The Winter Berry House Read online

  ‘You still living here with your mom and dad?’ The question was out of his mouth before Branch fully thought it through. If Jason was offended, he didn’t show it as he pulled two colas from the fridge and offered him one.

  ‘I can tell it isn’t just me you haven’t spoken to since we were teenagers,’ he laughed. ‘I bought the place from my parents when they moved into North Springs.’

  ‘Wow, never thought your parents would leave Port Landon.’

  Jason gestured toward the leather couch. ‘Mom has glaucoma and can’t drive anymore, so they bought an apartment there. Closer to more amenities.’ He lowered himself onto the loveseat. ‘I never thought you’d show back up here. Especially on my doorstep.’

  ‘I should’ve paid you a visit long before now,’ Branch admitted, sheepish. ‘I’m sorry, Jay.’

  Jason regarded his soda can absently. ‘Word got around you were in town a few times over the years,’ he explained. ‘And I knew you were here for Grandma Addie’s funeral, but by then I didn’t know if you wanted to see any of us or not.’

  She was Grandma Addie to everyone, and Branch’s grandmother would have gladly taken in every one of his friends as honorary grandchildren if she had the chance. Which only made Branch’s chest tighten more. ‘That’s why you weren’t at the funeral. Because you didn’t think I would want you there?’ His friend didn’t have to answer. The truth shadowed his gaze.

  ‘We didn’t want to make it harder for you.’

  He’d spent those few days in a grief-stricken haze, but Branch remembered vividly wishing he had friends left to stand beside him as he said his final goodbyes to the woman who’d raised him like a son. It made so much sense now that he was sitting here, face to face with the man who had been his friend for more years than he realized. A man who’d been his friend even when Branch thought he didn’t have any friends left.

  ‘I’m sorry I made you think you shouldn’t come to the funeral,’ Branch choked out. Clearing his voice, he set the soda down, fearful he would drop it. ‘She would’ve wanted you there,’ he added. ‘I wanted you there. I’m sorry, Jay.’

  Jason nodded. He knew that. He had always been the level-headed and forgiving one in their group. ‘I got to see her over the years. She was aware that she was family in my eyes, too. I’ve got no regrets, man.’

  Of course he didn’t. Jason Forrester had lived by the motto that life was too short to regret the past and dwell on what couldn’t be changed. Branch had always wished he was a little more like his friend. Probably now more than ever.

  ‘You can’t say the same.’ It wasn’t a question, but Jason wasn’t reprimanding him or judging him, either.

  ‘Nah, I suppose I can’t,’ Branch replied. ‘Looking back on it all now, I know I could have handled it all differently. But when everyone started to turn against me—’

  ‘No one turned against you,’ Jason cut in. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. ‘At least, not everyone. I’ll bet that’s how it felt, but everyone didn’t turn against you after the accident. Kait did. But to you, Kait was everyone back then.’

  ‘Things were never going to be the same for me here after that,’ Branch explained. ‘It didn’t matter what was true and what wasn’t. I was always going to be the kid that hit one of Port Landon’s own with my truck.’

  Jason sighed, letting his head sag slightly. ‘Man, you were eighteen and you weren’t paying attention. And frankly, the guy’s still walking around town acting like he’s king of the world, so I really think you need to give yourself a break. It was what, ten years ago?’

  ‘Eleven.’ It had been an accident, pure and simple. A fleeting moment of preoccupation, too concerned about getting an intoxicated schoolmate home, too caught up in his own thoughts to fully take in his surroundings. Nothing would have ever led Branch to purposely use his vehicle as a weapon, though. Nothing. ‘I was stone cold sober, man. I have no idea what he was doing behind my pickup, but I did not hit him on purpose, and I was not drunk.’

  ‘I believed you then, and I believe you now.’ Jason took a long drink from his soda and set it down on the coffee table. ‘If it’s forgiveness you’re looking for from me, there’s nothing for me to forgive you for. Maybe you should try forgiving yourself for a change.’

