Just One Kiss (Whisper Lake #4) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,45

him so much, Gianna."

"I know. I was there."

"I thought we had the greatest love story of all time. I guess everyone thinks that at seventeen. I thought he believed that, too. But he didn't. He threw us away with that stupid, slutty Vicki Thompson." She took a hard breath. "I know he was drunk. I know he was sorry. But what I don't know is why. And he's never been able to tell me. He wanders all around the subject: everything from getting cold feet about how serious we were becoming to his friend Eddie plying him with alcohol, to some mysterious incident that he can't talk about. He clearly can't tell me the truth."

"Maybe he doesn't know the truth. Maybe he can't remember."

"You might be right, but I'm tired of alcohol abuse being the get-out-of-jail-free card for every bad thing you do in your life," she said sharply. "And I know that's mostly because of my mom, but in some ways, it feels the same. Everyone wants to apologize and to be forgiven for doing shitty things because they were drunk. Maybe just don't get drunk and do shitty things. Start there." She paused. "And I know I sound very harsh when I say that, so I don't usually say it. I usually accept the apology and agree to move on. I've certainly said that to my mom."

"But you can't say it to Jake."

"In some ways, I want to, but…I'm not there yet."

"I get it. You have to do what's right for you. Like you said, it's not on you to absolve everyone else of their sins."

"Right?" She felt a little better that Gianna got it. "I will say this, though. I can see that Jake is a better man now. He has built a good business, and he puts his life on the line to rescue people he doesn't know. He's certainly been very supportive since my sister left Brett with me, so I'm trying to let go of the past and see him as he is now. Beyond that, I don't know."

"Well, you don't have to know yet. See how things go. And maybe…just let yourself have some fun. The other thing I remember about you and Jake before the big breakup was how much fun you had together."

"That is true," she admitted.

A shrill clanging bell interrupted their conversation and the rest of the group came back as the announcement for the beginning of the snowman competition played across a speaker.

"I think we should split into teams," Keira said. "Make a friendly wager on who gets the highest score."

"That works for me," Justin said, putting his arm around Lizzie. "We'll take anyone on."

"We're in," Zach said, speaking for Gianna and Hailey.

"I'll team up with Chloe and Leo," Keira said.

Hannah sighed as Jake looked at her. "I guess you can do it with me and Brett.”

“But I want to build the snowman with Hailey," Brett announced, clinging to Hailey's hand. "Can I? Can I?"

While she would have preferred to have Brett as a chaperone, she could hardly deny the request. "Of course you can," she said.

As they headed toward the meadow where the snowman-building competition would be taking place, Jake walked alongside her.

"You didn't do any sledding," he said. "Why is that?"

"I had fun watching all of you and taking photos."

"But you can't come to a snow park and not sled." He suddenly stopped walking and put a hand on her arm. "Why don't we concede on the snowman competition and take the lift up to Grizzly's Peak?" He tipped his head toward the advanced run that was not for kids.

"I should stay with Brett," she protested.

Jake smiled. "I hate to break it to you, Hannah, but Brett has a big crush on Hailey. And he's very happy to be hanging out with her. I'm sure Zach and Gianna will watch him."

"I suppose," she muttered, torn between what she wanted to do and what she should do.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"It wasn't a—" Her words were cut off as Jake yelled to the rest of the group that they were going to pass on building a snowman and hit Grizzly's Peak.

Her traitorous friends just grinned and told them to have a good time. And then Jake's hand was on hers, spinning her around so fast she felt dizzy. Although, she suspected that the dizzy feeling was more from Jake than anything else.

His inviting smile was too sexy to refuse, and she didn't even pull her hand away

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