“There’s no need for that.”
“Yes, there is. I can’t stop her seeing Jess, but I don’t want her anywhere near you.”
“I can handle her.”
“You didn’t last time. You hate confrontation.”
“I chose the path of least resistance. That was my choice. And if I could put the clock back, I’m not sure I’d do anything differently. And neither would you. You wouldn’t change what happened because that would mean not having Jess.”
“It’s a mess.”
“It’s life. Life is messy. The bad comes along with the good, and you can’t always separate them. Let’s talk about something else. Have you bought Christmas presents for Jess yet?”
“Yes. I think she’s going to be happy.” He slid his fingers under her chin, lifted her face to his and kissed her. “I still have a few gifts to buy. I don’t suppose you fancy writing a letter to Santa, do you?”
Despite the turmoil inside her, he made her smile. “I haven’t done that since I was six years old.”
“He’d appreciate some clues on what you want.”
“I have everything I want.”
It wasn’t true, of course, but the only thing she really wanted, she couldn’t have.
She wanted to tell him she loved him, but she was afraid of his reaction so she bit back the words and held them locked away deep inside, just as she had the truth about Janet.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BRENNA WAS IN THE kitchen making coffee the following morning when she heard a car pull up outside Lake House.
Tyler had left an hour earlier to take a group of guests to ski powder, and it was too soon for him to be back.
“Brenna!” Jess’s voice came from upstairs, shrill with panic. “It’s my mom! She’s here! At the house!”
Her hand shaking, Brenna put the coffee mug down, walked to the hall and glanced out the window in time to see Janet stepping out of the car.
“What is she doing here?” Jess hovered on the stairs, panic all over her face. “I don’t want to see her! I want her to go away. And you can’t see her, either. Don’t answer the door. We’ll pretend we’re not in. Can we do that? She hasn’t seen us. We could hide under the bed or something. I tried phoning my dad but he isn’t answering.”
“He took that group into the glades as a favor to Jackson. There’s no signal.”
Which meant she was the only one standing between Jess and a difficult encounter with her mother.
You hate confrontation.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that Janet was here. She’d picked a time when she knew Tyler would be out, presumably because she thought Brenna wouldn’t put up a fight.
“Go back upstairs, Jess. I’ll talk to her and arrange a time for her to come back when your dad is here.”
This was one confrontation she was not going to avoid.
Jess looked appalled. “You can’t do that. She made you so unhappy. You shouldn’t have to speak to her.”
“It was a long time ago, Jess. It’s in the past.”
“No, it isn’t. She’s here because she wants to upset you. She wants to ruin things between you and Dad, I’m sure of it.”
Brenna was sure of it, too, and part of her wanted to do as Jess suggested and stay hidden away until she heard Janet’s car drive away.
Her stomach roiled at the thought of coming face-to-face with Janet after so many years.