Free Wash by Lexy Timms Page A

love have taken us?
Would we have children? Would they have looked like me or
him? He’d destroyed the future we were
supposed to have, and I’d gotten burned in the process. Jake, the
man I’d once loved and trusted, had thrown our love away and made a
joke out of it, and I was still furious at him for that. Whoever
said, “Time heals all wounds” was a liar—or at least that was what
my heart was screaming.
     

Chapter 6
     
    We checked into a historic hotel located at the Grand Canyon
National Park, El Tovar Hotel, situated
directly on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. As we approached the
lodge, I noticed elk grazing on the grass in front of the lodge; I
couldn’t resist taking out my camera and snapping a few
pictures.
    The lobby was behind a
broad entry veranda and extended up to four stories topped with a
turret, pyramidal roof. I loved the rustic ambience as I peered up
at the chandeliers and dark-stained wood. The ranch-style furniture
was done in wine-red fabric, and Indian rugs adorned the
floors. The architecture and décor
re minded me of a
fancy hunting lodge; there were even mounted deer, elk, moose,
and one snarling wild boar. As I watched a
woman load piles of firewood into the lobby fireplace, a memory
flooded my mind of Jake holding me in front of a blazing inferno at
a ski lodge where we’d vacationed. His lips had crashed against
mine as we made mad, passionate love by the fire. My cheeks blushed
as I basked in the nostalgia of happier times.
    “ Ashly,” he said,
interrupting my thoughts of a version of him I liked a lot better,
“our reservation isn’t ready yet. Didn’t you hear me calling your
name?”
    My mouth dropped, and it took a minute
for my brain to function. “I was just thinking of how much this
place reminds me of that ski lodge we used to visit with the
gang.”
    He grinned. “Yeah. Lots of good
memories there.”
    I looked away and bit my lip hard,
wondering if he was thinking the same thing I was. From the wide
smile on his face, I was pretty sure he had the same sexy memory on
his mind.
    “ The hotel clerk said we
can relax here, get some breakfast, or sit on the porch that
overlooks the canyon while they work all this out,” Jake
said.
    My heart spiked. “I’d love to see the
canyon.” I’d dreamt about seeing the Grand Canyon for my entire
life, and now I was there, at a lodge that overlooked the scenic
landscape.
    He touched my back and smiled even
more widely. “This way.”
    The natural
splendor of the place was so amazing that I couldn’t possibly stop
snapping photographs. The hotel offered a perfect, panoramic,
mind-blowing view, just 100 yards from the rim. It was absolutely
exhilarating to be able to stare straight down into the
canyon.
    “ It’s gorgeous,” Jake said, always one to state the
obvious.
    “ I
knew it would be beautiful, but I never expected a view like this,”
I said in awe. It was so magnificent that my heart was pounding a
million miles a minute.
    “ And to think, this is just the beginning of the wonders we’re
going to see together on this little field trip your mother planned
for us,” Jake said.
    I met his gaze
and shot him a half-smile, then went back to taking pictures. A few
minutes passed, and I moved to sit down in a rocking chair on the
porch.
    Jake walked
over and handed me a tall, frosty glass of lemonade.
    “ Thanks,” I said.
    He took a long
sip, then smiled.
    “ What?” I asked curiously.
    “ Remember that lemonade stand we made for the fair at school?”
he asked.
    I couldn’t
help but laugh at the memory. “Tenth grade, right?”
    “ Yeah. I’ll never forget it. It was our first project
together.”
    I cringed. “We
didn’t sell much. Of course, I guess it didn’t help that I used
salt instead of sugar.”
    “ Don’t forget about those seeds I got in there by
accident.”
    “ I’ll never forget the look on Mrs. Smith’s face,” I said.
“That had to be pure torture.”
    “ I
know. I can’t