New Year, New Love

Chapter 1“No! No! No!” Vance Waller shouted in frustration when he heard the ominous sound coming from somewhere in the engine of his old car. “Come on, you piece of s**t!” Then he hit the steering wheel and groaned in resignation when the car lost speed and then stopped moving. It was nearing the end of the twenty-first century, and he was probably one of the few poor bastards who still drove an electric car manually. Most people in this day and age owned fully autonomous vehicles. Vance wasn’t rolling in money, though. His second-hand electric car was all he could afford. He also needed to save up so he could purchase an apartment or a house someday. For the time being, he would have to rely on his crappy car. Hopefully, it could still be fixed. It was exactly a week before Thanksgiving, and he was on his way to Tahoe City to meet up with George Sanderson at the man’s mansion. George was an important client who had refused to make the three-hour commute to San Francisco. Angela Hector, Vance’s supervisor, was supposed to be the one to go on this business trip, but at the last minute she had ordered him to go instead. Vance was the Junior Marketing Associate, and he had only been working for the company for about two years. All the undesirable tasks were, more often than not, assigned to him, and that included this horrid journey. Vance knew he had no choice but to suck it up until he could find a better job elsewhere. Vance didn’t get much of an opportunity to prepare. He had gone into the office earlier that morning as he usually did, not knowing that he would have to pay George a visit. Angela had sent him an electronic mail a few minutes prior to his lunch hour to inform him about it, and he had to print out the contract for George, along with some other documents, before leaving the office. Upon reaching his cheap and cramped studio apartment, which he had been lucky enough to acquire, considering how ridiculously expensive rent was in San Francisco, he had to munch on a sandwich for lunch while packing up some clothes, toiletries, and whatever else he needed before he got into his car and to drive all the way to Tahoe City, hoping to arrive at George’s house before the sky darkened. That had been his plan. Now, he was stranded somewhere on the road, no thanks to his crappy car, even though he was only forty-five minutes away from Tahoe City. At least, that was what the application on his smartphone was telling him. On any normal day, Vance would have called for a tow truck for his car before hitching a ride. Or he would just walk all the way to Tahoe City. He was a fit, twenty-five-year-old man. He could certainly handle the remaining distance between where he was and his final destination. He only had one large backpack to carry anyway. Unfortunately, the weather was anything but friendly. It was snowing, and Vance could hear the wind howling rather loudly. He had a strong feeling the weather was about to worsen. To aggravate the situation, other than his car, there was no other vehicle on the road. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts, he was badly startled when somebody abruptly knocked on the car window right next to him. He quickly rolled the window down. “Hey, man. I’m Brett Griffiths. I was on my way back home when I noticed your car right here in the middle of the road. Do you need some help?” Vance nodded while smiling gratefully at Brett. “I’m Vance Waller, and yeah, I do. This unreliable bastard died on me a few minutes ago.” Brett chuckled. “Sorry to hear that. Anyway, I have a tow strap. Why don’t I connect our vehicles together? Then we can slowly pull your car all the way to my house. It’s about ten minutes away. It’s better than you being stuck here, and aside from us, there’s nobody else on the road. Everyone must be staying home to get away from this damn weather, and I doubt you will be able to call for a mechanic to assist you with your car. Not in this weather anyway.” Vance knew Brett was right so he agreed, and he was glad he did because the snow fell much more heavily a couple of minutes later as the two of them worked on attaching the strap as fast as they could. By the time they finished and got into Brett’s car, Vance was shivering. The snow outside wasn’t that horrible, but the wind definitely was. Brett had one of those fully autonomous vans with six wide and spacious seats. Unlike Vance’s electric car, Brett’s van had no wheels. Instead, it hovered steadily in the air. It only had one door. Vance didn’t bother to admire the van for too long. The second the door slid open, he hurriedly got in, and Brett followed suit. He found that he was able to stand up straight inside the car, and there were a few more inches between his head and the top of the van. “f**k!” Vance said while rubbing his hands together and beaming at Brett. Then he sighed in relief as he sat on the comfortable seat before strapping himself securely with the seat belt. “I’m really thankful for everything, especially the heater in your car. The weather outside is terribly cold, and it’s freezing my balls off.” Brett laughed as he occupied the seat next to Vance. “It isn’t that bad.” Vance snorted. “Are you serious?” “Yeah. There had been quite a few severe snowstorms here in Pontybridge over the past several years.” “Damn!” Brett didn’t utter a single word in response. He simply nodded before he instructed the system in the car to drive them home. Vance took the opportunity to study Brett from head to toe. He wasn’t sure how tall Brett was, but earlier on, while they had been standing outside to connect the tow strap, he was fairly certain that the man was an inch or two taller than him. His height was five feet and eleven inches, and he weighed one hundred and ninety-one pounds. Judging by Brett’s