a fair amount of space. The idea of working in Aunt Nadine’s floral shop spoke to me in a way my office job never had.

“Why didn’t you?” My sister grasped her chin with her thumb and forefinger, looking like the thinking emoji. “Oh, that’s right. You had to ‘think’ about it.” If there was one thing I did better than study people, or at least more often, it was think. I agonized over almost every big decision I had to make.

And some weren’t even that big.

“In fairness to me, Alexis, I’ve had a lot happen recently, and it is a decision I wasn’t even thinking about having to make. I simply wanted to find a new job and maybe a guy who wouldn’t take off his clothes for someone else the first chance he had.”

She shrugged. “Maybe your answer to both is at Evergreen Lake.”

I highly doubted that. This was a temporary move, if I even made it at all. “Whatever.” Her teasing was fine, but it didn’t help me at the moment. “I still have to decide what to do.”

“No. You have to listen to your instinct.”

My instinct hadn’t been great up until now, so I didn’t know if that was the way I should go. The doorbell rang, putting a pause to talking about my dilemma, though not to thinking about it.

“That’s the sisters, so you’re off the hook for now.” We both stood, Alexis walking to the door and me to the kitchen in my little apartment. “I won’t mention a word.” Since I hadn’t told anyone else, I was eternally grateful. As I pulled out the charcuterie board and wine from the fridge, Alexis continued, “But I think it could be the best thing for you.”

After two hours of laughter and stuffing our faces silly, I was smiling and not at all thinking about the decision I needed to make. Of course, now it was in my head again.

Stupid inner self.

“Okay, time for me to scram. Matteo’s working tonight, but I like to be wide awake for when he comes home in the morning.” Izzy, my stepbrother’s girlfriend, waggled her brows as she rose, which caused all of us to make gagging noises. Some things a sister didn’t need to think about.

“First of all,” Cami, the youngest of the family and Matteo’s full sister, jumped in, “that’s nasty, and how many times do we need to remind you we don’t want to hear about that.” A smile took over her face as she spoke because, although it was true on all the sisters’ behalf, we were teasing her. Izzy was a welcome and loved addition to the Waters-Delgado family. “Second, not one of us is getting any at the current time, so could you not brag? Please. I beg you.”

Alexis and Pilar, spoke at the same time, “Amen, sister.” Sometimes, the twin thing was scary.

Izzy looked over and shivered. “That still creeps me out.” They both shrugged in response, slipping into their coats.

“Thank you for this. You know how much I love spending time with my sisters.” I didn’t miss that Izzy got a little glassy-eyed when I referred to her as a sister. She was new to the family, but she was already a sister for life. “I needed a little cheering up after the shit couple of weeks it’s been.”

“We know, even if you tried to deny it.” Pilar threw her arms around me and hugged tightly. “You need anything, let me know.” Stepping back, Cami and Izzy followed suit, all offering to call and hang out whenever I wanted since I had time on my hands. As they stepped through the door, Alexis took her place in front of me.

“Promise me.”

I knew what she was asking and could do nothing but heed her wishes. “I promise.”

She stared long and hard, before nodding and pulling the door closed behind her.

The room felt oddly quiet after the boisterousness of the last few hours. Like even the quiet knew there were things I had to deal with. It settled and hung over me because I knew I’d have some thinking to do.

I showered and slipped into my favorite fleece sleep set, before curling up on the couch with the last of my glass of wine. I’d been honest when I told Alexis my gut reaction was to go, but like so much in my life, fear and worry and whatever other issues I decided to throw at a problem started to slip in. I had told Aunt Nadine I’d think about it. I didn’t want to keep her waiting for an answer, but I also didn’t know if I could do it.

A flash of red outside my window caught my eye. A beautiful cardinal sat perched on the railing of my balcony. “Nice play, Dad.” Mom had told us every time we saw one of the red-plumed birds, that it was our dad looking out for us. When I was younger, I didn’t understand and wanted to know exactly why my Daddy was coming back as a bird instead of how he was. As I got older, I read more on the symbolism of the cardinal, and it made sense to me.

Dad wasn’t here, but he never stopped watching over us.

I nodded at the bird, who took immediate flight, and then grabbed my phone.

On Thanksgiving, I’d told my family about the offer from Aunt Nadine, two days after I’d talked it over with Alexis. The reaction had been overwhelmingly positive, though Mom had stayed quiet as I talked it out. I hadn’t told them I’d already made up my mind, but every one of them thought I should do it. Only after all opinions were given, did my mom ask to talk to me alone. I thought she’d ask me to not go, but she didn’t.

“I think it’s time.” It was all she’d said to me before grabbing me in a fierce hug. Pia Waters-Delgado knew how to hug, and I’d never get tired of being the recipient of one.

So, less than forty-eight hours later, I’d packed my suitcases into my car and driven across California. I can’t say I almost didn’t turn around as the sign for the picturesque ski-town came into sight. If I did, I’d be a liar. I pulled to the side of the highway, stopped the car, and had a momentary panic attack. Then, since fate is funny like that, a damn cardinal had flown past the car.

I’m pretty sure it looked back at me, smirked, and said “keep going,” but I could be wrong.

Either way, I did exactly that until I pulled into the Lake’s Edge Motor Lodge parking lot. A short time later, I found myself wandering the quaint streets of Evergreen Lake as the day was slowly bleeding into night. Aunt Nadine wasn’t expecting me until tomorrow. I wanted, maybe needed, some time to myself in this town. Needed to roam the streets I remembered skipping down as a kid. Needed to get my bearings and come to peace with myself for coming back here.

Needed to be Bethany Waters and not Nadine of Nadine’s Nursery’s niece for a day. In small towns, the locals knew each other, so it would be unlikely people didn’t know my aunt.

And if they knew her, they may know our family story.

I needed to be anonymous for a day, until this little town didn’t feel quite so nerve-wracking.

Speaking of nerves, the sign to the town bar, The Reindeer Hole, seemed to call my name. When we were little, my sisters and I begged our parents to take us there because we were sure there were reindeer inside, and what kid didn’t want to meet Rudolph? The disappointment when they wouldn’t take us was real. For a kid who didn’t get the concept of a bar, I just didn’t understand what a drink had to do with pulling a sleigh.

But now I was an adult, and reindeer or not, I needed a drink.

I pulled open the door, stepping inside and found what could only be called a “local watering hole.” Even with Christmas lights strung around the place and a small tree in the corner, anyone could tell this place was not where the tourists came to hang out. I stood out like a sore thumb here, but I hoped that while they may wonder about me, no one would say anything. It was a chance I was willing to take. Every eye in the place followed me as I moved my way around the tables and to the bar. Luckily, by the time I got there, the basketball and college football games on the many screens around the room had re-captured everyone’s attention.

Settling myself onto a barstool, I hoped this wasn’t a mistake.