  Branch didn’t know if that was possible, but knowing he had a friend now, after all these years, went a long way in helping him feel better about being back in town. ‘So, we’re good, you and I?’

  A slow grin spread across his friend’s face. ‘We’ve been good all this time. All you had to do was show up so I could tell you.’ Jason picked his soda can up and held it out toward Branch, humor alight in his eyes. ‘Next time things go south around here, do me a favor and don’t run north. Deal?’

  Branch couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips. ‘Deal. So, you know I work up north, then. In Canada.’

  ‘Grandma Addie went on and on about it. She didn’t like that you were gone for such long periods of time or that the area was remote as all get out, but she was sure to let everybody know that you were some hotshot engineer in northern Canada.’

  That sounded about right. Leave it to his grandmother to make a remote area in the most northern part of Alberta sound glamorous. It was anything but, and far enough north that the best way to access it was by airplane, but he was paid well for his time. The two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off schedule wasn’t for the faint of heart, but the seclusion had been exactly what he’d been looking for when he left.

  ‘It’s a good gig,’ he replied, nodding. ‘And they’ve been good about giving me some time off to deal with Grandma Addie’s place.’

  ‘So, you’re here for a while?’

  ‘Until the end of the month.’

  ‘You’ll be around for Christmas. It’ll almost be like old times,’ Jason laughed.

  Almost. Branch caught that part. Because this time there was no Grandma Addie to pull off the festivities and be the glue that held them together. This time, it was just Branch, with a ticking time clock that reminded him he would be leaving again in a matter of weeks. This time, he didn’t know if he would be coming back to Port Landon.

  He sunk back into the couch cushions, getting comfortable. ‘Never took you for a holiday kind of guy.’

  His friend shrugged. ‘I’m more of a Halloween kind of man, myself, but there isn’t a person in their right mind who’s going to turn down the homemade food that comes once folks start getting that Christmas spirit.’

  A laugh erupted from Branch, and he shook his head. He missed this. Having someone to talk to. About nothing. About everything. In a way, it was as though no time had passed at all since they had last seen each other. An easy silence ensued, and he could feel the tension subsiding in his shoulders.

  ‘I saw her, you know.’ Branch didn’t realize he was smiling until Jason’s eyebrows arched. ‘At the diner.’

  ‘I don’t see a black eye, so neither of the Davenport women punched you first and asked questions later.’ Jason pressed his lips together.

  ‘Janna works there, too, now?’ Kait’s older sister hadn’t liked him before the accident. Afterward, her dislike turned into full-fledged disgust. ‘I didn’t see her, just Kait.’

  ‘Imagine that, you only seeing Kait in a room full of people,’ Jason joked. ‘Some things never change.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that,’ he argued, leaning forward to match his friend’s stance. ‘Things were different, obviously. But they were the same between us, too, if that makes sense.’ He raised his head and met Jason’s eyes squarely. ‘I don’t think it’s over, Jay.’

  Jason’s eyes bulged and he let out a long breath. ‘Eleven years, Branch. Remember that. What in the world makes you think it’s not over?’

  He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was something in the way Kait had tried so hard – too hard – to be defiant and distant. She was trying and failing, just like he was trying and failing to keep from loving her all over again. ‘Call it a
gut feeling.’

  Jason was obviously attempting to make him see how outlandish his train of thought was. ‘You haven’t seen her since you were a teenager, and you’re telling me, after one glimpse, you think she’ll take you back?’

  ‘I think there’s too much between us not to at least try.’

  ‘You always were a hard-headed one,’ Jason snickered. ‘Especially when it came to her.’

  ‘Like you said, she didn’t punch me or send her older sister after me, so I’ve got a thread of hope to hold on to.’ Branch downed the last of his soda, unable to hide his smirk.

  ‘That isn’t a thread of hope, man, that’s just proof of what I said earlier.’

  Branch’s eyebrows furrowed. ‘What do you mean?’

