Fairy Tales and Cappuccinos (Everyday Love #1) - Taylor Rylan Page 0,2

bit rough lately.”

“A bit rough?” Chris snorted out. “I’ll not say more than that because I was in a similar situation not long ago, but still. You need a slower pace. Something fun and relaxing.”

I sat up and glanced out the window at one of the many ski slopes that were around us.

“You said you were thinking. What about?” I asked, trying to get the subject back to where we’d started.

“Oh yeah. So anyway. You quit, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And you don’t really have to go to work or anything. Right? So why don’t you come and visit me?”

That was not what I was expecting at all. Not even close, really. But now that he’d put it out there, I started thinking about the last time I’d actually seen Chris. How long had it been?

“Does your silence mean you’re thinking about it? Or trying to come up with an excuse not to?”

“What? No. I was thinking. When was I there last? I can’t remember.”

“Christmas.”

“That’s not so long ago.”

“Sawyer, it was two years ago. Christmas two years ago. This year it will be three.”

No. Surely not. Really? Had it been that long?

“Are you sure?” I asked as I got up from the bed. I walked over to the window and stared out at the scenery before me. Breckenridge. It was a pretty little tourist town, and right about now, it was gearing up to get crazy busy.

“Yes. And you left almost a week early, cutting our time together to just eight days.”

Thinking back to it, he had me there. I’d been called back to work, something that happened all too often then. But had it really been almost three years ago?

“I can visit. When do you want me there?”

The phone went silent, and I actually looked at it to see if Chris had hung up. The call was still connected, so I figured he hadn’t. “You still there, Chris?”

“Yeah,” he whispered.

“Everything okay?” I asked, worried. Chris was anything but quiet. Normally.

“You agreed. Fast. And I’m having a moment here.”

I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing because really, it wasn’t a laughing moment. I’d been a terrible friend for the past few years, it seemed, and I needed to make some changes. Chris and I had been through everything together since we met in kindergarten. We were even roommates in college. Sadly, when we graduated, we didn’t both move back to Breckenridge.

“Is that a no, then? Were you not serious about me coming to visit? I’d like to come see you and Pleasant Grove again. Your town is charming.” I looked out the window of my apartment at the view of First Street. Not only was my apartment expensive, but it was also tiny for what I was paying. But this was where I’d grown up, and it had been expected that I’d work for the family’s ski lodge. I couldn’t complain too much at first. I’d been offered a job with a great benefits package, so I came back. I was wishing I hadn’t though. I should have known better.

“It’s about a three-hour drive from there to here, during good weather. But we’re supposed to have some major snow come through early tomorrow. As in they expect it to hit late tonight.”

I smiled as I turned away from the window and looked at my bedroom. It was so small I could only fit a queen-size bed in the room, and it had to be shoved against the wall to allow for my dresser. There was no closet, so I had a freestanding one for my work clothes. Clothes that I now didn’t need.

“How about I see you tonight around suppertime? Unless you have plans?” I suggested.

“Are you shitting me? Seriously? Tonight?”

“Yeah. It’s your day off, and you’ll be able to spend it frantically cleaning because you seem to think I need the place perfectly pristine when I come.” I rolled my eyes. I did not understand that. Chris had seen me puking my guts out and more when I had a bad case of food poisoning our junior year of college. The man knew I didn’t need for him to clean like crazy.

“If you’re serious about coming, I’m going to go to the store. I’ll need groceries for two.”

He would, but if they were expecting a snowstorm, his stores would already be wiped. We weren’t expecting any more than just a few flakes here, so our stores would still be stocked. I left my bedroom, and after locating a notepad, I jotted