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Sara
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“I can’t believe this week went so fast!” I exclaim.
“That’s just because classes start back up next week,” Blake suggests.
“I thought the week kind of dragged personally,” Liz admits.
“That’s just because you didn’t have me around,” Blake smirks and reaches for Liz with one hand, keeping the other on the steering wheel. She blushes poking him in the ribs while I laugh. “Hey, no messing with the driver!” Blake proclaims playfully. Liz’s hand quickly snaps back and although he was teasing her, he notices Liz’s nervous reaction. He quickly reaches for her hand intertwining their fingers, comforting her, while staring at the road in front of him. I can’t help but feel the ache return to my chest, wishing I had what they have.
“So, how much longer until we’re there?” I ask shakily trying to calm my nerves.
“Actually, it’s right up here,” Blake announces, nodding his head to the right.
I look out my window as we turn right down a long driveway covered in snow. We pull up to a large white farmhouse with a huge wrap around front porch sitting off to the left of the driveway. “Wow!” I exclaim as my mouth drops open in awe. “That’s incredible.” There are pine trees scattered everywhere except near the house itself, with a few other kinds of bare trees dispersed throughout them. I’m assuming the glistening white beyond must be the lake, at least somewhere, but it’s hard to tell where it begins from here with the snow.
“Yeah, it is,” Liz concurs. “It’s beautiful inside too,” she mumbles, pausing. “Is it just me, or does the snow make it look even bigger than it did in the summer?” she asks in wonder.
Blake laughs. “It’s not just you. I believe it does too.” Blake opens his jeep and pops the trunk. I immediately feel the cold air blast in giving me a sudden chill. “Come on, I’ll grab the presents and you two just go on inside. We’ll figure out the bags later when we know where everyone is sleeping,” Blake suggests. “Is that okay? I’m freezing!”
Liz yells, “Great!” as she starts speed walking towards the front door. I slowly follow her, taking in as much as I can while I go. When I reach the wooden front porch steps, Liz is already at the top ringing the bell. There are a couple of wooden Adirondack chairs on my left with a small table and on the other side a wooden porch swing. “During the summer they had a lot more furniture out here,” Liz observes right before the front door swings open and Christian’s large frame appears in the doorway his blue eyes sparkling. His light brown hair still has some blonde highlights even in the winter. He’s gorgeous, but only has eyes for Bree. I’m happy for them, but knowing I’ll never have something like that still hurts. It seems to be all around me.
“Hey, guys,” he barely gets out before Bree practically crashes into him placing herself under his arm with a squeal. He just laughs looking at her adoringly and kisses her on the top of her head.
“I’m so glad you guys are here! But get inside, it’s freezing!” Bree exclaims.
“You look great, Bree,” I express and Liz nods in agreement. She does, she’s a beautiful girl. She’s a few inches taller than me with wavy chestnut brown hair and flawless pale skin.
“Thanks,” she smiles giddily back at us. “You guys too.”
We hang our coats up on a large coat rack just inside the door to our left and remove our boots, so we don’t trail in all the mud and snow. Blake sets the presents down and immediately embraces Bree tightly before shaking Christian’s hand. He follows suit, taking his coat and boots off as well. He picks the presents back up before he asks, “Where can I set these?”
Christian nods his head in the opposite direction. “My mom is in the kitchen,” he declares and starts walking in that direction with the rest of us in tow. We walk into a large open kitchen with a huge oak dining table on the other side of the counter. “Whatever I tell you will probably be wrong,” he mumbles right as we walk into the room and then winks at his mom.
“Christian James!” she scolds with a smile stepping away from the kitchen counter. His mom is a beautiful woman. She’s about five feet, eight inches and thin with pale skin, blonde hair, and green eyes. She shakes her head, drying her hands on a small towel before placing it on the counter. “You can just set those on the table,” she nods towards the presents as she steps up next to Christian.
“Mom, you’ve met Blake, and this is his girlfriend, Liz and her friend, Sara,” Christian introduces us and she walks over embracing each of us with a welcoming hug.
“It’s good to see you Blake and it’s so nice to finally meet all of you. We were disappointed to hear we missed the two of you when you were here over the summer, but I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves. And Sara, Bree has told us so much about you too.” I blush with her comment, but I don’t really know why. She seems so sweet.
“My dad, Bree’s dad and one of my brothers are outside working on one of the snowmobiles. They’ll be in a bit,” Christian informs us.
