Bring Me Home for Christmas

we’re given a pass by the guy. You know?”
    “Are you kidding me? Permission?” she asked. “Because that borders on icky.”
    Dirk just shrugged. “That’s how it is with friends.”
    “Well, it’s not an issue. He broke up with me. Over three years ago.” Actually, she could easily figure out the number of days….
    “That’s probably a pass,” Troy said. “Wouldn’t you say, Dirk?”
    “God,” Rich said. “I’m going to need another beer! This is my sister! Even if she is a pain in my—”
    Luke coughed. Colin laughed. “You starting to feel old?” Luke asked his brother.
    “Elderly,” Colin answered. “Much as I’d love to stay and watch this, I think I’d better hit the road. Happy hunting.” He winked.
    “Cabin number four, boys,” Luke said. “It’s unlocked. Jack or Denny will give you directions.”
    “Oh, are you Mr. Riordan?” Becca asked. To his nod, she asked, “Any chance there’s another cabin out at your place that I could rent? Otherwise I have to stay with Rich, and God knows…” She shook her head and shuddered as if in revulsion.
    “You bet,” Luke said. “Try number two—also unlocked.”
    “Cool,” she said.
    “Very cool,” Dirk said. “Thanks, man. See you around.”
    “Yeah, thanks,” Troy said. “Nice meeting you guys. See you later.”
    And then Denny was back. The expression on his face wasn’t much improved. It was starting to irritate her that he couldn’t at least fake being happy to see her. Maybe being finally finished with him would be easier than she’d thought.
    He walked around the bar and stood right in front of Becca. “I need to talk to you for a minute, Becca. All right?”
    That made her a little nervous; it sounded like he might be getting ready to tell her when her bus was leaving for San Diego. She hoped her emotions didn’t show. She tilted her head to one side, smiled into his brown eyes and said, “Sure. Shoot.”
    “Privately.” He stepped back. “Come outside with me. It’ll just take a second.”
    He turned and she followed. It wasn’t even five-thirty, yet it was almost completely dark outside. Though she could see there were space heaters on the porch, they weren’t lit. She faced him, waited, shivering in the cold.
    “I apologize,” he said. “If I’d known you were coming, if I’d had time to get used to the idea, I would’ve been a lot more…”
    “Civil?” she added for him, lifting both tawny eyebrows.
    “Becca, this is a hunting trip!”
    “I know that, Denny. Rich hasn’t stopped talking about it for weeks.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    She took a breath. “It was very last minute. I packed last night. When I showed up at his condo at three this morning to go with, Rich pitched a fit. I told him I needed a change, a break. He said it was a bad idea, because it was all guys, and I said I’d skip the getting drunk and smoking cigars part, that I’d get my own place to stay and, you know… I just wanted to get out of town. Too early to ski, too cold to surf without a wet suit.”
    “What about work?”
    “Well…I got laid off. The private school where I’ve been teaching shut down. We’d seen it coming but it was still a shock. I’m going to substitute until I can land something permanent. But for right now, it’s a holiday week, my parents are going out of town and I wanted something fun to do, to kind of offset being so bummed about losing my job.”
    He looked into her eyes for a long moment, then slowly reached for her left hand, pulling it out of her jacket pocket. “I don’t see a ring,” he said. “What about the boyfriend? He can’t like the idea of you going on a guys’ hunting trip?”
    “He’s tied up with finals and stuff,” she said. “And he’s going home to Cape Cod for Thanksgiving with his family.”
    “Finals?” Denny asked. “You’re marrying a college kid?”
    “Law student,” she said. “And we’re not engaged. Yet.”
    “But you’re going to be engaged?”
    “Probably. We’ve talked about it. We looked at rings. And stuff.”
    “Right,” Denny said. “And he’s okay with you going on a hunting trip with a bunch of guys, including your ex?”
    “He trusts me,” she said. And there was the little fact that she hadn’t told him all the details. It wasn’t that she couldn’t, but she might’ve overestimated his casualness about this event. She’d probably keep the fact that her ex was also present to herself. After all,