Christmas and Forever Read Free Page B

to the others about it. Might get a bit uncomfortable, you know. So, is the place free or not?”
    Unless wolves had taken up residence, yes . He hadn’t driven up the mountain passage in years. The last time was to ready the cabin for their first Christmas, just the two of them. He’d bought the decorations, rolls of tinsel, lights and ornaments.
    Decorations that hadn’t made it out of their packaging, also thanks to the drunk bastard who collided into them, driving southbound in the northbound lane. Everything happened in a flash. There just hadn’t been enough time to see it coming. The worst part was, the criminal had died on the spot, without ever seeing the faces of the people whose lives he had lacerated.
    For three days after the crash, Sarah suffered, trying so damn hard to maintain a grip on her fragile thread of life. And within those gruesome days of her body hemorrhaging, doctors also tried everything medically possible to save their daughter, who died hours after she was delivered by cesarean section. The familiar pain clutched at him, held him in its rigid grip, refusing to lessen.
    Those tiny hands he had touched for just a few minutes had felt so warm, filled with promises never to be fulfilled. The anguish ate at him, burning into his lungs and leaving him raw. He should have died with them. There was nothing fair or worthwhile about his continued existence. It wasn’t even as if he could say he had a role in helping to save the lives of others. That part of his life was also history, alongside the eroded nerve endings. So no, he didn’t blame everyone for keeping their distance…if only Liya had the same common sense and self-preservation.
    “It’s free. The cabin is unoccupied.”
    James continued to regard him strangely, with a sudden gleam entering his eyes. “You should go, too. It’ll be good for you, Christmas with your friends. Or rather, people who want to be your friends again. You can make some good memories there, Aidan. Trust me.”
    That was out of the question. “You know I always spend the holidays with Sarah’s parents.” Silently he added, a nd each and every year it’s getting harder to be around them . If he was still in mourning, those two already had their lower halves in the ground with their daughter and grandchild. He even felt he had to wear black when visiting them, a color that depressed him even more.
    “Understandable, but you were in love with their daughter, not them. You don’t owe them your soul.”
    He took exception to James’ use of the past tense in regard to his love of Sarah, but decided to let it pass. That was the problem with everyone. They assumed that just because Sarah wasn’t here that his love for her had diminished, that he didn’t love her as much as the day of the accident and each day before that. It was unthinkable. Such emotions as strong as his did not die a quiet death. His promise, on that cold, sorrowful night as he’d sat by her bedside, assuring her that he would not give his heart to anyone else, had been easy to keep. Nothing and no one challenged his pledge, until Liya, and he wasn’t sure if he hated or liked her all the more for it. The simple fact that it did feel good to have that glimmer of hope, even if it felt like it was being dangled on a string light years away that only he was able to see, was a new wave of torment.
    “I know I don’t owe them, but the fact remains I’m their last connection to Sarah and the baby.” As the words tumbled from his lips, Aidan knew there was no way he could bear another holiday with them.
    “So then it’s a no-go for you? Cross your name off the list?”
    Definitely, a ‘No’ .
    “Maybe.” Oh, hell. Now why had he said that? He must truly be desperate for companionship for his brain to launch such a traitorous resolve, contemplating a weekend with his co-workers in a place he’d abandoned.
    Aidan frowned as another thought assailed him. The names of the doctors James had