her own apartment.
The driver hopped in and put the car into gear, and they rumbled past the resort. Anna wanted to be stoic and keep her gaze straight ahead, but she couldn’t help looking one last time at the massive building with all the warm light spilling from its windows, beckoning guests inside.
Just not her.
She’d proven herself more than unworthy of visiting the Elk Lodge.
The driver made a turn, and she craned her neck to keep looking back. The Elk Lodge was big and solid, like Gabe’s family. A family that had managed to stick together for years and years, unlike her own. Anna’s family home was nothing but a constantly changing apartment according to her mother’s latest husband’s whims and had standards that were too low, rather than too high.
The Elk Lodge finally disappeared behind a thick stand of pine trees, and a few minutes later, they burst out onto the highway. It was a slow escape. She wished for frenzy and speed and longed to tell the driver to step on it, but enough snow had fallen to make driving a little dicey and he was rightfully cautious all the way to the airport.
They finally arrived at the airport, the driver casting a questioning look in her direction. “You sure you want to get dropped here?” He hefted her suitcase onto the sidewalk. “There might not be any flights out for a while on account of the storm.”
“I’m sure.” She thanked him, paid with an extra-large tip, and headed inside.
The woman at the ticket counter gave her an apologetic frown when she asked about the next flight to Vegas. It had been scheduled to depart in two hours, but on account of the snow there was a delay. Which meant she would be forced to camp out at Gate 11 for eight hours before being able to board the plane.
It wasn’t like she had a choice. Anna paid for the ticket and made her way to the gate for the long wait. Eight hours became nine, and then ten, and the day fell into a dark winter evening. Anna put her head back on the chair she’d claimed as her own and closed her eyes. At least with it dark outside, she couldn’t see the snow and the road back to the Elk Lodge. Small blessings.
It had been twelve hours by the time the screen at the gate lit up and the agent announced they would begin boarding the flight to Las Vegas in fifteen minutes. Anna pulled herself out of her slump and checked to make sure she had everything. Waiting in the airport didn’t break her. Freddie didn’t break her. And Gabe Elkin wouldn’t break her either, no matter what.
18
Gabe replayed a livestream of every memory he had with Anna. The highlight reel started at their first meeting together after he’d hired her to work with him. She’d laughed so hard at something he said that her can of Diet Coke had fallen from her hand and splashed on the floor of his office, and he hadn’t cared. Not at all. Memory after memory assailed him.
“You still with us, Gabe?” Chase’s voice cut into Gabe’s trip down memory lane, slamming him back into his present body. The one that ached with missing her.
“I’m right here,” he said, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. This was not how he’d planned for the holiday to go. Anna was gone and his family royally ticked off at him.
They’d gathered in his grandmother’s apartment after Anna had gone, the hours passing like years. Shame swept across his face in a hot burn, and then it was gone in a flash of shock. She’d left.
Gabe rubbed a thumb across his forehead and thought about running back to Vegas to hide behind the corporate wall. The snow had stopped coming down. If he wanted, he could have the private plane prepared for departure. But if he did that, he’d be turning his back on his sick grandmother—something he couldn’t do.
The silence grew heavy in the living area of the apartment. The place was decorated in shades of burgundy, its leather furniture and cozy rug arranged to perfection. She kept no clutter on any of the surfaces and it reminded Gabe of a pristine museum with its recreated rooms from the past in full detail, and this room was from his past. And he couldn’t see any part of his future here. None. His future had taken a taxi to