Page 5 of Yours To Hold
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in months,” Gemma tells me.
“I saw you two weeks ago.”
“So sue me. It feels like longer. It’s been so busy with ski season ending at the ranch.”
“I’ll miss it next year.”
The ground is hard beneath our feet. With the temps dropping last night, a frost descended on the town.
“You know you can always come visit. Seattle isn’t that far.”
I snort laugh, my breath coming out in puffs around me. “It’s a twelve-hour drive, Gem. I’ll be a lowly art intern. I won’t be able to afford coming back.”
“You’re right. You should just stay in Dixon.”
“As if that’s a likely possibility.”
The crisp mountain air is cold as I suck in a deep breath. Early spring is my favorite time in Dixon. The trails are empty of people.
“Have you found a place yet?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I want to be downtown, but I can’t afford anything in that area.”
“I can always come out and help you look. I’ve always wanted to go to Seattle.”
We veer with the trail. The trees are barren. I stop Gemma and take out my camera to snap a picture.
“I know. But I want to do it on my own.”
Gemma rolls her eyes at me as she sips her coffee. “You don’t always have to.”
“If my mother gets wind of you helping, she’ll think I didn’t tell her because I wanted to have my dad come help instead.”
“Still?”
I nod, shoving my phone back into my pocket, happy with how the picture turned out. “You know her.”
My parents have been divorced—and unhappy with each other—for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I thought things would get better after they left each other. Didn’t do me any good. They just used me against each other.
I hated it. It’s one of the many reasons I want to get out of this town.
Not that either of them live here anymore. Mom left as soon as I turned eighteen. Dad at least waited until I graduated to move down south. He’s a bit more tolerable now that he got remarried.
Mom? She’s still a pain.
And this town doesn’t hold the best of memories for me. It’s the reason I want to leave so badly.
“We just have to keep it quiet. I don’t want you having to move there all by yourself.”
I laugh, turning up the trail again. Cold starts to burn my lungs. I love the feeling, exerting myself like this.
“Gem, I will be okay. I’m a big girl. I can live in a city by myself.”
She stops, pulling me to a stop with her. The sun is starting to slip behind the clouds, taking its heat with it.
“It’ll make me feel better about you leaving. I want to make sure you’re safe wherever you land there.”
I pull Gemma into a hug. She is the one person I’m going to miss in town. Whenever I didn’t want to be at my house when I was little, I was always welcome at the Winchesters’. With five kids, I was never made to feel like I was bothering anyone.
