Vacation (29 page)

"It's not. I love skiing and
snowboarding." He sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. His messy blond
hair and regal good looks were the only reason I dated him. Nothing else about
us made sense. He was a meathead jock with a bend toward beer and any game on
TV, while I was a designer, a swimmer, and hated team sports with a passion.

"I'm talking about you giving up your
left arm." I swirled around in my chair and smirked. "You're going to
be a big football star, remember?"

"Yep, and you'll be sorry you left
me." He shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Speaking of..." I wanted to
push the topic of us breaking up, but the last time I did, the poor guy broke
down in tears. It was ugly.

"Not this again." He stood and
moved toward me. "You know how I feel about us."

"Yeah, but I'm moving on with my
life, Seth. I care about you, I really do, but we're headed in separate
directions. It's been a great ride, though."

He slid his arms around my waist and
snuggled his face against my neck. "It doesn't have to stop, Chloe. Just
because you're going to your Dad's for a month doesn't mean shit. You'll come
back and we can just pick back up. Let's just consider it a break for
now."

"And, what if you meet someone while
I'm gone?" I pushed at his chest, wanting to see his dark blue eyes once
more before I ejected him from my life.

He chuckled and touched the side of my
face. "Then you're shit out of luck, toots. She's here and you're
not."

I couldn't help but smile. His warped
sense of humor was appreciated, but in all honestly, I hoped like hell he would
meet someone while I was gone. Breaking his heart seemed impossible, but our
time together was over.

His additional year at UCLA was going to
be good for him, and I had a battle to fight in the middle of the arctic with
my old man. I shivered at the thought of the cold weather before pushing Seth's
hand away.

"Alright. Get out. I have to finish
packing and catch my flight. I'll see you after Christmas for graduation."

He leaned in and brushed his lips against
mine before jogging to the door. "No falling in love while you're gone.
I'm going to be a big star one day and I need a hot blonde beside me. That's
you, baby doll." He winked and I rolled my eyes.

There was no way in hell I was going to be
some man's arm candy. I had too many dreams for that drama.

Yeah, our relationship was over. He could
call it a break if that helped him.

The door clicked closed and I got busy
finishing my packing for the trip. It had been a good semester for a final
semester. My college career was ending six months early because of the classes
I picked up the summer before. I was getting weary of studying and drawing
designs only to have them downgraded and torn apart piece by piece in the name
of education.

I was grateful when the buzzing of my
phone pulled me from my thoughts. School had been a bitch and I was glad to
have it done and over with.

"Hello?"

"You all packed up?" It was my
sixteen-year-old brother, Parker.

"I am. Are you coming to pick me up
at the airport?" I pressed the phone to the side of my face and finished
emptying my drawers. The only thing left was a pair of candy panties Seth had
bought as a joke for my birthday – or at least I had thought it was a joke
until he asked to eat them off of me. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

"Hell, no. Dad won't let me drive in
the snow." My brother let out a huff that caused me to smile. Spending the
next twenty-five days with my father was going to be a bit torturous, but
having Parker beside me would make it all worthwhile.

"So, you're without a car for the
whole winter season? That sucks."

"Parents suck." He chuckled.
"I'm honestly surprised you agreed to this. I know you hate the cold. What
did he offer you?"

I hadn't shared the deal my father laid on
the table with anyone, namely because it seemed ridiculous. "Twenty-five
days in Aspen with you guys for the seed money for my clothing line."

I zipped up the last bag as my roommate
Jessie walked into the dorm room.

"Why twenty-five days?" Parker
asked.

"No clue. I think he's hoping that I
find my love of the freezing-ass weather and want to stay up there to run his
clothing line."

"Or to add to it. It's good, but it
ain't
great."

"
Ain't
isn't a word," I corrected him and sat down on my bed as Jessie plopped
down next to me, her lips turned down in a frown. We had been together for five
years in our dorm room. Leaving her was the hardest part of leaving school,
without a doubt.

"Leave your grammar in Cali and bring
your wicked cooking skills. I'm as thin as a rail and the ladies seem to like
the beefy guys. Help?"

"That I can do. I'll see you soon. Love
you."

"Hey," my brother's voice was
nothing more than a whisper, making him sound all of eight years old.

"What?"

"I got some new Mortal
Kombat
games. You're up for an ass whooping, right?"

I laughed loudly. "You're so going
down, buddy. Someone needs to teach you how to treat a lady."

"Bring it, old woman." He
dropped the call and I slipped my phone in my back pocket.

The men in my life were comical, if
nothing else.

"You all packed?" Jessie
released me and stood.

"I am. How about we grab a burger and
then hang out on the beach tonight? One last adventure before I head off to the
Arctic?"

"It's not that cold, Chloe." She
breathed in deeply and looked around the room as if expecting someone to just
pop out of the nothingness. "Was Seth here?"

"Yeah, trying to talk me out of going
or into taking him with me." I pulled my hair into a high ponytail and
stopped by my dresser, grabbing my debit card and slipping it in my pocket.
"You smell his cologne?"

"The people in the next room over
smell his cologne." She opened the door and moved back, holding it for me.
"You think you guys will survive this break?"

"Nope, but he said if he found
someone I would be tough out of luck, so hopefully that’s the case. Maybe I’ll
find someone, too." I walked to the end of the hall and turned as confetti
exploded from the open door just behind us.

Jess laughed as she jogged past me.
"You're going to miss all the parties around here. The holidays are so
much fun." she pulled her keys from her pocket and held them up.
"I'll drive."

