JC

"I told you," said Kaya, around a mouthful of toast. "I said you guys would get caught and that it wouldn't be pretty. Didn't I say that? I said that, right?"

"Yes, Kaya. You said that." I took a few slices of bacon from the heaping plate in front of me and laid them next to the toast and eggs already on my plate. Tori had stress-cooked a huge breakfast, hoping Nasaan would come home between his shift at the resort and school.

But he didn't. No matter how many times her eyes drifted toward the kitchen door, it didn't open and a snow-covered teenager did not blow into the house. She'd tried calling him twice, but he appeared to have turned his phone off.

"I guess I'll go find him after school today," Tori said. She pulled her chair out from under the table and sat in it, beginning to pile her plate with breakfast. "I'll talk to him. I'm sorry he was rude to you, JC."

"I'm not offended. He has every right to be upset. It was probably a shocker of a scene." I bit off half a piece of bacon and then a corner of toast. Here was another reason that going home would suck. No more home cooked breakfasts like these.  

Unless I got a maid.... Nah. No guarantee she can cook like Tori.

"Why don't you let me talk to him? I'm the one he's mad at."

"Because he is my son and my responsibility. I will handle it, JC."

The tone of her voice warned me to back off, but I ignored it. Just because I wasn't a ‘member of the family' didn't make me clueless and useless.

"I acknowledge that, I do. And maybe you can follow up after he and I talk. But... we had some good guy time last weekend, in town. Maybe I've built up a little bit of clout and we can chat man to man."

Tori didn't answer. She just kept dumping more grape jelly on her toast.

"Will you let me at least try? If he shuts me down, I have no problem admitting that it was the wrong approach. But I'd like to try."

"The thing is, JC? If I let you talk to him all man to man right now, what happens when you leave? And he needs more man to man talking?"

"Well..." I popped my last bite of toast into my mouth while I pondered that question. "I mean, he could always call me. Or skype me. He does those gamer hangs with his friends. I wouldn't mind doing a chat with him, here and there."

That would mean making a commitment to the kid. A kid I'd only known for a week. Was I ready for that?

"Here and there," repeated Tori, her eyes fixed on mine.

"I mean... one second you tell me I'm too close to your family and the next second you sound like you want me to commit to being his father figure. What do you want from me?"

The piece of toast that now bore entirely too much grape jelly wilted in her hand and dripped onto her plate. She dropped the soggy bread and propped her elbows on to the table, her fingers clawing fistfuls of her hair.

"I want you to go home," she blurted. "I mean... I don't want you to go, but this is too much, JC. I want you to go home and stop interfering with how I raise my son, how I run my shop, how I live my life. I want you to not confuse me with..."

She sighed, remembering Kaya was in the room, watching us argue like she was watching a Williams sisters tennis match.

"I want my life to return to normal, okay? That's what I want and I can't have that with you here being... you. And with Nasaan being upset about us sleeping together. The sooner you're not here, the sooner he can get over it."

Tori pushed her chair back so hard that the legs squeaked against the linoleum. "Your bike is fixed, the bill is paid - thank you for the tip, by the way. Your time here is up. If you need a ride somewhere, let me know. I can arrange something."

Speechless, I watched her get up and walk out of the room, then heard her light footsteps on the stairs.

"Well, shit," said Kaya, sipping coffee. That seemed to be a common and often uttered phrase in this house. "Don't listen to her, though. She's just emotional. She'll regret saying it tomorrow."

"I think she's right," I muttered. Begrudgingly so. Something about my presence seemed to be tearing the house apart. "I think I'm going to make plans to jet out of here. If not today, definitely tomorrow."

"Uhmmm. How are you gonna... you know, do the thing if you're not here?"

I dug my phone out of my pocket and swiped the face to unlock it. "I don't have to be here to do the thing. I don't plan on Chee or Tori  knowing who's buying the building until it's done. There will be too much protesting, too much pride."

"You know Chee is going to jack up the price, probably a hundred percent."

"Yeah. I'm ready for that."

I pulled up my VIP list and thumbed the entry for Eric, then put the phone to my ear and listened to it ring. When he picked up, I nodded at Kaya and got up from the table, grabbing my jacket from the hook next to the kitchen door. I needed to have this conversation where Tori couldn't hear me.

"Hey, man. Did you not get my message yesterday?" I headed to the patio, then thought better of it and decided to take a walk. I headed down the driveway and swung a left.

"Nah," he drolled, sounding seriously hungover. His voice was scratchy and his words slurred together. Come to think of it, maybe he was still drunk. "Just woke up. Phone died. Voicemail was full. What's up?"

"I need to talk to you about a business venture I want to get into down here. There's a building I want to buy and I need to make an offer ASAP. Like, yesterday. And no matter what the offer is, I need to accept it. Thing is, I really need you to be the face of this thing. They can't know it's me buying it."

