Tinsel (Lark Cove #4)(90)

My heart sank, knowing there was a very good chance I’d never have that. Not if I wanted to stay with Dakota.

Since our argument last week, he hadn’t brought up his family or his issues with my money again. He hadn’t hinted I’d be his choice.

With every passing minute, the chances of me coming out of this without a broken heart were shriveling. My vibrant dreams had faded to gray.

The urge to cry came on so strong, I quietly fled from the room. I made it to the kitchen, hoping for a few moments alone to collect myself.

I didn’t get them.

I’d just made it to the island when Dakota’s heat hit my back. He wrapped me up in a hug, holding me as he bent to whisper in my ear, “What’s wrong?”

“I have a headache.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I hadn’t felt all that well since I’d woken up this morning. “A couple Advil and I’ll be fine.”

His arms banded tighter, holding me in place, until he let me go after a few seconds.

I went to my purse on the counter and took out my travel bottle of pain pills. I popped a couple, chugged down some water, and smiled, leading him back into the living room without a word.

Conversation between us had all but stopped this week. Tension and stress had chased away my desire to talk. We exchanged as few words as necessary to get through the day’s routine.

Yet we clung to each other physically. Dakota didn’t let me leave a room without following. At night, I slept burrowed into his side. While I worked during the day, he was always near. And at night, I was across from him at the bar.

We made love as often as possible, from the early morning hours until late into the night. Dakota and I soaked up every second together, savoring this time.

I’d lost track of the number of times he and I had broken apart. The number of times we’d agreed to go our separate ways only to find ourselves thrust together again.

But this time, if or when I left, there would be no coming back.

This split, the last, would devastate us both.

So here we were, struggling through the motions, forcing smiles and laughter, so our unhappiness wouldn’t ruin Thanksgiving.

As we walked out of the kitchen, the front door opened and closed. Boots stomped off the fresh snow we’d gotten last night. Hazel’s hoarse laughter carried down the hallway as she and Xavier came inside.

“Hey, bud.” Xavier clapped Dakota on the shoulder as they greeted us first. Then he bent to kiss my cheek. “How are you guys today?”

“Cold,” I teased. The air from the front door gave me goose bumps. This Thanksgiving was supposed to be the coldest the area had seen in the last two decades.

“I’ll keep you warm, babe.” Dakota put his arm around my shoulders, guiding me into the living room.

More greetings and handshakes as we piled into the space. The room full of people I loved would be my saving grace this holiday.

It made it easier to ignore the pain in my heart when there was so much to be joyous about.

“How was your trip?” I asked my parents as Dakota and I sat on the loveseat.

“We were lucky to get here,” Dad said. “They closed the airport twenty minutes after we touched down because of visibility.”

“Oh no!” Thea gasped. “What about the pilot and crew? Did they take off?”

Mom shook her head. “No. They’ll have to wait to see if things clear up.”

“But Thanksgiving is tomorrow.” Thea looked at Logan. “You better call and invite them down here, just in case. I hate to think of them in a hotel on a holiday.”

“We’ve got extra rooms at our place,” Mom said. “If they have to spend the night, we’ll have them come here.”

Mom and Dad’s Montana house was a couple of miles away on the lake. It was just as big as Logan and Thea’s, but we didn’t spend much time there. We all preferred to stay here where the kids were comfortable and had all of their things.

“I can stay here and free up a room,” Aubrey offered.

I opened my mouth to offer her Dakota’s guest bedroom but stopped myself. If she stayed with us, she’d sense the tension. I’d have a harder time hiding my feelings, and right now, I didn’t want to talk about them.

I didn’t want to talk about any of it. When I wasn’t on the verge of tears, I was numb.

“I wonder if Arthur’s son made it up,” Dakota said quietly. “He was supposed to fly in today.”

“Can you call him?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Be right back.”

I listened to the various conversations in the room as I waited for Dakota to return. Logan asked Dad and Aubrey about work. Mom and Thea talked about how Collin was doing in school. Hazel had Camila on her lap, the two of them whispering to one another in their own little game.

Xavier’s eyes kept wandering to me. He knew my smile was fake. He’d been a police officer for so long, I doubted Dakota and I were fooling him.

“Dakota’s working tonight?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes. He’s covering the bar tonight and then gets the rest of the weekend off.”

Jackson would be there on Friday and over the weekend. At first, I’d been excited for the break because it would give Dakota and me time together without a schedule.

But then everything had come out last week, and now I was dreading this weekend. Without work as an excuse, we’d have to talk.