Reiki and other holistic methods—to her dad as a new branch of their family’s company. Wellness complemented AlpinePeaks’s high-end ski-resort business model, but nonetheless, her dad had put a lot of faith in her plan. “And I will make it succeed. Starting with finishing this stupid rack.”
She lined up another shelf piece on the support bar. The holes weren’t flush. Grrr.
“It’s backward,” Lauren murmured.
Cadie’s neck burned. “I knew that.”
So much for being competent. She could name the six-hundred-plus muscles in the human body, but stick her with furniture assembly and she became illiterate.
Flipping the piece around, she jammed a screw through the now-aligned holes. “I can do this myself.”
“Yeah, right. I’m never going to forget that IKEA shelf that you managed to turn into a wooden spider.” Lauren held out her hand. “Let me look at the instructions.”
“Worry about your own office. And stop being a mother hen.”
Wincing, her sister retracted her hand. “Crap. Sorry. I wasn’t going to do that anymore.”
“I know. You’re trying. Sometimes.” Cadie sighed. “Were you sneaking in a gym visit before the grand opening?”
“Yeah, couldn’t resist all the shiny new toys. And it was now or wait for tomorrow. There are only about two hours a day where I don’t feel like puking up my morning handful of soda crackers.”
“Can’t say I miss that part of pregnancy.”
“Can’t say I’ve figured out any part of pregnancy that’s worth it. Other than the endgame, I’m assuming.”
“It is. So are the looks I keep seeing Tavish give you. It’s like it’s Christmas morning every moment of his day.” Cadie would have given a lot to see that same look on Sam’s face when she was pregnant with Ben. All she’d gotten was fear and resentment.
She tried to keep a smile on her face but it wobbled.
I’m happy for my sister. I’m happy for my sister.
She’d repeat it until the envy receded. Because even if she’d wanted to risk falling in love again, she didn’t have the time. Ben kept her running for half her hours and the wellness center was turning that jog up to a sprint. Those two things would keep her perfectly fulfilled, damn it.
Lauren plopped down on the ground. “Zach showed up just as I was leaving. Said he was doing rehab.”
Cadie narrowed her eyes. Contemplating Zach Cardenas and his physical therapy—the PT he refused to let her be involved with—never failed to make her blood pressure rise. Sam’s best friend could definitely add Cadie’s main source of insanity to his excessively long list of accomplishments. Cadence’s, rather. For some reason, he always called her by her full name. Claimed to like it. And Lord, so did she. Her spine shivered every time the smoothly spoken syllables rolled off his tongue.
Argh! In a desperate attempt to derail her train of thought, she handed her sister the Allen key. “Here, you do the screws. I’ll hold the pieces together.”
Lauren peered at Cadie, suspicion written on her features. “I thought you didn’t want help.”
“Changed my mind.”
“Changed the subject, you mean.”
Cadie shrugged.
“Cadence Grigg.”
“Lauren Dawson,” she mimicked. “Hey, are you going to change your name when you get remarried?”
“Probably. And you did it again.”
“I asked you a question. Is that not allowed?”
“Not when you’re avoiding talking about something. You were the one who complained we needed to get back to acting more like friends. So why’d you get a look when I brought up Zach?”
Cadie sighed. “He’s just frustrating me. If I have to spend one more minute watching him compensate for his misaligned hips, I’m going to throw a medicine ball at his head.” She’d spent the last three months doing her best not to look at her husband’s best friend’s beautiful body as he rehabilitated his broken femur and arm with a colleague at her previous workplace, but she’d had enough.
“He did look out of whack.”
“He has this bee in his bonnet over finishing Sam’s film this fall. They’ve changed the focus from an extreme skiing feature to a documentary about the avalanche. The producer’s thrown in extra money to get Zach to the site where the slide occurred, given he missed the memorial trip in the spring, so he’s trying to speed things along. And he’s causing more problems than he’s fixing. I’ve been nagging him to let me help for months.”
Cadie held a crosspiece against the slanted top shelf, and Lauren started screwing a nut onto one of the bolts, a look of confusion on her face. “Zach would do anything for you, though.”
“Because of Sam, yeah.” Sure, she’d hit the six-month mark of parenthood and woken from her sleep-deprived haze to find Zach’s assets—especially his ass—irresistible. She’d slapped a “friends-only” label on the guy the minute she’d gotten together with Sam. But she was single now, and the edges on that label were peeling like the paint on her brother’s ancient truck. Thankfully, Zach hadn’t ever hinted at wanting to tear off the designation for good.
Lauren stilled her hand mid key-turn. “Just Sam?”
“Yes,” Cadie emphasized.
Lips pressed into a wholly unconvinced line, her sister went back to her task. “Well, no matter the reason, if you can make his therapy about doing you a favor, I bet he’d go for it.”
Interesting thought. And not a stretch, either. “It is partly about me. I want to pay him back for all he’s done for Ben and me since Sam died.” The guy had quit his job coaching the US Junior ski team to relocate to Sutter Creek when Cadie had moved home, for God’s sake. He’d gone to every one of her maternity appointments. Held her hand through most of the delivery and kept all her loose ends tied while she was struggling with a colicky infant. Every time Cadie had needed a hand, Zach had stuck his out to help, up until the point he’d broken his arm and leg during spring cleanup. The number of times he’d apologized for not being able to pitch in over the past few months...
Yeah. That was definitely why frustration ate at her every time she was around him.
It didn’t have anything to do with the way laughter made his eyes dance or how the bronze skin over his ripped muscles hadn’t forgotten he’d once been a competitive athlete. So the guy was nice to look at.
More than nice.
Downright mouthwatering.
But that was all objective. She couldn’t be interested in Sam’s best friend. Nor could she risk the bond Zach had with Ben over a momentary physical attraction.
“I
