Page 58 of Into the Mountains (Blue Grove Mountain #3)
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAROTTE
H ome.
It feels good to be back in Blue Grove. I remember the first time I came here with Avery, it felt like coming home after a long vacation. The winding roads feel familiar after getting lost in a different place for so long.
The last time I had been to the mountains happened to be on a vacation with my parents.
When Avery was so unsure about moving because of the cost of the photography studio, I finally knew what I could do with a portion of the money my parents left for me.
I could make myself and my friend a new home in a place that I felt their presence in right away.
I’ve never once regretted moving here. Even when I saw Elias for the first time and all the emotions he brought up for me.
I still never considered leaving. The thought didn’t cross my mind then and it definitely won’t ever now.
“You okay over there?” Eli asks from the driver’s seat. I lean my head back against the headrest and close my eyes. A soft smile irresistibly tugging at my lips.
“I am, actually.”
He grabs my hand, lacing his fingers through mine and pulls it to his lips to press them to my skin. “Good. I’m going to miss you.”
“It’s only one night. Besides, I don’t think I could get out of it if I wanted to.”
“You don’t want to?”
“Oh, I do. But there’s no point in even trying. The girls are relentless.”
After we finally laid my parents to rest near their garden and placed rocks around their graves, we said our goodbyes the next day.
It came with a promise that we’d visit again soon with Ethan next time as long as they promised to also visit once they were settled into mom-hood.
What they don’t know is I fully plan to be present for when that baby boy is born.
I want to be there for Andy and Meredith in whatever way I can.
Since our trip, it’s been a week of Eli and I staying at each other’s places depending on where Ethan is and for once, not worrying about work as much as we are used to.
I’ve visited the spot in the woods a few more times to see if I can get any words to flow and some days, there still isn’t anything, but I’ve learned to accept that more.
Other days, Eli has had to come drag me out of there or I’d have stayed overnight, crouched on my rock, scribbling away in my notebook.
Between that and feeling completely satisfied with my love life for once, Avery, Sky, and Sophie have been texting our girls’ group chat non stop over the last few days since we’ve been on our roadtrip.
They want every last damn detail and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Which is why, when we pull up to Sky and Jacob’s newly built home and the girls are already sitting on her wrap-around porch in chairs with half-filled wine glasses in their hands, I let out one long dramatic groan.
“Please, just peel out of here. Do donuts. Drift. Whatever you need to do to make the fastest escape you can.”
Eli laughs like I’m not being serious. “Go on, honey. You’re in denial that you miss them just as much as they miss you.”
I glare at him.
“Okay, maybe you don’t miss them that much, but I know you care for them. And you’ve been busy with me and the project and this trip. You deserve to have fun with your friends.”
“I’d rather have fun in your bed.”
He moves closer until I can smell the bittersweet smell of the latte he drank on the way here on his breath. His thumb brushes a trail across my cheek like the wind carrying a leaf through a meadow.
After another beat of letting myself be self-pitying, I straighten my shoulders.
“This is what I get for being so nosey in their lives. And for being so blunt all the time. I mean we all practically had half our bodies outside Jacob’s window when him and Sky were going at it on the porch.
” Elias’ eyebrows rise up to his hairline, questioning.
I figured Sky would have told him what had happened.
The point is, this is karma making its full ass circle.
Eli leans forward and presses his lips against my forehead, cupping the back of my neck as he does. I breathe him in once more before I finally let him send me off to my fate.
“You can’t leave anything out,” Avery pushes.
I know what the ocean creatures at the aquarium must feel like now with all the humans pushing their faces closer to the glass to get a better look.
With all three girls looking in my direction, each pair of eyes are begging for details of my excursion with Elias last weekend.
“Well, it wasn’t all steamy sex and fun times.”
“So there was steamy sex?” Sky raises her eyebrows a few times, taking a small sip from her glass.
“Yes, but it was hard.”
“I bet it was,” Sophie mutters.
I groan. “Seriously.”
“Okay,” Avery puts down her drink and tucks her legs under her, leaning forward, all business now. “We’re listening. No more jokes.” She eyes the other two until they nod, agreeing.
“It just wasn’t easy going back there. I left a lot behind.
” I tell them about Andy and Meredith and my relationship with them.
Everything about their feelings toward me leaving, their newest addition coming soon, and visiting my house again.
Seeing it after being away for so long and facing the fear I had.
And then I filled them in on the dirty details too. I just saved those for last so the whole weekend story didn’t end on a depressing, grief riddled note.
“It sounds like you and Eli are really into each other,” Sophie states.
She doesn’t even question it and there’s a small flicker of something that flashes on her face, but it’s gone before I can read it.
Usually when we talk about this kind of stuff, she shuts down.
Her crush on a certain mechanic has never panned out because she’s always been way too afraid to act on it.
Him too. But something is different tonight.
“Sophie?” I’m not going to miss an opportunity to shift the attention off me and attempt to get some gossip from her.
Immediately her cheeks redden like she knows she’s already been caught. She takes a gulp of her red wine, staining her lips. “What?” She’s trying to sound calm, but there’s a slight tremble to her voice that gives her away.
I lean closer to her, elbow digging into my leg as I prop my head on my hand. “Who’s the guy?”
“What guy?” She tries to brush it off.
“Wait, there’s a guy?” Sky whips her head toward Sophie, practically snapping her neck by the speed she does it.
Sophie sets down her glass and starts pacing in front of the coffee table. “There’s a guy,” she admits.
“Who?” we all yell at the same time. She grimaces against our voices.
A mumble leaves her that sounds like “Max.”
“Who’s Max?”
“Not Max.” Her feet still and her eyes dart between the three of us. Until Avery gasps.
“NO WAY!”
Sky and I look at each other, confused looks mirrored on the other’s face.
Sophie wrings her fingers together as she nods in confirmation of whatever telepathy her and Avery have going.
“When—how—details,” she squeals.
“Anybody want to fill the two of us in?” Sky asks, pointing between the two of us before she catches on too and starts squealing along with Avery.
“Charlotte, please tell me you’ve caught on by now.”
“Avery, just tell me what we are screaming about so I can scream too.”
“Axel.”
And that’s all it takes for me to join them all screaming and now it’s my turn to beg for all the details.
Those details are Axel running through the town covered in his usual grease, harassing everyone until he figured out where Sophie was.
When he did, it was like the ending scene of a romantic comedy.
The two people who have been in love for the whole movie—and also spent the whole time denying it—are frozen in their steps, their eyes meet and they stare, wondering who is going to say something first. Chests heaving, until they both talk at the same time, trying to profess their love to each other first. They run into each other’s arms, her legs wrapping naturally around his waist and they kiss after years of dying to kiss each other, their lips press together, and it’s like they’re the only two people in the world.
The townspeople that popped their heads out of their shops had followed Axel, because none of them were going to miss those two finally figuring it out.
And they cheered and it took Axel shooing them all off for them to leave them alone finally.
The night passes with gossip, watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, a few more drinks, and a way too competitive game of Scrabble that Sky won. My mind easily drifts back to Eli and Ethan back home bonding over whatever board game they picked out to combat each other.
One thing Eli talked about a lot over the last week was Ethan’s birthday coming up. It seemed like he would start talking about it without even realizing it. I think he’s more stressed about it than he’s letting on.
“You have that look on your face again and I’m not sure where this is going.” Avery knows me too well.
“I need your help with something.”