XOXO: A Bundle of Cozy Novellas

Edmund

EDMUND

Edmund couldn’t believe himself. Not only had he offered Owen a ride to see his great-great-aunt, but he’d asked without thinking about it—a lot like when he decided to come out to Skagit. When Chance had phoned and informed him he was relocating to the small town, Edmund had immediately searched online and purchased a ticket for the soonest flight he could find. He’d been through security at Heathrow before he’d had time to think about what he was doing.

He’d known Jude wouldn’t refuse his request to let Owen have the time off. Edmund had dangled the sale of the TrekR app—not promising to sell, more implying he would be up for negotiating in return for letting Owen have the rest of the day off. Jude had agreed, promising Owen’s job wouldn’t be in jeopardy. Under his serious exterior, Jude had a heart… he just didn’t show it very often.

Now here he was, letting a near stranger drive his new motorcar over the steep Cascade mountain range. Actually, letting was the wrong word. Owen driving had been a requirement; Edmund wasn’t a good enough driver to tackle these roads. Especially now that snowflakes were fluttering down from the clouds above them. The road seemed fine as far as he could tell, and Owen handled the SUV with ease, but there were piles of dirty snow off to each side of the road where snowplows had passed through and pushed it aside.

He asked, “Does it snow a lot here? I mean, how deep does it get?”

“Um, usually the base is around sixty-five inches. A few years ago, they had eighteen inches in one day. The season is just starting; the heavy snow doesn’t come until after the first of the year.”

“But there’s snow now,” Edmund pointed out the windshield.

“Yeah, I doubt it will last. The folks skiing now are the die-hards who monitor the snowfall every day.”

“Hmm.”

Edmund eyed the snowy ski slope as they passed. It seemed like a lot of snow to him. Soon enough the pass disappeared behind them and they began their descent down the east side of the mountains. After a few minutes of staring out the window, Edmund spotted a bright yellow arrow winking as it pointed toward a small building.

“Are you hungry?” Owen asked. “This place makes great burgers.”

He was starving but felt self-conscious about eating in front of the extremely sexy, young, fit Owen. Owen didn’t wait for Edmund’s answer; he slowed the car and pulled into the nearly full parking lot next to a ramshackle building.

“One of my road trip rules is, only stop at restaurants where there are plenty of cars in the parking lot. Generally, that means the food is decent. In this case the food is great. Do yourself a favor and let me order for you. Eating here will be better than at the hospital.”

Inside the diner an older woman greeted them and led them to a booth, leaving thick plastic menus on the table for them.

“Seriously, let me order. You won’t regret it.” Owen waggled his dark eyebrows.

Edmund didn’t want to argue, and how was he supposed to resist? He didn’t even try to. Instead he smiled at his younger companion and shoved the menu away from himself.

“Do you have any allergies? Gluten-free?” Owen asked.

Edmund shook his head. He didn’t, but he was going to have to fast for a week to get over whatever they ate here today.

The hostess returned with her notepad out, ready to write down their order. Owen quickly ordered two logger burgers, two onion rings, a huckleberry shake, and a lemon-raspberry shake.

“We’ll split the shakes—I can never decide which one to get. I’m so glad you’re here with me!”

Owen grinned at him, and a treacherous emotion responded in the pit of Edmund’s stomach. He couldn’t let his feelings for Owen get out of hand. Owen was just being nice because Edmund was helping him out. That was all this was, nothing more than gratitude. But Edmund’s inner self wasn’t listening. It was rushing full speed ahead.

Edmund returned Owen’s easy smile. The more time he spent with the younger man, the deeper his crush on Owen became—a knee-deep swamp he could easily lose himself in. It would be easy to pretend they were a couple out on a spontaneous weekday road trip and not on a mission to get Owen to his Aunt Pearl. He needed to guard his heart: nothing would come of this crush, and he didn’t want to lose Owen’s friendship. Friendship was far more important.

“Hey, did you know that Edmund Lake is the name of an actual lake in Canada? I mean, of course you probably do. I just wondered.”

“Believe me, if I could go back in time and convince my mum and dad not to name me Edmund, I would. But at least it makes me a tad more difficult to search on the internet. The first hundred results are the blasted lake and not me. Makes being anonymous a little easier.”

They both laughed. Edmund glanced away from Owen and out the plate glass window. It had started snowing again. Owen followed his gaze.

