Sap Surge! A sugarmaker would never admit there is such a thing as too strong a sap run, but days like today test that opinion.
—Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, April 3
As they rode down the steep hill from the mountain to the main road, Lucy told herself—repeatedly—that she had nothing to worry about. Molly and Lincoln Abbott had been warm and welcoming to her from the first time she met them. But that had been because she was Cameron’s best friend and business partner, and they loved her.
This time, today, she was coming as Colton’s . . . friend or girlfriend or whatever she was to him. He’d been right when he said she was getting way more than she’d expected out of this weekend in Vermont. Not only had Will and Cameron forced them out of the closet, but now she was heading for Sunday dinner at his parents’ house, where most of his siblings would be in attendance.
They were nice people. And contrary to what he’d said, she didn’t expect any of them to bite. However, she was nervous just the same. Everything had changed this weekend. Their fun interlude had become something much more serious, and it wasn’t only because they’d finally made love or because his family had found out about them. No, it was more than that. Things between them were more serious, and that had nothing at all to do with anyone but them.
“Talk to me,” he said after a long period of silence.
“About what?”
“About what you’re thinking right now.”
“I want to know how many other Angies are out there.”
“That is what you’re thinking about?”
“Among other things. Are you going to answer the question?”
“There’ve been a few Angies. Here and there. Nothing significant.”
“So they’re like fuck buddies or something like that?”
“Lucy! Such language from that sweet mouth of yours.”
Though he chastised her, she could see he was also amused. “You still haven’t answered the question.”
“I guess they’d probably qualify as FBs, if we’re getting technical. I never said I’ve lived like a monk. I like women. I’ve always liked women, and they seem to like me, too.”
That made her snort rather inelegantly through her nose.
“You find that funny?”
“You say that so casually. ‘They seem to like me, too.’ When you know it’s more a matter of them loving you and coming up to the mountain to keep you from getting lonely. I see right through your entire operation, Abbott.”
“It’s not an operation, per se. It’s more of a . . . lifestyle.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“It was a lifestyle. Past tense. Now I’m a one-woman kind of guy.”
“Because that’s what you want or because I started a rumor about your egregious axe injury?”
Laughing, he said, “Because it’s what I want, although your rumor might help to get the word out a little quicker than it would’ve happened otherwise.”
“Good.”
“You’re a spiteful little wench when you want to be, aren’t you?”
“You know it.”
He reached across the console for her hand and linked their fingers. “I do love sparring with you, Lucy. You keep me on my toes.”
“Someone has to. You’ve had it far too easy in the past. It’s high time someone gave you a run for your money.”
“I’m really glad it’s you giving me a run for my money.”
As always, his sweetness was hard to resist, which of course was what made him so popular with women. They turned onto Hells Peak Road a short time later.
“Did I ever mention that I was raised in a barn?”
“I don’t think you did.” Lucy took her first look at the “barn” the Abbotts called home. Like everything else about their family, the red barn was incredible, filled with different-shaped windows, a weathervane on the roof. The acres of land that surrounded the barn were lush and green, and the mountains in the distance majestic and breathtakingly beautiful. “It’s amazing,” she said softly, trying to imagine what it had been like to grow up in such a place in the midst of such a family.
He brought the truck to a stop behind several other vehicles, all of them big and rugged and built for the harsh mountain winters. Sarah and Elmer bounded out of the backseat and went off to frolic with George and Ringo. Another smaller dog was also running around with them, and Lucy recognized Colton’s sister Hannah keeping a close eye on the little one.
“You ready?” he asked when he came around to the passenger side of the truck to help her out.
“Absolutely.” He didn’t need to know her heart was beating fast or that her hands were trembling ever so slightly or that she’d never done this with any other guy. She’d never gotten this far with anyone else, so meeting the parents and family had never been an issue.
Hannah came over to greet her brother with a hug and kiss. She took a surreptitious glance down the front of him. “Everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. Why?”