Bree laughs and shakes her head, mumbling sarcastically, “Yeah, I’m sure my dad is really helping them.” She glances at me and admits with a smile, “He’s not really good at that kind of thing.”
“And Amy...” Christian begins with a slight cringe but stops abruptly the moment she bounces into the room.
“Blake!” she screeches and throws her arms around him. I glance towards Liz, assessing her reaction. She grimaces slightly and takes a deep breath before pasting on a smile just in time to receive her own hug. “Hi, Liz. I’m so glad you guys are here.” Amy turns to look at me. “Hi, Sara. How are you?”
“I’m good, Amy. It’s good to see you again,” I state wanting to shake my head, but hold myself back.
Amy is a pretty girl. She’s about the same height as me, but skinnier. She has blonde hair, blue-grey eyes and I swear she loves attention. She has the energy and enthusiasm along with the clothes she wears to get that attention and look fantastic doing it. She seems nice, but I can’t always handle her liveliness.
Like Blake, she also grew up with Bree and they are pretty close. They have had their problems, one of them being Christian, but they always work things out in the end. Bree says they’ve been friends for too long to lose her; it would be like losing family and she already lost her mom and grandma whom she was really close to. Blake moved to their high school during his junior year. Blake and Bree ended up becoming best friends and Amy is part of the package. So, since Blake and Liz began dating, I’ve seen more of all of them.
“Matt wanted me to let you know he’s sorry he couldn’t make it,” Blake informs Bree referring to another one of their friends from their hometown. “Who else is coming? Anyone we know?” Blake asks Bree and Christian.
Christian responds, “Actually my mom really wanted to do something, so we agreed as long as we could keep it small. We wanted just friends and family, so it’s just my roommates, Joe and Dean left.” He stops and looks directly at me, “Watch out for Dean. He’s a player.”
I nod my head in acknowledgement with a light smile. “Thanks.”
“Christian’s sister can’t get out of her intensive therapy program yet and his brother Matt couldn’t get a flight from Texas that fast. He just got back there from being here for the holidays and before that he was here because of Theresa’s accident,” Bree explains.
“And I sure as hell was going to make sure Bree’s dad would be here,” Christian adds. “So, it was now or never. We have a few snowmobiles, if anyone wants to go this afternoon, but really, we just thought we’d all hang out. Like I said, my parents wanted to do the party for us.”
Just then, the doorbell rings. While Christian walks to answer the door, I turn to take in the rest of my surroundings and gasp when I face the back of the house.
The kitchen flows into the living room, which is situated at the back of the house, completely covered in windows overlooking what must be the lake. My eyes are glued to the sparkling white grounds beyond the windows. Where the sun is shining through the trees, the snow looks like a collection of sparkling diamonds. I think I see the outline of their dock from here at the bottom of the hill, so I have an idea where the lake begins. It looks stark, fresh and new, that’s one of the things I always liked about winter...clearing everything for a new beginning. We all need that sometimes.
Liz steps up next to me and comments, “Wow, it looks so different, but still so beautiful.”
“It’s incredible,” I admit with wonderment. “It looks so peaceful don’t you think?” She nods her head in agreement.
Christian walks into the room with two guys I’ve never met and we turn towards them. “Guys, this is Joe,” he gestures towards a tall guy with blonde hair, before turning towards the one with longish black hair with a pointed look in my direction, “and Dean, my roommates.” He turns towards us, “You know everyone except Blake’s girlfriend, Liz and her friend, Sara.” I give them a polite smile and shake their hands.
“So, Sara,” Dean begins as he steps up to me with a sly smile and a quirk of his eyebrow.
I quickly speak up before he can say anything. “So, you must be Dean, the one I’m supposed to stay away from,” I declare with a smirk.
“Dude!” Dean glares at Christian and he just shrugs his shoulders in response, and chuckles in amusement.
“Blake, I also wanted to let you know that there’s more than enough room for all of us to stay here. You and Liz are welcome to Matt’s room, and I guess Sara you and Amy can share my sister’s room if that’s okay. Joe and Dean get the singles in the spare, unless you want to share, then you can sleep on the pull out in the basement,” he jokes getting a punch in the arm by Dean. “We didn’t want anyone to have to worry about driving on the icy roads at night, even if it’s only the short drive over to Bree’s,” he adds with a small smile.
I watch Blake swallow hard before answering, “Thanks, man.” Christian just gives an answering nod before turning to reach for Bree and giving her a chaste kiss.
