Aisha jogged the trail to Jase’s cabin, Mo sprinting alongside in her slightly clumsy, uncoordinated kid way. Jase’s cabin, hey? The thought hit her. Technically, it was Jase and Colton’s, but she never thought of it that way. Everything about Colton suggested he was only here temporarily, no matter what he said—and half the time, even when he was with them, he wasn’t really with them. Jase, on the other hand? He seemed as integral to River’s Sigh as the creek or the cabins. No, scratch that. Colton was the creek, always on the move. Jase was more like one of the beautiful ancient trees or one of the huge boulders by the river. It boggled her mind to think that in the beginning she’d resented his presence, saw him as an intrusion. . . .
Heat rose through her that had nothing to do with her pace. The expressions on everybody’s faces, even Jo’s, when they’d rattled into the parking lot together last night filled her brain. It was insane—especially considering it had been Jo and Callum’s idea to offer him a permanent job. Why would they do that if they didn’t trust him?
“We’re getting ice cream at the little store, right, Mom?”
Aisha snapped back to the glorious present, smiling down at her daughter. “Yep, we sure are.”
Mo’s uncanny memory never failed to surprise and amuse her. She’d only taken Mo to the hot springs once, but the little general store on the remote, sparsely populated stretch of road to the Nisga’a territories was firmly planted in her brain as one of her favorite places. Aisha couldn’t blame her. The hard ice cream really was crazy good—and the size of the cones made her eyes widen with delight just like Mo’s.
They were at the door to Jase’s cabin now and Aisha looked around before knocking, realizing with a start that it was missing something. No cute little cedar sign identified the place. It hadn’t been named. That was an oversight she, Jo and Callum needed to remedy.
Mo shrieked with delight. “I never saw this before!” She lifted the ornate bee-shaped brass knocker and let it drop. The metal sound was somehow musical. She lifted it again, and before the knocker stopped reverberating, the door opened and a shirtless Colton, obviously fresh from the shower, greeted them with a grin. Aisha’s stomach fluttered despite herself.
“Come in, come in. Lurch is busy in the can, but I’d be very happy to entertain you.” He winked.
Mo scooted under Colton’s outstretched arm, not needing to be invited twice. “Where’s Jase?” she asked, Colton’s “Lurch” reference way over her head.
“You showered before going to the hot springs to swim?” Aisha’s tone clearly added, are you a moron? to the end of her statement, but she didn’t feel bad about it. Colton deserved it. She didn’t like how he always subtly—or not so subtly—slammed Jase. As ever, Colton was immune to her disdain.
His eyes glinted. “There’s nothing wrong with being clean before you get wet and dirty.”
Aisha rolled her eyes and pushed past him into the cabin, wishing she was seeing Jase’s space for the first time without Colton’s presence making everything all greasy.
Mo spotted the area rug in the living room and ran over to it, exclaiming over the brightly coloured fish that decorated the hand-tufted navy rug. If someone had described the carpet to her, Aisha might have felt it was too cabin-kitschy or something, but it was perfect in this space with the bright pine walls and the amazing background of green visible through every expansive window.
Knowing the fun design would keep Mo hooked for a while, Aisha let herself study Jase’s habitat to her heart’s content. The detail that stood out to her the most pleased her immensely. The cabin was immaculately clean, not a dish left out, the windows bright and streak free, the hardwood floor shining. Even the tea towel hanging on the oven door was crisply folded.
She moved deeper into the open concept cabin, still looking for traces of Jase, and stroked one hand over the shale-covered breakfast bar. It was the only design element she hadn’t been crazy about when Jo shared the plan. Shale was porous and hard to keep clean, but Aisha had to admit the rough black stone was gorgeous, adding drama and depth to all the light wood surrounding it. As she stepped around the counter, she caught sight of the only thing in the whole space that was remotely out of order. The couch in the living room was pulled out from the wall, and the cot from upstairs was tucked behind it. A couple of crumpled pillows lay atop its bunched up quilt, showing it was being used as a makeshift sleeping area, which was odd, considering the loft had two bedrooms. She should know. She’d made them up for the guys’ first night at River’s Sigh.
