Page 21 of Into the Mountains (Blue Grove Mountain #3)

“No promises,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks into the back room. I’m quickly becoming a cat guy and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Although, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I have fallen completely in love with the little black feline over the last few weeks.

“Alright, let’s make this quick. I have to meet with Cordie about the rooms in the inn and then with Fran about possibly freshening up the look of the book shop side of Books & Beans. ”

Charlotte walks into the clinic in nothing other than what I can describe as a whirlwind.

Phone in hand, she balances a large iced coffee in the other as her laptop bag swings on her shoulder.

She’s wearing a brown pencil skirt today with an olive green knit sweater, her hair pulled into a side ponytail.

And suddenly I am thrust back to our first date.

The way the tendrils of hair from her low pony, fell to the front of her olive green shirt.

Her heels clack on the tile floor as she makes her way to the check in desk, coming to a stop a few inches away from me.

The closest we’ve been to each other since the other night.

I turn myself toward the counter to focus on my own coffee and pastry I picked up on the way. Definitely not to hide the bulge in my pants.

Charlotte notices, because of course she does. “Problem, Hayes?”

It’s been a long time since anyone has addressed me by my former last name.

Ash and Alan usually stuck with Hayes or Eli, but I haven’t seen them in person since mine and Sarah’s wedding.

And ever since then, it’s Elias or Waters, because I made the decision when I got married to take Sarah’s last name.

The Waters treated me more like family than my parents ever had, or anyone else for that matter.

And it was time to leave that part of me behind, especially when I decided to go no-contact with my parents after I graduated high school.

“It’s Waters, actually.”

“Right, sorry.” Part of me feels bad for correcting her, but Hayes is someone I haven’t been in a really long time.

And it’s a part of myself I never regretted leaving in my past. She turns away and pulls out all the equipment she needs to turn on the fossil she calls a computer.

I swear, if she spends the money she gets from the work on this project on anything else, I might actually buy her one myself.

“No, no, no, no, I’m determined this time. I’m going to find it and I’m going to win.”

“It’s fun when you’re delusional, sweetie.”

I turn around and see Hudson and Avery walk in, hand in hand, bright, genuine smiles on their faces.

When they first got together, part of me was jealous, seeing them paired up when I was still alone.

But I was and still am grieving in my own way and I don’t think I’ve been ready to really move on.

And then Skylar and Jacob finally got together after years of everyone seeing clearly the feelings they had for each other.

They were just too stubborn to see it for themselves.

That pang of jealousy recentered in me and I felt lonelier than ever.

I have my son, but that constant companionship and love is something that my heart and body long for.

Sarah made sure to tell me more than once to move on after she died.

Move on, be happy, all the things I never wanted to hear at the time and certainly never wanted to do. I promised her I would anyway.

“What are you two doing here?” Charlotte and I ask at the same time. The noise from her cooling fan fills the space, making it so they have to speak up.

“Sky said she needed help with something. Some camping thing.”

I glance sideways at her only to find her already glancing over at me, both of us suspicious. Because suddenly, it seems like we might be getting teamed up on.

Sky makes her entrance right on time with a clipboard in hand, checking off what I’m assuming is some sort of list of our failures.

She looks up from it and surveys the room.

“Oh good, everyone is here.” She gravitates to Jacob’s side and his arms reach around her waist like if he didn’t do it, his body would implode.

“Why do you need Hudson’s help with a camping thing?” I ask. “You’ve been camping before and you literally own a store that sells camping gear.”

She nods. “True, but his truck is bigger than mine—”

“And cleaner,” Hudson boasts.

“Cleaner only because you’re a neat freak. Mine is clean to my standards, not yours,” she argues. “Anyway, I have everything packed in the back room, I just need to load it up.”

“Packed for what exactly?” Charlotte’s eyes narrow at Sky, even more skeptical now.

Trying to figure out what Sky is up to is like George solving a Sunday crossword puzzle on his own.

Nearly impossible. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in the guy, but he won’t ever stop asking for help.

I think it’s more because he has fun getting everyone else involved over him not being able to do it himself.

That’s beside the point right now though.

“We are going on a team building camping trip.”

“I’m sorry, a what?” There’s no way I am going on a camping trip right now. I am swamped with not only the clinic project, but other projects too and I have no time to take off.

“You two are having issues figuring your shit out,” Sky points between Charlotte and me. “So we are all going on a team trip to bond.”

“Sky, I can’t do that. I have meetings to get to.”

“And you can still get to them. We leave this afternoon. I made sure you’d all have time to tie things up with work and babysitters. Elias, I already asked my parents and they are more than happy to take Ethan for the weekend.”

“The whole weekend? Sky, I don’t think I can swing that.” Genuinely, I’m not sure I can. There’s too many things to clean up and changes to make for other clients.

