Lost and Found (Twist of Fate #1)(89)
As I followed him into the cabin, I glanced at Jake’s cabin one more time. His eyes met mine across the expanse between the two buildings, and I saw him nod before he went back inside.
It wasn’t much.
But it was a start.
Only a few guests had arrived at the party by the time Xander showed up with Lolly. She had her arm through Xander’s as they walked and she was speaking softly to him. After the accident, Xander had spent several weeks in Colorado caring for his aunt until she’d practically ordered him to go home. Lucky and I had flown out once over a weekend, but with Lucky being in school, we hadn’t had the option of staying with Xander to help him take care of Lolly.
It had turned out that Lolly had found her very own knight in shining armor in Steve, the director of the nudist colony. He’d been the one to call Xander after the accident, and had been a regular visitor to the hospital, as well as after she’d arrived home. He’d also been the bare-assed guy showing Lolly a good time when Xander had walked into Lolly’s apartment the weekend before.
As expected, Lolly had completely healed after a lot of rest and some physical therapy. She’d even made the trip out to New York to spend Christmas with us. I watched her approach for any signs she was favoring the leg she’d broken, but she looked perfectly fit. Better yet, Xander looked completely at peace.
It was something I’d been waiting a long time to see.
I’d known how hard it was for Xander to spend so much time in New York. But he’d done it without complaint.
The adoption had gone off without a hitch within three months of me filing the application, so in theory we could have moved to Colorado shortly after Christmas. But we’d been reluctant to have Lucky start at a new school in the middle of the year. I’d also needed the time to get the new foundation up and running so I could hand it off to the husband and wife team I’d selected to run it. I’d decided to make a clean break from the foundation, since I wanted my sole focus to be on Xander, Lucky and our new business. It had been tough to say goodbye to the kids, but Xander and I had a lot of plans to help kids from all over the country experience the world in a way they wouldn’t have the opportunity to otherwise.
It had been much easier to cut ties with my parents. I’d given notice at my father’s company, but he’d informed me via a memo that a month’s notice wasn’t necessary— I was welcome to leave that very day. He’d sent security guards along with the directive to “help me with my things.” I hadn’t seen him again after that. He hadn’t gone through with his threat to encourage potential sponsors to steer clear of my foundation, but I’d suspected that’d had more to do with how that would have made him look rather than doing it for my benefit.
I’d gone to Greenwich to say my goodbyes to my mother a few weeks after I’d gotten back from Colorado, but she’d been predictably disinterested. She’d wished me well, but hadn’t asked more than superficial questions about where I was going and what I was going to do. It had been hard to admit to Xander that I’d held out hope that maybe I’d still get my “moment” with her and my father, but it hadn’t happened. I’d finally had to accept that some stories just didn’t have happy endings.
But Xander and Lucky had given me plenty of “moments” to cherish in the past eight months. Hell, every time I woke up next to Xander, it felt like a moment.
“Hi honey, how are you?” Lolly said once they reached me. I automatically walked into her outstretched arms.
She was the best damn hugger in the world, and despite having seen her private bits more than I cared to admit, I would never get tired of feeling her slim arms hugging me so tight, I was certain she’d never let go.
“I’m good, how are you feeling?” I asked as I led her to one of the chairs we’d set up on the lodge’s back patio.
“Great. Margaret and I won our tennis tournament last weekend, so I’ve been bragging about it to anyone who will listen.”
I held up my hand for a high-five. “Way to go, champ. I didn’t realize you were already back in top form.”
“Well, Margaret has a big rack, so that may have helped. We were playing Hal and Bert. Like shooting fish in a barrel.”
I should have known better than to take a sip of my drink when Lolly was around, but as it was, I nearly choked.
As she continued filling me in on the latest and greatest happenings at Bear Trodden Acres, I saw Jake walking across the lawn towards us. Xander had been chatting with one of the lodge employees, but when he saw Jake, he excused himself and went to greet his friend. There was a little bit of awkward tension between the two men at first, but when Jake held up a container of brown liquid, Xander smiled and slapped Jake on the back. I was glad that I didn’t even feel a shimmer of jealousy as they walked across the patio to where all the food was laid out on tables. They snagged a couple of glasses, filled them up and began chatting.
Xander sent me a quick look, and I winked at him to let him know I was perfectly fine with him talking to the other man.
The smile that lit up his face had my insides warming. He was so different from the angry, bitter man I’d encountered when I’d stepped off that bus nine months ago. But he wasn’t exactly the kid he’d once been, either. It was like he finally felt like he fit into his own skin.
The same way I finally fit into mine.