The line buzzed with silence for more than a few seconds. Then I heard Eric clear his throat. "You wanna run that mumbo jumbo back to me one more time, jack? You... wanna buy a building. In Bumfuck, New Mexico-"

"Cloudcroft. Yeah."

"And you want me to make an offer on said building I haven't seen. And no matter how overpriced or shitty the building is, you want me to accept the offer. And pay for it."

"You got it. See, you're not as cloudy as you thought you were."

"Oh, I'm plenty cloudy. That's why I'm not shitting a brick right now."

"Look, if you want, I'll transfer the money from my personal account to Leo-"

"That'll never pass an audit, JC. I'm not worried about the money... as much. I'm worried about you spending eight days in Cloudcroft and now you want to buy things."

I found a bench, swiped the snow off of it and took a seat. "Look, there's a long story behind this and I'll tell you about it when I get home. The bottom line is that there's something going on down here, something I need to jump in the middle of. On top of that, the economy down here might be about to boom and I want to be a  part of it; invest in something down here and watch it grow. There's a building I want to renovate; I already took a look at some plans from a current tenant that wants to revamp. And maybe we take some extra space to do one of those breakfast and brunch shops, you know what I mean? They're right off of a ski resort and-"

"Okay. Okay, okay. Give me the info. I'll do some digging, see what I can do and make some calls." He yawned, loudly and rudely in my ear.  "And then take a nap, 'cause... shit. I think I left my liver in Taos."

I relayed the information from the business card Eloise gave me. Eric said he'd get to work on it right away.

"Thanks, man. Oh, and another thing. I need a ride out of here and a flight from an airport. Probably tomorrow."

...

When I got back to the house, Kaya's pickup was gone. I figured she left early for work to avoid the thick tension between Tori and I. Good move.

I kind of wished I had someplace to escape to.

She was loading the dishwasher when I came in. She straightened, pulling at the sleeves of a Cloudcroft Ski Resort sweatshirt. Her watery eyes told me that she indeed had some regrets about that morning.

"Hey," she said, her voice quiet and shaky.

"Hey," I returned, shrugging out of my jacket and hanging it on a hook. I even have my own hook, I thought, shaking my head. "You okay? You look like you've been crying."

Tori hung her head, going back to the dishes. "I'm just... at capacity, you know?" She rinsed a glass and set it into the rack, then reached for another. "I am really sorry about this morning. I was so stupid last night. I was angry with myself that I let us get caught by the one person I did not want to know about us-"

I crossed the room in two steps, wagging my head. "Well, wait, though. The blame's not all on you. I'm the one that talked you into staying downstairs with me. I saw it snowing; I should have remembered that he gets up early to work when it snows."

"No, JC. I should have remembered that. But it can be both of our fault, since you want to share blame." A small but sarcastic smile bent her lips as she glanced up at me. "Anyway, I wanted to apologize for what I said. I really don't want you to go. I don't feel like you're trying to take my family from me. It's just... so comfortable with you here, and that's scary and I'd rather just... start missing you, if that makes sense."

"It does," I quietly admitted. "I know how you feel. And I think you're right. I'm already dreading not having a hot breakfast every morning." I snickered and caught a small smile from her. "So, my manager is working on getting me something tomorrow. I should be out of your hair very soon."

"Tomorrow," she whispered, her hands performing the task of loading the dishwasher more and more slowly.

I wedged a hip against the counter, scraping a hand down my cheek. I'd let my beard grow in over the week and I was starting to get used to not shaving, something that would probably not fly in LA but seemed perfect for Cloudcroft.

"So let's do something special, since it's my last night in town."

She shrugged. "Kaya is working and Nasaan will probably hide out for the night. You'll be stuck with just me."

I laughed, making my way around the open door of the dishwasher to wrap my arms around her shoulders. I leaned my chin on her head and felt her practically melt into me. Which... kind of made my heart melt. A not-so-small part of me wished I could stay.

And, I just knew it, that same part of me was going to make sure I made my way back to Cloudcroft. I was already looking forward to my return trip.

"Just you is just fine, Tori. We've been sleeping together and I've never even taken you out. That's all kinds of wrong."

"You have given me plenty, JC." She tipped her head up so that her eyes flicked up to mine, no longer watery, but full of fire. Her cheeks flushed a deep pink as she added, "Plenty," dragging out the last syllable and grinning like an idiot.

"Come on, now," I egged. "Plenty."

She giggled and it seemed like a nice moment, so I dipped my head to press my lips to hers. Surprisingly, she let me kiss her. But when I moaned and opened my mouth, she gave a little head shake and pulled back, then stepped out of my arms.

"I... we... I just...we shouldn't..."

She raked her fingers through her hair, brushing it back from her now reddened face.

"No, I get it. It's fine. I'm gonna..." I thumbed toward the living room to gather my clothes and pack my bag for a trip I did not want to take. "What do you want to do tonight, anyway?"