“Elias, when was the last time you unplugged?” Quite literally never. I’ve always been available to my boss, my clients, and my son. Available to everyone who needed me, because I have to be there. I can’t not be there.

She can see the gears in my mind turning and turning, looking for the right place for her to stick a crowbar into them to make them stop. “I thought so.” Then she turns to Charlotte.

“And I don’t know what the beef is between the two of you, but you’ve got to work it out so this shit,” she gestures to the space around us, “can get done and get done right. Plus, I’m sick of your squabbling.”

“We don’t squabble,” Charlotte says.

“We get along just fine,” I defend at the same time.

Hudson and Avery exchange a knowing look and I notice that they are looking anywhere else but at Charlotte and me.

They know something. Glancing between them and Charlotte who is picking at her cuticles, my gut tells me she told them our story.

Our past together being revealed to someone I consider a brother and another person who I became close with over the last year leaves a sour feeling in my gut.

Did she tell them everything? Do they see me differently now?

“Sure you do,” Jacob chimes in. “But we still think the team building will be good for all of us.”

Charlotte rolls her eyes, but I can see the resignation behind them. “Fine. As long as I can get to my meetings today, I’ll come back later with a bag ready to go.”

“Perfect.” Sky turns to me, eyebrows raised expectantly.

I release a resigned sigh. If Charlotte agreed, I don’t feel as if I have a way out of this. “Alright. As long as Ethan is okay with staying at his grandparents over the weekend and they’re okay with having Sable with him. He’s not going to go anywhere without her.”

“They already agreed to take her too. Shit box and all.” Leave it to Sky to get all the logistics figured out beforehand.

“Then why do you need us?” Hudson asks.

“Besides the truck. Camping,” shrugs Sky. “Figured you’d want to go.”

He nods, accepting the answer. “Alright. We’re in. You,” he says pointing a finger to Avery. “You better not twist your ankle this time though.”

“But I love it when you carry me.”

“You don’t have to hurt yourself for me to do that.”

“Please go home and get that shit out of your systems before we leave,” Sky calls after them before they make it out the front door.

“I’ll go grab Ethan and let him know the plan.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.”

Closing my eyes, I hang my head back toward the ceiling. “He attached himself to another kitten, didn’t he?”

“Sable’s brother.”

How the fuck am I supposed to say no to bringing home Sable’s sibling?

“Dad, look!” I hear as I make my way to the back room.

Ethan is on the floor with Sable in front of him who is wrestling with another kitten.

I’m assuming it’s the brother Sky mentioned.

A gray and white tabby lays on his back as Sable playfully pounces on him.

He hugs her as they go back and forth to Ethan’s delight.

His features are lit up, eyes wide, mouth open with glee as he hangs a feather above the two kittens, waiting for one of them to take the bait.

The tabby does as he catches the feather between his paws and tugs it down into his mouth, gnawing on it.

Sable tries to wrestle it from him, but he doesn’t let her get to it.

“What do we have back here?” I ask.

“Sable’s brother. I named him Erebor.”

“You named him?”

“Jacob said he didn’t have a name. So, I let him out because Sable was meowing at his kennel and I wanted to let them play. He’s really strong and he was lonely, so I figured Erebor suited him.”

I sit next to him and cross my legs, reaching out to Erebor. He doesn’t hesitate to shove his head into my outstretched hand. Sable comes over and nestles her head into his neck and then they both start climbing into my lap.

“Dad?” Ethan starts nervously.

I give him a look, reminding him of what I said before he came in here.

“I did say, no promises.”

“Yeah, I guess you did.” I chuckle.

I’m not sure when it happened, but suddenly I couldn’t say no to the furballs in my lap. It’s always good to have a companion.

“As long as Grandma and Grandpa are okay with helping you take care of them this weekend, okay?”

“This weekend?”

I explain about the camping trip and while he’s excited about the idea of spending the whole weekend with his grandparents, two of his favorite people in the world, I can tell something is bothering him.

“Will you and Charlotte get along better after the trip?”

My brows furrow. “What do you mean?”

Redness creeps into his cheeks like he’s embarrassed. “I kinda listened a little bit at the door.”

And now I look at him in a way that parents look at their kids when they know they’ve done something wrong.

“Hey, you eavesdropped the other night,” he accuses.

“Alright, you got me there. Why are you so worried about Charlotte and me?”

He shrugs. “I just want you to be friends is all.”

“Why?”

“Because I like her. And I think it’d be cool if you were friends too.

” There’s a small sense of hope in his voice like he might wish for something more between us.

What he doesn’t know is I’m pretty sure his Aunt Sky and Uncle Jacob are trying to Parent Trap us anyway.

I’d be shocked if the two of them don’t have the handshake memorized and planned to pull out the moment their meddling works.

Except, unfortunately for them, it won’t.