“Heard a little rumor about an injury in a very delicate place.”
Colton hooted with laughter. To Lucy, he said, “I told you it’d be all over town in no time at all.”
“I’m afraid the rumor is all my fault. We had an unwelcome visitor up on the mountain and I took a little liberty with the truth.”
Hannah joined in the laughter. “It’s good to see you again, Lucy. I understand you’ve had one heck of a weekend in Vermont.”
“That’s putting it mildly. I’ve also met Fred.”
“Even better.” Hannah linked her arm with Lucy, who immediately felt at ease with Colton’s gorgeous older sister. Her dark hair shone in the afternoon sunshine and her eyes were aglow with happiness. “Come on, Homie. Leave the big kids to play and come with Mama.”
The multicolored puppy responded immediately to Hannah and trotted after them into the house.
“He’s so good,” Lucy said.
“I’m proud of him,” Hannah replied. “He’s a very good boy.”
In the spacious mudroom, Lucy noticed the row of hooks with ten names above them. For some reason she found that ridiculously endearing.
A handsome dark-haired man came into the mudroom. “Oh, there you are, Hannah. I was coming to find you and the little monster.”
“Lucy,” Hannah said, “this is my fiancé, Nolan, who isn’t going to be my fiancé for long if he continues to refer to my baby Homer as a monster.”
As Lucy laughed at the comment, she shook hands with Nolan. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too.”
“She’s Colton’s . . . friend,” Hannah added for Nolan’s benefit.
“Ohhhh. I see.”
“You don’t see anything, so mind your own business,” Colton said.
Nolan cracked up laughing. “Right. The same way all of you minded my business a few months ago?”
“That was different,” Colton grumbled.
“Really.” The more Colton squirmed, the more amused Nolan seemed to get. “How was it different?”
“It just was. Come on, Lucy. He’s not officially in the family yet, so we don’t have to put up with him.”
They left Hannah and Nolan laughing in the mudroom and continued into the enormous kitchen, where Molly was standing guard over the stove with Colton’s other sisters, Ella and Charlotte, assisting her.
“There you are!” Molly said, coming over to hug them both. “I heard you were injured. Everything all right?”
“Everything is just fine,” Colton replied. “It was all a big misunderstanding.”
“Is that right?” Molly’s shrewd gaze darted from Colton to Lucy.
“Uh-huh,” Colton said. “What’s for dinner? I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving, and we’re having pork roast with potatoes, vegetables and applesauce.”
“The homemade kind?”
“Is there any other kind?” his mother asked.
“I’m drooling,” Colton replied.
“See if you can contain yourself,” Ella said to her brother as she came over to greet Lucy. “Nice to see you again.”
“You, too.”
“So you’re the mystery woman, huh?” Charley asked.
Though her sharper-than-expected tone put Lucy’s back up, she kept her expression neutral. “I guess you could say that.”
“Are you going to move here, too?”
“Charley!” Ella and Molly said in stereo.
“Don’t ask her that!” Molly said.
“Really, Charl,” Colton said. “Way to help a guy out.”
“Why is that an unreasonable question?” Charley asked. “Her best friend and business partner just moved here.”
“I’m sorry about her,” Molly said, patting Lucy’s arm. “We’ve been trying to purchase a filter for her for nearly thirty years to no avail.”
“She’s fine,” Lucy said with a nervous laugh. Charley’s question had caught her off guard, and now she wondered if all the Abbotts would expect her to move the way Cameron had. But she wasn’t Cameron, and she’d said from the beginning that she wouldn’t move.
“Stop,” Colton whispered in her ear. “I can feel you spinning.”
Before Lucy could formulate a reply, two identically gorgeous young men came rushing into the kitchen. They fixated on Colton’s crotch. Both wore firefighting gear that only added to their supreme hotness. Lucy had once referred to the Abbott men as a DNA wonderland, and these two were a big reason why.