Colton caught her staring at the sloppy bed and winked, jerking his thumb toward the closed bathroom door. “His majesty, the King of Delusion, likes to fantasize he owns the place, so being the easygoing prince that I am, I crash here and let him have the upper level. We share the rest because he can’t figure out a way to lock me out of the bathroom or exile me from the kitchen.”
Colton stayed down here, while Jase had the two rooms to himself? That was a bit weird—and yet, if Colton was right about the reason why, it was kind of sweet in a sad way. Owning your own place, especially a small cabin like this one, lovely as it was, shouldn’t seem like the impossibly far-fetched dream Colton made it sound like it was. She was instantly rankled again on Jase’s behalf.
Suddenly she spotted something that took her mind off of how irritating Colton was. A library book titled The Practice of Poetry, plus a tablet with a black Moleskine folio case and a digital pencil rested on the arm of the big recliner, which had been moved from its original position. When Sam and Jo first staged the cabin, they’d placed the huge comfy chair so it looked into the room to facilitate conversation. Now it faced toward the breathtaking floor-to-ceiling corner window that Aisha still coveted, perfectly positioned to capture the view of the creek shimmering through the trees.
If the book wasn’t enough to give it away, Aisha’s dad was a total weirdo when it came to writing accoutrements. She recognized the trappings of another writer immediately. She glanced at Colton quizzically.
He held up his hands like she was about to throw something distasteful at him.
“Don’t look at me. That’s all our boy Jase too. Do I look like someone who’d waste my time writing anything, let alone poetry?” He said poetry like the word carried a bad smell.
“Nope,” Aisha agreed. “You really don’t seem like someone with anything remotely near to an interior life.”
Colton grinned, not slighted in the least. “Touché.”
But Aisha’s thoughts were all on Jase. A poet? It was a surprise because, come on, poets weren’t exactly a modern phenomenon . . . and yet, at the same time, it made sense. Fit with what she was learning about who Jase was perfectly.
She had to put her hands behind her back and link her fingers together to keep herself from sneaking a peek. At that moment, as if sensing his sacrosanct work might be at risk, the bathroom door opened and Jase appeared, fully clothed but obviously freshly showered. Aisha shook her head.
“Jase!” Mo exclaimed. “You have fish on your carpet.”
“I know. Cool, hey?”
Mo bounced up and down. “Yeah! So cool.”
Aisha felt as transparently giddy as Mo.
“I love your cabin,” Mo added. “It’s almost as nice as ours.”
Jase’s slow smile appeared. “I love my cabin too.”
Was it Aisha’s imagination or did he put a soft inflection on the word my? Or was that just wishful thinking on her part? In the beginning she hadn’t wanted him or Colton around, period. Then she was excited about the prolonged stay. Now she was afraid that she was starting to see Jase as a permanent fixture in her life in a way that he didn’t—and why would he? He was here now, supposedly permanently, but how long would that really be? He was a traveling poet. A drifter. He’d return to his wandering ways when the novelty of staying put wore off. And it’s not like she’d given him any encouragement to see her as anything other than a friend—the exact opposite, in fact—so why did the possibility that he might not stay bother her so much? Dammit, the stupid internal rhetorical question made her furious with herself. She knew exactly why. It didn’t matter how much she didn’t want a relationship right now, or maybe ever. Her stupid heart was in a relationship. With Jase. Even if he didn’t know it. And it was going to hurt her. She had to do something to break her connection with him.
She wished she hadn’t had the genius idea of them visiting one of the most romantic places on earth, but it was too late to cancel now. She clapped her hands, like she’d been waiting impatiently, although nothing could be further from the truth. She would’ve loved more time to poke around the place Jase lived.
“Daylight’s burning. Let’s move.”