really want to grasp at someone who...what was it that Robert had said? Oh, yes, who just “wasn’t ready to settle down”—with her or with anyone.
Jack released her and the fingers of her other hand rubbed at the spot, trying to erase the memory of his touch. It didn’t work, though. He’d branded himself on her. Not last night. Not that time in his hotel room. But that very first time their hands had gripped each other’s in the snow.
And now she had to find a way—like he had—to uncurl her fingers and let him go.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, he’s leaving early?”
Ellory’s face was a study in disbelief as she stood in Mira’s room, hands on her hips.
“There’s talk of a winter storm blowing in, and he’s afraid of getting stranded.”
“Oh, he’s afraid all right, but not of getting stranded. What happened?”
Mira went through the whole story, about how they’d gone to the lodge, how everything had seemed to be going really well, about how he’d talked about his wife’s death.
“He told you about that?”
Mira nodded. “Why?”
“That’s not something you tell someone you have no intention of ever seeing again. Why would he bother, unless he felt it was something you needed to know?”
Mira dropped onto the foot of her bed and grabbed her Cheshire cat. “He started acting funny right after we...” she rolled her hand around in the air “...you know.”
“After you boinked like bunnies in front of the fire?”
“Elle!”
Her friend grinned and then sprawled next to her, poking the stuffed cat in its furry little belly. “You were supposed to teach her a thing or two about loosening up.”
Oh, she’d been plenty loose. That was her problem. If she’d held on to her emotions just a little bit tighter, she could have avoided this whole mess.
That wasn’t true, and she knew it.
“Okay,” Ellory said. “Let’s go down the list of things we know. One, his wife died in a plane crash. Two, he asked that you two see each other exclusively while he was here at the resort. Have I got it right so far?”
“Yes, but—”
“I’m thinking here.” She put a finger to her lips and tapped. “Three, after he tells you about his wife, you get down to business and then he seems weird afterwards.”
Mira nodded. “I thought I was being too forward.”
“Get real, ninny. Men love that stuff. So what happened after that?”
Impatience flared to life. She’d wanted hugs and a sympathetic shoulder, not to write a dissertation on what had gone wrong. “What does it matter?”
“It matters.”
Mira’s brows went up. “Okay. Four. He asks me if I like it here in Silver Pass. Five. He says there’s a storm coming...says he’s leaving early.” Her voice sped up as another wave of hurt rolled through her. “I reply that it’s been fun, bye. He grabs me and says it was more than that, and that I know it, but he just can’t do...” she drew quotes in the air “...this.”
“This.”
“Yeah, one minute he’s asking me about Silver... Oh, my God.” Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she let Chessie slide to the floor. “He can’t ask me to leave. That’s what it is.”
“What?”
“Silver Pass. His wife died on the flight to Texas. She’d left her job to be with him.”
Ellory picked up the cat and tossed it onto the pillows behind them. “He’s afraid you’ll die?”
“I don’t think so. Or at least I hope he’s not irrational enough to think it could happen twice. I think his guilt won’t let him ask me to choose between him and the resort. He asked me if I loved Silver Pass. Right out of the blue, after he saw me talking to Robert. It didn’t go along with anything we were talking about. I thought it was strange at the time, since he said he wanted to talk about what had happened at the cabin.”
“I think you’re right, Mirri.” Her brows went up. “So what’s stopping you?”
“From what? He’s probably already left.”
“So? It’s not like you can’t find Texas. It’s freaking huge. Right there on every map.”
Mira closed her eyes. Her friend was right. What was stopping her?
Fear.
Fear of rejection. Fear of what she’d find when she saw him. Fear...that he didn’t love her.
And?
What more did she have to lose? She’d let him walk away—so he was gone already as far as that went. If she confronted him, and he said he didn’t want to be with her, she hadn’t lost anything more. Just a small chunk of her pride.
But she deserved to know how he felt once and for all.
“You’re right. It’s on the map.” She reached over and grabbed her friend and squeezed her hard. “Thank you, Elle. Wish me luck.”
“I already did that when you made your resolution.” She laughed. “I sent out a little note to the universe, asking them to let me win our little bet. Which meant that Number Five—well, like Obi Wan Kenobi, he was my only hope.”
* * *
Jack slid his sunglasses higher on his nose as he waited in line at the airport. It had taken more than one attempt to finally walk out of the door of the resort this morning, two weeks to the day from when he’d first set foot on that ski slope and seen Mira standing over him.
He’d left two things behind. One thing meant nothing. And one meant everything.
The nothing: his pills, which he’d flushed down the toilet the day after his and Mira’s little trip to the cabin. He wouldn’t be needing them any more. It was time to face his fears and his dreams.
The everything: Mira. He still couldn’t believe he’d found the strength to walk away.
But he wasn’t going to ask her to leave. The words had been on the tip of his tongue, but he’d bitten them back. The storm was just an excuse, but she didn’t need to know that. It had come just in the nick of time, saving him from making the same mistake with another woman that he’d made with his wife.
If she wanted to stay in Silver Pass, he wasn’t going to be the one who urged her to leave.
And what if Mira had asked him to stay, rather than the other way
