Second Chance Christmas (The Colorado Cades) by Tanya Michaels Page A

life anymore. She’d moved on. It would be great if he could imagine her deliriously happy with the new man in her life. Justin had been riddled with guilt over hurting her, but as long as he knew she’d found someone better for her, he could tell himself he’d done the right thing. That it had worked out for the best. One door closing, windows opening and all that jazz.
    “Justin, I spent time around you two while you were dating. I remember how she looked at you. She doesn’t look at him the same way.”
    “Maybe that’s because she’s not the same person anymore.” He parroted Elisabeth’s words from yesterday to his sister. “Stop trying to read into it. And for heaven’s sake, don’t mention this to anyone else. The last thing clients want in a wedding photographer is someone casting a black cloud over the nuptials!”
    “I wouldn’t say this to anyone else. But don’t you—”
    “Hold that thought.” He reached in his back pocket for his cell phone. Saved by the ringtone . He held it up so Arden could see the screen, too. “Hey, look who’s calling. Colin. What’s up, man?”
    “Justin? I can barely hear you over the background noise. Where the hell are you? A riot?”
    “Close enough. Hang on a sec.” He muted the phone and asked Arden, “Mind if I abandon you for a few minutes? I’m going to look for a quieter corner to take this call.”
    “Tell him we miss him and I can’t wait to see him.”
    “Will do.”
    Justin went toward the end of the mall where a new department store was being built. Since the coming store was still under construction, the corridor was currently a dead end. Few shoppers were around. There were distant sounds of power tools, but even those were melodious compared to the mingled tantrums, joyful shrieks and tattling in the Santa line.
    “This better?” he asked Colin.
    “Yeah.”
    He almost complained about Arden’s dragging him to the mall for the Santa meet and greet, but stopped abruptly, recalling a picture of Colin’s little boy that had once hung on Justin’s fridge. Baby Hope was not his first niece or nephew. Justin had been an uncle in what felt like a former lifetime.
    “How are you holding up?” he asked his older brother. Colin had been their rock, the one who’d held them together after their parents died. To witness him crumble was nerve-racking. Justin tried not to draw parallels between Colin and their late father, who’d withdrawn after losing his wife. Was his brother on a similar road to self-destruction?
    Not that Colin was sitting around in a recliner, hiding from the world and passively declining. Far from it. He’d tossed away the large animal vet practice he’d built, sold his house and purchased a motorcycle which he drove at breakneck speeds. If he was going to self-destruct, he was being far more proactive about it.
    “I’m glad to be out of Cielo Peak,” Colin said candidly. “Easier to breathe when I’m not there.”
    “But you are coming back for Christmas?” Justin pressed. If his brother backed out now, Arden’s head would explode.
    “I’ll be there. I’m a little surprised that you’re the one who’s been leaving me nagging voice mails, though. Christmas isn’t really your thing.”
    “Very true. But when you skipped town, you left me in charge of looking after Arden. This means a lot to her. You have to be here.” It wasn’t as if Colin had a high-pressure office position and couldn’t get the time off from work. He’d been drifting aimlessly doing ranching odd jobs based on contacts and references from his veterinarian days.
    “I’ll be there by noon on Christmas Eve. Can I crash at your place while I’m in town?”
    “You even have to ask?”
    “Didn’t want to cramp your style. There’ve been periods of your life where you average a lot of overnight guests.”
    “Now is not one of those periods.” It had been weeks since he’d even bought a woman a drink, much less brought a woman