Memories assaulted me as we walked to her
old Honda. I hadn't been to see my father for Christmas break since coming to
Los Angeles five years before. He had a tradition of spending December through
the end of January in Aspen, Colorado, which my brother loved. I hated it. As a
kid, I would live in front of the fireplace for two months, waiting for the
minute we could rush back to Arizona.

No friends, no family, and nothing but a
little brother and bitchy father to keep me company during those times. It left
a sour taste in my mouth. The minute I arrived in the warmth of southern
California, I was lost to it. No more going to the snowy mountains and
pretending to love it. Living a lie was a part of my past. Hopefully.

We got in the car and Jessie tried to turn
on the heat, but I playfully popped her hand back.

"It's perfect here. Don't waste your
gas." Her parents were dirt-floor poor and she'd made it through college
on various scholarships and several jobs. I tried to help out where I could,
but Jessie Miller was proud, if nothing else.

"It's freezing in here!" She
started the car and pulled out into the busy streets that ran up and down the
campus.

"Girl, you don't know what freezing
is." I glanced toward her as my heart constricted in my chest. "Come
with me to Aspen? It's going to be so damn lonely without you."

"What?" She looked over at me
and smiled. Her dark chestnut hair was a mess, like it always was. She was warm
and loving, the kind of friend that no one deserved and everyone wanted.
"No. I'm going to see my parents. My little sisters would never forgive me
if I didn't come home for Christmas."

I let out a short sigh and turned to watch
the lights of the city grow dim as we headed south to San Diego. It would be a
bit of a drive, but it was one the two of us made often.

"You'll have to tell them why I'm not
there this year." I crossed my arms over my chest and pulled my legs into
the seat with me. "And, save me some of your mom's fruitcake."

"They're going to be
hella
disappointed." She wrinkled up her nose.
"You don't actually like that crap, do you? We all thought you were just
being nice. Even Mom thought so."

I laughed, unable to help myself. "I
like tart things. It's tart."

"Yes, we know. It will pucker your
mouth up like you've sucked on a lemon." She sucked her cheeks in and I
rewarded her with a giggle for her efforts.

"I'm not at all looking forward to
this trip. My father and I haven't been close since Mom died."

"Then, maybe now is the time to start
working on your relationship with him." She reached out and squeezed my
hand. "He's the only parent you have, and he obviously wants time with
you, right?"

"I guess. He's forcing it on me. Who
does that?"

"Someone who has no other
choice." She gave me a knowing look, and I grumbled under my breath,
repeating her words like an unruly child.

She laughed and turned onto the freeway,
rolling her window down and nodding to mine. "Go ahead and do it. I know
you want to."

"Really?" I rolled it down and
sat up in my seat. Jessie hated the wind in her hair, but I couldn't think of a
better way to live.

"What if all of this was part of the
master plan?" she asked.

"What, my Dad dangling a carrot on
the end of a string to get me to Aspen for the winter?"

"Yes. What if you meet the man of
your dreams and fall madly in love?” She gave me a girlie look and I gagged
dramatically.

"The man of my dreams? He would have
to be sexy, sweet, funny, and have a knack for fashion." I shrugged.
"Probably not happening – ever. I'll just settle eventually like most
people do."

"A knack for fashion?" She
laughed and snorted. "What man has a knack for fashion, and while we're on
the subject, what the hell is a knack?"

"He exists. I know he does." I
shrugged and slipped my hands under my thighs. "My father has a knack for
fashion. His ski and snowboard line sells pretty well. With a better color
palate to pull from, he could double his profits, but I've told him that until
I'm blue in the face."

"So, tell him in a different way.
Maybe if he sees you in action as a designer yourself, he'll start to respect
your opinion a little more. You're still just his little girl. Prove to him
that you've grown into an independent woman."

"Why are we talking about my father?
Back to the man of my dreams."

She chuckled and nodded. "Yes,
continue as you were."

"I want him to be built more like a
quarterback than a linebacker, tall, and impossibly handsome."

"So like Seth?"

"Yeah, but brown hair and warm brown
eyes. A great laugh, too. Seth's laugh is horrible and seems so fake to
me."

"Agreed. He does that shit to get
attention. All the football guys do." She tapped the steering wheel as a
good song came on the radio. "And, he has to like your family."

"Good luck on my Dad, but my
brother...yeah. He has to be a good role model, too. Not a drunk or someone who
sluts himself out, you know?"

"I think it's okay if he did that in
his past, but not now. We're all stupid in our adolescence."

"I wasn't." I gave her a pompous
look and stuck my nose in the air.

"You still are like that." She
popped me in the shoulder and I laughed.

I loved a good dark beer and a party as
much as the next girl, but sleeping around was out.

"The plan is simple. I'm going to
spend December with my Dad, mostly focusing on my little brother, and when it's
all over, I'll have a zillion designs drawn up for my clothing line and the
money to get rolling on it."

Twenty-five
days with my Dad and the money for my company will be mine. I can do this.

"Then, you'll come back home to
us?"

"To you. Yes."

"Not Seth?" Jessie glanced my
way.

"Why are you so concerned about
Seth?"

"I just think he's a good guy and you
should be careful with his heart. I know he's head over heels for you."
She shrugged.

"He wants a trophy wife, Jessie. I'd
never be okay with that. I want a partnership with passion. Someone who can
support my dreams and still follow their own, too."