Turning away from the exchange, I let my eyes run over the rest of the living room. The first thing that catches my eye is the massive stone fireplace with a large round ivory rug sitting in front of it. The room is covered in old wood, almost like you’re looking at wood from an old barn. There is even a faint smell of wood and I inhale deeply, loving it. The large oval coffee table appears to be made out of similar wood and it sits in the middle of a large U-shaped navy and ivory plaid couch.
“No TV?” I can’t help but question.
Christian shakes his head. “Nah, the seventy inch is in the basement with the other toys.” He smiles big, insinuating it’s his favorite room in the house.
“Anyone hungry?” Christian’s mom yells from across the room. I hear a few people murmur, “Oh yeah,” in response while we all turn back towards the kitchen.
His mom has a whole spread of appetizers spread across the counter from basic cheese and crackers, to meatballs, to hot spinach dip to a hot seafood dip and more. “This looks delicious. Thank you,” I tell her.
She smiles at me, “We’re just grateful to be able to celebrate with Christian and Bree’s friends. We’re thrilled all of you could make it. We know travel isn’t always easy this time of year.”
We all fill up small plates and walk over to sit down at the large oak table. I sit next to Liz and a moment later, Joe walks up, questioning, “Mind if I sit?”
“It’s all yours,” I proclaim, gesturing towards the chair beside me. “So how long have you known Christian?” I ask.
“Actually, we were put together as roommates our freshman year in the dorms and we’ve been close ever since.” He pauses and glances over towards him and Bree. “I’m glad they finally got all their shit straight.” I look at him curiously. “How long have you known them?” he inquires.
“The same as Liz. We all met at a concert last summer,” I explain. “But I’ve heard a little about what they went through.”
He nods in acknowledgement, “Yeah.” He pauses before changing the subject, “So, where are you from Sara?” he asks giving me a friendly smile.
Just then the back door opens, and I look up to see two good looking older men who must be Bree and Christian’s dads, followed by a tall younger guy with dark brown hair and his head down, his broad shoulders shaking as if he’s laughing. “Portland,” I answer Joe still watching the men curiously as they hang up their coats on the hooks by the door. The younger man stops laughing and slowly lifts his head up, his eyes landing directly on me. My heart stops and I completely forget to breathe. I hear Liz’s gasp of shock in my ear, while I stare into Jason’s sparkling blue eyes. He’s sexy as hell in a tight navy-blue Henley with a faded light blue button down open over top with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Dark blue jeans are covering his strong legs and LL Bean work boots are loose on his feet.
I think back to how he introduced himself as Jason Emory. He looks a lot like Christian in so many ways. I don’t know why I didn’t put it together, but I didn’t. I swallow hard trying to catch my breath when someone touches my left arm making me jump and I finally choke in a breath. I look to my left and Joe asks me, “Are you okay?” sounding as if he’s underwater.
I just nod my head numbly in response before I’m able to croak, “Excuse me.” I quickly push my chair back and it screeches across the floor. “Um, where’s the bathroom?” I squeak trying not to panic, but I know it’s already too late for that.
“I’ll show you where it is,” Jason offers from across the room and my heart skips a beat from the low rumble of his voice.
“Sara, that’s my brother, Jason,” Christian introduces us unknowingly.
“We’ve met,” Jason admits, not taking his eyes off me. I ignore the surprise on Christian’s face as I attempt to gulp down the huge lump that has formed in my throat. I take an unsteady step in the direction Jason is pointing. He falls into step right behind me, placing his hand on the small of my back to guide me, sending tingles throughout my body from his touch.
I swear everyone is staring at us as we walk out of the room causing me to struggle just to put one foot in front of the other knowing my face has already turned beat red. As Jason slowly guides me down the hallway, I know he’s waiting until we’re out of earshot before he speaks. “Right here, Sara,” he states, gesturing to our right. “Sara, I...” he begins.
I cut him off immediately by stepping into the bathroom and blurting, “Thanks, Jason!” before quickly slamming the door in his face. I grip the sink, my knuckles turning white and stare at myself in the mirror. I notice my eyes are wide and my face is flushed and blotchy as I still try to catch my breath and calm my nerves. I can’t stop shaking, but I do everything I can do to make it happen anyway. I’m not about to walk back out there looking like I’ll pass out at any moment and the truth is, I just might. I can’t believe the guy who left me breathless is here, and he’s Christian’s brother.