“Are you worried about driving in the snow?” Owen asked. “I’ve done it a million times. I should’ve checked the weather, but it slipped my mind.”

“Not really. Kind of.” He huffed a laugh. “It doesn’t snow often in London.”

“I swear this will all be gone by tomorrow. It never snows this early and sticks,” Owen said earnestly, “but let’s finish eating and get back on the road. That way we can start heading back this way sooner.”

As Owen had promised, the burgers were incredible. As were the shakes and onion rings. When Owen was halfway done with his milkshake, the lemon-raspberry flavor, he handed it to Edmund and claimed the huckleberry, groaning with pleasure as he took a big sip, his cheeks concave as he sucked the straw.

“These are so good, it’s a good thing I don’t live close. I’d want one every day.”

“It’s a good thing I don’t, because I’d be even more of a potato than I already am.”

Owen took another sip of his milkshake before setting it on the table. “You know what?” he asked.

“What?”

“First of all, you’re not a potato, and second, I’d rather be friends with people who are beautiful on the inside, with people who don’t spend hours on their looks or only care about how I look. I don’t know how to say this right, Edmund, but I think you’re beautiful both on the inside and out.” He blushed. “I mean, you’re not fake. You’re honest, and you say what you mean. Crud, I am not saying this right. You didn’t have to offer to help me out, and I don’t even want to know how you convinced Jude to let me have the time off.”

Edmund was flattered. He did know what Owen was trying to say. Maybe it was from years of being ridiculed or flat-out ignored, maybe from negotiating the land mine–riddled playing field of being slightly different all his life, but he tried to be aware of what others were feeling. On the one hand, it was pure survival instinct to understand how a particularly hideous person might behave toward him; on the other, it seemed to Edmund he was often the only one aware of other people’s struggles. When an office mate in London—or at least someone he’d done business with—had quit seemingly out of the blue, Edmund had seen it coming for months while everyone else was left scratching their heads. No one else had ever bothered to talk to the person, to get to know them.

“I didn’t do anything special. Just asked Jude, told him what was going on,” Edmund replied to Owen’s sort-of question.

Owen was quiet for a moment, fiddling with his napkin and the wrapper from his straw. Edmund hoped he hadn’t said something wrong, something to offend him.

After what seemed like a long moment, Owen spoke, not exactly looking Edmund in the eyes but instead focusing somewhere over his left shoulder. “I’m ashamed to admit I’ve used my looks to get things I’ve wanted—I don’t do it anymore. It really bothers me when the pretty-boy ploy works. I hate it that, instead of getting to know me, most people just look at me.”

Edmund wasn’t going to admit right now that he very much enjoyed looking at Owen.

“I’ve never even had a real boyfriend, not one who cared much about what I worry about in the dark of the night.” He shrugged, now looking at Edmund directly. “My fault as much as theirs, I suppose. I stopped trying to date, because it was always disappointing. Now I’m one of those horrible people who only has one-night stands.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to do with you, Edmund—it’s my bad choices. How did we end up talking about me again? Let’s get going.”

They paid for lunch and made their way back out to the parking lot. It seemed to Edmund that the amount of snow on the ground was greater than when they’d stopped, but Owen didn’t say anything about it as he unlocked the car and climbed inside. Edmund was likely worrying over nothing. He buckled up, his phone connected, and “Tits on the Radio” by the Scissor Sisters blasted out of the speakers.

“I love these guys!” Owen exclaimed as he signaled and pulled out onto the highway again.

They didn’t talk much for the next few miles. Owen seemed to be concentrating on the road, and Edmund was happy to listen to music and let his thoughts float where they would. Eventually a green road sign flashed by announcing it was thirty-four miles to Wenatchee.

“We’re almost there. Thank you again for making this happen. If I wasn’t behind the wheel, I’d lay a big kiss on you right now!”

Edmund nearly melted. Imagining Owen might want to kiss him had his body flashing hot and cold; he had a very good imagination.

The city of Wenatchee, it turned out, was split in two by the Columbia River, creating East Wenatchee and West Wenatchee. The hospital Owen’s aunt—great-great-aunt—was in was located in West Wenatchee, a few blocks from the river. Owen turned into the car park and found a spot not too far from the entrance. He’d been quiet the last few miles, not even humming along to the music. Edmund could tell he was nervous about Pearl’s health, and he wished again there was something he could say to soothe him, a promise that would make everything better.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Owen said as he opened the door and climbed out of the driver’s seat.