Page 16 of Snowed Inn For Christmas

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“No, Jules.I’m not kidding.I think it would be great for all of us to spend Christmas together.We haven’t done that since—”

“I’m aware of the last time we were all together for Christmas,” I interrupted, not wanting to hear him say it.

My heart hammered in my chest as I remembered the last Christmas we had all spent together as a family.It was the one we celebrated before Mike was killed in a car accident a few weeks later, and my life was forever shattered, along with my heart.

“All I’m saying is that it would be nice to have family there to support you and Daisy,” he said, his tone softer.

“We’re okay,” I lied, even though we were for the moment.But what happened after we left the safety of Gage’s grandmother’s inn was something I didn’t want to think about just yet.I knew I would have to eventually, but for now, I wanted to live in the false sense of security I had been clinging to since the morning we arrived and Gage answered the door.

“Julie, you can’t be so stubborn all the time,” Patrick said with a heavy sigh.“This guy, Joel, isn’t who you think he is.He’s dangerous, and I’m genuinely worried about you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“But do you?Do you really know who he is?Because what I’ve found so far is terrifying, Julie.The thought of him getting close to you or Daisy again makes my blood boil.”

I was about to agree with him when something stopped me.

“Wait—what do you meanthe stuff you’ve found?”I asked, my eyes cutting to Gage, who purposely turned away from me so I couldn’t see his face.

“I did some digging.”

“Patrick!”I scolded, forcing a smile when Daisy turned and looked to see what was happening.“I can handle this.I promise.You don’t need to get involved in this.It’s better for everyone if you don’t.”

“It’s a little too late for that,” he replied.“Shit, I have to take this call real quick.Can I call you back in a few minutes?”

“Yeah.That’s fine.”

Before I could say anything more, the line was dead.I set my phone down and turned toward Gage, allowing my heated stare to burn into the back of his head.

“I’m not going to tell you anything, so you can stop with the death stare,” he said from over his shoulder as he continued cutting the meat for dinner.

I sucked in a long, deep breath and let it out slowly.Before I could badger him about what hewasn’ttelling me, my phone rang again.I picked it up without looking at the screen and answered it.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” I said, resting my hand on my hip.While he was my older brother, I wasn’t going to just let him get away with intruding on things in my life that weren’t his to worry about.

“Well, I could say the same to you.”

I gasped as my hand flew to my mouth and covered it.My eyes widened with fear as Gage spun around and rushed to my side.

“Like why you felt it was necessary to leave in the middle of the night,” Joel said, his tone filled with anger.“I thought we talked about that and I made myself very clear about my expectations.”

“Put it on speakerphone,” Gage whispered, his voice so quiet that I had to rely on reading his lips to understand what he said.

I nodded and did as he asked, hating the tears that were already burning my eyes.

“Something unexpected came up, and I had to leave.It was a family emergency,” I said quietly, praying that Daisy wouldn’t hear this conversation.

“You should have told me.I would have gone with you and helped you.”

“I didn’t want to bother you with it.”

I struggled to keep my tone soft because what I really wanted to do was scream at him and rip him a new one for all of the stress and trauma he’d created for me.I wanted to yell from the top of the mountain and tell him every single thing I’d come to hate about him.

“Well, that’s where you would be wrong.It wouldn’t have been a bother.Imagine my frustration when I found out you left in the middle of the night, right after you promised me you wouldn’t.Can you understand my worry that something terrible might have happened to you?To Daisy?”

I covered my mouth to keep from throwing up at the sound of my daughter’s name coming out of his mouth.