“Oh, dude,” one of them said, his tone full of relief. Lucy thought he might be Lucas, but she couldn’t say for sure. “We heard the weirdest thing about you at the fire-house, and we came over here as soon as we heard.”
“Let me guess,” Colton said with a sideways glance at Lucy. “Something about an axe and my junk?”
Both twins shuddered.
“Yeah, that,” Landon said. “What the hell?”
At that moment they both seemed to notice Lucy.
“Oh,” Lucas said. “Are you—?”
“The mystery woman?” Lucy replied. “That’d be me. I’m Lucy.”
“I remember,” Landon said as he shook her hand. “Nice to see you again.”
“You, too. I might be responsible for the axe-and-junk story.”
“Might be?” Colton asked.
“One of his groupies came up for a visit and I might’ve told her he’d had an unfortunate run-in with the axe.” As she spoke, Lucy felt her face get very warm.
“That is hilarious and brilliant,” Ella said. To her brother, she added, “I love her. You have to keep her forever.”
Lucy felt like she’d been gut punched by the wallop of emotion that overtook her at the thought of Colton keeping her forever.
“Who is Colton keeping forever?” another male voice asked as he joined the crowd in the kitchen.
“Shut up, Hunter,” Colton said.
Lucy remembered Hunter from the last time she’d met him. He was the oldest Abbott, the one who dressed like he’d just stepped out of the pages of GQ magazine.
“Oh hey, it’s the eunuch,” Hunter said dryly, starting a wave of laughter that took down everyone in the room except Colton. “Don’t try filing a workman’s comp claim when we all know you never had much to lose in the first place.”
“Oh burn,” Charley said, giving Hunter a high five.
“That’s not at all true,” Lucy said. The words were out of her mouth before she took a second to think about what she was saying—or who she was saying it to. She couldn’t let Colton take all this abuse when she’d been the one to start the rumor. Everyone stared at her for what felt like an hour of face-heating misery until Charley started another wave of laughter.
“She must really like you, Colton,” Charley said.
“She does really like me,” Colton said with a pointed look at his sister.
“I can’t believe I said that,” Lucy muttered, making them all laugh harder.
“I’ll love you forever for it,” Colton said for her ears only, smiling as he kissed her temple.
Hearing him say he’d love her forever did weird things to Lucy’s insides, even if they both knew he was only joking.
“Lucy, honey,” Molly said, “I sincerely apologize for the band of hooligans I raised.”
“It’s okay. I know you did the best you could.”
Hannah came through the kitchen carrying Homer and patted Colton on the chest. “She’s a keeper.”
Colton straightened out of the slouch he’d fallen into. “I heard there was going to be food here. Was that another rumor?”
“Oh hush,” his mother said. “Go get Lucy something to drink, and you’ll be fed soon enough. The rest of you leave him alone, you got me?”
“Why do we have to?” Charley asked. “He wouldn’t leave us alone if we were the one bringing a mystery woman to dinner.”
“Do you have a mystery woman, Charl?” Colton asked. “That would explain a lot.”
“Shut up.”
“You shut up.”
“Children,” Molly said with obvious exasperation. “All of you shut up and get out of here before I start knocking your heads together.”
That seemed to do the trick as the Abbott siblings heeded their mother’s orders, and most of them filed out of the kitchen.
Lucy was still stuck on Colton saying he’d love her forever. She hadn’t heard much of what’d been said after that.
Colton took Lucy’s hand and led her out of the hornet’s nest in the kitchen, through the dining room to the huge family room, where his father and grandfather were watching a Red Sox game with Wade.
Lincoln and Elmer jumped up to greet Lucy.
“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise?” Elmer said as he hugged her. “It’s so nice to see you again.”
“You, too, Mr. Stillman.”
“Call me Elmer, honey. Everyone does.”
“Thank you. I will.”
“Hey, Gramps,” Colton said as he hugged his grandfather.
Elmer patted his grandson’s face. “Still can’t get used to you without all the scruff, boy.”