  Jason stood, taking the empty can from him. ‘Even Kait’s forgiven you for hitting Zach with your truck. It’s time for you to forgive yourself and move forward.’

  Chapter 5

  Kait

  ‘I don’t believe a thing that comes out of his mouth, Kait.’

  ‘I know.’ She huffed out a sigh. ‘You’ve said so five times since you sat down.’

  Kait finished adding up the bill in front of her and pushed the calculator back under the counter. Using it as an excuse for a moment’s reprieve, she placed it into a vinyl check holder along with a couple of after-dinner mints and headed to the table by the window to drop it off, leaving Zach sitting at the counter to cool down.

  She knew he wasn’t thrilled to know Branch was back in town. She couldn’t blame him considering their sordid past. She wasn’t even sure why she had mentioned speaking with him yesterday. Branch Sterling had never been Zach’s favorite topic of conversation, unless he was belittling him or reminding Kait of what he’d done to her. And what he’d done to him.

  Like she could ever forget. Vivid recollections of the months that followed the accident were never far from her mind. She might not have been the one behind the steering wheel, but Kait harbored acidic guilt just the same. She hadn’t even been at the party that night, and she certainly hadn’t witnessed the event that left Zach with a fractured leg and countless bruises. It didn’t matter. She would never forget Zach’s emotional retelling of what should have been an innocent celebration of their upcoming graduation, his words so clear that her memory played tricks on her sometimes, as though she was plagued by her own memories and not the recounting of someone else’s.

  The heated exchange between Branch and Zach. The way Branch had slammed the passenger door of his truck, so frustrated and final before he climbed into the driver’s seat. Before he revved the engine and threw the truck in reverse …

  She could see it all so clearly even though she had never seen it at all. Each time she thought of it, her mind struggled to pair Branch’s face with the man who got into that driver’s seat. It just wasn’t the Branch Sterling she’d known, or the Branch Sterling she’d loved.

  And still, it had happened. Which was why Kait had remained by Zach’s side and helped him in every way she could, from physiotherapy to mundane errands, to the point of fatigue and burnout. She couldn’t do enough for him after seeing what her love for Branch had ultimately put him through.

  Still, after vowing to be there for Zach and see him through his recovery, there was one thing she would never be able to do for him despite her best efforts. With all their time together and close proximity while he healed, Zach’s feelings for Kait only flourished. And while she wanted to feel as strongly for him as he did for her, that overpowering sense of love and companionship never bloomed. A year passed by before they attempted to formally date, and it took two more for her to admit it to herself, but Kait would never be capable of loving Zach the way he deserved to be loved.

  ‘I’ll bet he knew you were here at the diner all along,’ he suggested before Kait could even make it back around the counter. ‘Next, he’ll be saying the stars aligned and the heavens opened, revealing his path to you.’

  She offered him a levelled stare. ‘You’re being dramatic.’

  ‘The guy hit me with a truck after warning me to stay away from you. Doesn’t get any more dramatic than that.’

  Fighting back the urge to cringe, Kait focused on reorganizing the menus instead of having to meet his gaze. ‘I know, Zach.’ It’s the gazillionth time you’ve mentioned that to me, too. ‘I just think it’s time to stop being so angry, you know? Years have passed. He seems … different.’ She didn’t know how to explain it. There was something in Branch’s eyes that not only proved he wasn’t feigning his utter surprise at the sight of her, but also hinted of a maturity far beyond the mere decade that spanned between their teenage years and now.

  Branch Sterling wasn’t even thirty yet, but he had lost everything and everyone who had meant something to him at one point in his young life or another. Some losses were the result of his teenage antics, but most were tragic, painful, crushing blows that the average person wouldn’t survive unscathed individually, let alone combined. And yet, he was here, back in town, and facing every demon he had.

  She wondered if she was one of them.

  Zach scoffed. ‘Come on, you know better. He isn’t different. You just want him to be.’ She turned and glared at him, causing Zach to reach out a hand and grip her fingers in his. ‘I don’t mean that as a bad thing,’ he added in a softer tone. ‘It’s your nature. You see the good in everyone. You’re a nurturer, and you always want to help. But, Kait, some people can’t be helped.’

