Page 41 of You Met Me There

Juliet takes a bite and waves at me with her fork. “You mentioned hanging photos of winter activities specifically to get renters interested in the winter. How are you going to do that when it’s summer?” She points her fork toward the scene outside our booth window.

A family of five walk along the sidewalk licking ice cream cones. Pink and white flowers bloom from planters, and little trees line the street in a decorative display down Main Street.

“I’m not really sure,” I answer, my shoulders drooping.

“What if we changed out the pictures seasonally?” Cam pipes up, glancing at Juliet. “Maybe Natalie can take summer photos while she’s here, and we’ll add those to the walls until winter comes around. The seasons inside the cabin can change along with the seasons outside. I’m sure we can get some good winter photos ourselves during the first snow and add them to the cabin when it’s time.”

Luke’s face stretches into a smile, his mouth full of salmon. “I love that. Good idea,” he mumbles around the food. Light shines through the large window beside us, illuminating the many freckles that cascade over his nose and under his eyes.

Luke is comfortable here. I’m surprised. It’s shocking, really, to see how well he’s fitting into my family and enjoying the mountains. He talks with Cam and Jules like he’s known them since boyhood. I bet my brother, Tyler, will like him too. Mom and Dad love him already, although I wonder if they harbor any hard feelings toward him since he’s the reason I left.

I haven’t been brave enough to ask them.

“And we can come back in the winter to take those pictures,” Luke adds. He sips water from his straw while Jules and Cam nod in thoughtful agreement.

I turn to him in surprise. “You’d want to come back to take photos?”

He frowns, laughing a little. “Of course. Why not?”

Because I’m not sure what our future looks like. Because I don’t know where we’ll be by the time winter rolls around. Because I haven’t felt completely blended back into my family enough to plan a future trip back here.

I shrug. “No reason. Just didn’t know you liked the cold.”

“I don’t,” he says, laughing. “But I’d come back for you.”

“Aww.” Jules smiles from across the table. “That’s sweet. But I’m with you on the weather—I hate the cold.”

“She does,” Cam states, straight-faced. “Absolutely hates it. One time her fingers turned white, and she forced me to let her stick her hands under my armpits for thirty minutes.”

Luke snorts. “Did it help?”

“It did, but I hated every minute of it.” He side-eyes his wife. “It wasn’t even winter.”

“Are you sure?” Juliet’s mouth twitches. “I’m pretty sure it was winter.”

“It was fall. Early fall. It was barely even fifty degrees yet.”

I chuckle and chew a crunchy piece of lettuce and swallow. “You should have just moved somewhere else then. Chase the sun. Everyone else did.”

Everyone at the table falls silent, causing me to look up to find what’s gotten everyone’s attention.

Juliet’s eyes bore a hole into my skull. Her face has gone red. She drops her fork on the table, which rings as it hits a spoon, and Cam winces.

Looking between them, I slowly lower my fork, wiping my lips with a napkin. “What’s wrong?” Heat grows up my neck, and my face burns. I know my cheeks are cherry red without seeing a mirror. Attention is on me. Whatever I said was clearly the wrong thing to say.

Juliet’s eyes flick across the table to Luke, and her face shifts instantly to one of stoicism. Her lips pull up into a forced smile, and the V formed by her thick brows softens. It’s like I imagined the flaming daggers that shot from her eyes, but I still feel the heat of them on my skin, so I know it was real.

Cam clears his throat and rubs his hand along his reddish-brown beard. He looks at me. “When I was fifteen, my parents moved us to Washington state for my dad’s job. I never wanted to leave, but I didn’t exactly have a choice. So, anyway, I always knew I wanted to move back when I was older. It’s the only place I’ve ever really felt like I was home, ya know?” He rests a hand on Juliet’s leg under the table. Her shoulders relax. “We don’t plan to ever leave,” he says.

“Makes sense,” says Luke. “I didn’t grow up in a place like this, but I can understand the appeal. It’s quiet here, even for a tourist town. Growing up near Miami was totally different. Traffic all the time, palm trees everywhere, no variety of wildlife—unless you count the seagulls and lizards. They’re everywhere. Well, you might see dolphins occasionally. But here you’ve got bears, deer, foxes.” He tips his chin toward Cam. “Do you hunt?”

Once again, Luke rescues me from sinking. I’m glad he’s changed the subject as I lower my eyes back to my plate.

“I do,” Cam answers. He finishes his meal and takes the opportunity to rest his arm over Juliet’s shoulders. She hasn’t touched her food since the death glare. “I mostly fish, but I do some hunting with buddies now and then.”

I want to ask Cam if he’s taken Levi and Archie fishing, but when I catch sight of Juliet’s sullen expression, I back off. A twisting feeling sinks into my gut as the nightmare of being hated by my family rises again like shadows.

The men talk about outdoorsy stuff for the remainder of lunch, and I sit in silence and do my best to keep my eyes clear of Jules.