“That beard hid a whole lot of ugly, if you ask me,” Wade said without taking his eyes off the TV.
“This is a tough crowd today,” Colton said. “Wade, take a break from being surly and say hi to Lucy.”
Wade looked up at her. “Hi, Lucy. Are you the mystery woman?”
“I suppose I am.”
“We’re very glad to have you here, honey,” Lincoln said.
Colton had never appreciated his father more than he did in that moment.
“Thanks for having me.”
Watching Lucy interact with his family and roll with the teasing only made Colton like her more than he already did. And when she’d defended his manhood against Hunter’s attack, well . . . He’d sort of meant what he’d said about loving her forever.
Her reaction to that statement hadn’t been lost on him. It had thrown her to hear him say those words, even in jest. But he didn’t regret saying them. The more time he spent with her the more he could see himself loving her forever. What he couldn’t picture was how they’d ever work out the logistical issues that kept them living two very separate lives despite what they’d found with each other.
When Lucy nudged him, he realized he’d missed part of the conversation. “Yeah?”
“I was asking how the woodpile is coming,” Elmer said.
“About halfway there.”
“And the accident with the axe I heard about from Cletus earlier?”
“A misunderstanding,” Colton replied.
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“You know it.”
His mother called them in to dinner, where the good-natured teasing continued during the delicious meal. Colton downed two plates in the time it took most of them to eat one.
“Hurry up and get your seconds, everyone, before Colton goes for thirds,” Molly said.
“What can I say? I’m a growing boy.”
“So, Lucy,” Elmer said, “have you always lived in New York?”
“Born and raised in Queens. My father still lives there.”
“Were you lucky enough to be blessed with siblings like we were?” Hannah asked sarcastically.
“Thankfully only one. Emma is a year younger than me, and she has an eight-year-old daughter, Simone.”
“How did you meet Cameron?” Ella asked.
“We took some classes together in college and discovered we had a lot in common. We’ve been friends ever since.”
“You must miss her,” Hannah said kindly.
“I do.”
“We’re taking very good care of her,” Elmer said, patting Lucy’s hand.
“She loves everything about being here.”
“It’s a good place to be,” Charley said. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”
“I’d never dream of knocking it,” Lucy said.
Colton had reached his limit in both food consumption and family dynamics. “Sorry to chew and screw, but we’ve got to get going.”
“He’s got to go screw, all right,” Landon said under his breath, igniting the left side of the table in laughter.
“Landon,” Lincoln said sharply. “Have some respect for our guest.”
“Sorry, Lucy,” Landon said as the others continued to chuckle.
“No worries,” Lucy said as she stood, bringing her plate with her.
“Just leave that, honey,” Molly said. “We’ll get it.”
Colton took the plate from her, put it on top of his and put his free hand on her back to guide her around the table. On the way by, he bent to kiss his mother. “Thanks for dinner, Mom.”
“Thanks for coming.”
“Yes, thank you, Molly,” Lucy said. “It was delicious.”
“We were happy to have you. Same time every week, so I hope you’ll come again.”
“I’d love to.” She made a friend for life when she bent to give his gramps a kiss. “It was nice to see you again, Elmer.”
“The pleasure was all mine, honey. You come back again soon.”
Colton rinsed their plates and put them in the dishwasher. Then he led her through the mudroom to the yard, where he whistled for Sarah and Elmer. The dogs came running, followed closely by George and Ringo. “Hey guys,” Colton said, rubbing four blond heads at once. “You missed dinner.”
He opened the back door for George and Ringo and called after them, “Incoming!”
With his dogs settled in the backseat of the truck, Colton held the passenger door for Lucy and waited until she was buckled in before he closed the door and walked around the front of the truck. He couldn’t get a read on her, and that made him anxious.
Had dinner with his family turned her off completely? He was almost afraid to ask. Driving down Hells Peak Road, he took a couple of tentative glances at her. She was staring straight ahead out the window and seemed a million miles away from him.