  It was a strange feeling to have someone conjure up defeat and molten determination in her at the same time. Defeat, because she would never get through to Zach and his pent-up rage where Branch was concerned, but also determination, because she wanted desperately for Branch to prove him wrong.

  ‘It’s been eleven years.’ She sounded wilted and weak, and the words came out on a sigh.

  ‘It has,’ he replied, ‘And we’ve moved on from all things revolving around Branch Sterling. By the end of the month, we can go back to our lives and pretend like he was never here at all.’

  Slowly, Kait withdrew her hand from his. She couldn’t bring herself to look up at him, and she certainly didn’t agree with him.

  Something strong and undeniable pulsed within her, something she had once thought dormant. And that something told her, now that Branch was back in town, things were never going to be the same again.

  Kait was disappointed that Janna and their coworker, Eve, had finished decorating the Christmas tree during the morning shift. Even the sparkly red and green garlands had been meticulously strung across the front of the counter and around the trim of the main door. She didn’t dare touch the box of remaining Christmas decorations that had been shoved under the counter by her feet with a handwritten sign in Janna’s recognizable scrawl that read Don’t touch! Her sister’s need for control knew no bounds.

  It left Kait with little left to occupy herself once Natasha, the other waitress who rounded out their four-person waitstaff team extraordinaire, had left for the evening. The clock hadn’t even struck seven o’clock yet. There was still more than an hour to go before she could lock the doors, finish cleaning the front of the restaurant, and head home to the three-bedroom house she rented with Janna and her twins.

  Kait didn’t do idle well. Sitting down, relaxing, giving herself a moment to breathe … that only resulted in letting her thoughts take over and leaving her with more frustration than resolution. It was better that she remained occupied, doing even the most repetitive, mundane tasks in order to keep her body moving and her mind busy. At the diner, that meant unnecessary cleaning and reorganizing. At home, well, there was never any chance of quiet time with a pair of two-year-old twin boys around.

  On second thought, maybe she should take the opportunity of a five-minute break for what it was. A gift.

  Her one and only table, a couple with a young boy, gave her a thumbs-up from across the room after she held up the coffee pot in askance, so Kait went ahead and poured herself a fu
ll cup. Coffee in the evening – a recipe for a poor night’s sleep if she ever heard one.

  Sliding into the booth closest to the counter, she had a clear view of the door and a cozy spot near the heat register beside her feet. Her comfortable moment to herself was thwarted a few seconds later when the front door swung open and her clear view suddenly became less than ideal.

  There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide while she made a futile attempt at composing herself. Her wide gaze landed on Branch at the same moment his locked on her.

  ‘Back again,’ she teased, holding out a sliver of hope that she sounded more nonchalant than she suddenly felt. She moved her foot beneath the table to see if the heat had kicked on in order to explain the immediate uptick in warmth around her. It hadn’t. ‘Don’t know if there’s an available table for you.’

  Branch didn’t bother to look around at the slew of vacant tables. He stayed focused on Kait as a slow, mischievous grin spread across his face. ‘Good thing I don’t mind sharing.’

  He slid in across from her, hands still shoved in his jacket pockets to stave off the icy cold that lingered on him.

  She thought of telling him she wasn’t interested in sharing anything with him, not even a table in an empty diner, but Kait didn’t trust herself to sound convincing. Instead, she began to shuffle out of the booth. ‘Let me get you a coffee.’

  Branch reached his hand out so fast she didn’t realize he’d moved until his fingertips were pressed gently into her wrist.

  ‘I’ve got it.’

  He slid out of the booth instead, shuffling out of his jacket before he stretched his body across the top of the counter and dipped his hand under it to pull a white china mug from the rack. Coffee pot in one hand, mug in the other, he came back to the table with a wry smile. ‘Everything’s still in the exact same spot.’