build and all those bulging muscles, Vance estimated the man must be somewhere around twenty to thirty pounds heavier than him. Now that they were sitting so close together inside the car, he could better see that Brett had green eyes and dark blond hair. Vance had dark brown eyes and black hair. “Is there something on my face?” Vance hastily turned away before shaking his head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.” Brett chuckled. “It’s cool. It’s a curse that I’ve had to live with my whole life.” Vance frowned at Brett. “What curse?” “Being so handsome and sexy,” Brett replied with a wink. Vance was stunned for a second or two before he guffawed loudly. “That’s a blessing, man. I’m glad you weren’t offended, though.” “Offended?” Brett repeated. “What for?” “Most people would be creeped out if anybody was to scrutinize them for an extended period of time.” “I’m not most people, and I’m actually flattered that a good-looking man like you had been mesmerized by my extremely gorgeous face,” Brett reassured Vance. His tone of voice sounded quite seductive. For a moment, Vance felt a surge of lust, and he kind of hoped that Brett might also be attracted to him, but he didn’t dare to flirt back. Brett could turn out to be one of those heterosexual men who couldn’t care less if another man was into him. For that type of straight men, teasing and acting all coy with their fellow men meant nothing at all. Or Vance could have asked Brett if the man was gay like him, or at least bisexual, but that would have been disrespectful. It was none of his business, after all. Besides, even if Brett was bisexual or gay, he might already have a romantic partner. Vance decided to ignore Brett’s comment and change the direction of the conversation instead. “Have you lived here all your life?” Brett seemed a bit surprised by the abrupt switch, but he smiled anyway. “Nope. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. My parents still live there. My paternal grandfather died six years ago when I was twenty-four years old, leaving my grandmother all alone here in good ol’ Pontybridge. She would most probably be okay. This is a small town with less than two thousand people in it, and she had been friends with quite a number of them, especially the older people. They would often check up on each other.” “So, you moved here to take care of your grandmother.” “I did,” Brett confirmed. “I resigned from my job as an accountant in Houston and packed up some of my belongings. I thought I would eventually return to Houston someday, but soon, I discovered that I liked it here. How old are you, by the way?” “Twenty-five.” “Cool. Anyway, many years ago, my grandparents had converted their house into a bed and breakfast a few months after they had retired from their previous jobs. Aside from looking after my grandma, I also helped her out with the bookkeeping and the guests.” Vance was ecstatic when he heard that. He had been worrying about where he would be staying for the evening. Now, he had one thing less to be concerned about. “That’s awesome! Do you have any room available? Judging by the weather outside and the condition of my car, I won’t be able to make it to my destination tonight.” Then Vance explained about his job, supervisor, and the company he worked for, where he’d planned to go, and what he would be doing there. When he was done, Brett nodded. “September, October, and November are generally rather lacking in tourists, and the ones who come in those months will go straight to Tahoe City, so all the extra bedrooms in the house are currently empty. There’s a total of five bedrooms. I occupy the master bedroom on the first floor. There are two bedrooms for the guests on the same floor and another two on the second floor. You can select whichever room you prefer.” After that, Brett informed Vance how much it would cost him. Since it was the off season, Vance was relieved to discover that the rate was affordable. It was so much cheaper than what he had expected. Then he abruptly realized something important. Brett hadn’t mentioned where his grandmother was sleeping. There was only one logical possibility. “Uh, Brett, your grandma…is she…I mean, did she…” Vance trailed off. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to inquire about Brett’s grandmother without being insensitive about it. “She passed away last year, and I chose to stay in this town, especially since I got to inherit the house from her and grandpa. My parents received everything else, including the investments.” “I’m sorry for your loss.” “Thank you,” Brett said right before he maneuvered the car into a vacant spot right in front of what Vance assumed was the garage. Vance observed as the system in the car communicated with the one in the inside. A second or two later, the door began to slide upward. Vance was amazed. It was spacious enough to contain at least four cars. However, there was no vehicle in there at the moment. Once both of the cars had been safely parked inside, the door of the garage automatically shut itself. “This garage is huge,” Vance pointed out as he slowly alighted while darting his gaze around in amazement. “And I noticed earlier even the house is quite large.” “My grandparents had been lucky enough to have invested their money in the right stocks when they were alive, and they had earned quite a bit of profits over the years. That was how they had managed to purchase this piece of land, along with the house on it. They only had to renovate the house a little and add a garage next to it. Initially, this garage had been used mostly as a storage area.” Vance was taken aback. “Damn! How much stuff did your grandparents own anyway?” “A lot,” Brett answered while laughing. Vance grabbed his backpack before he and Brett entered the house through the door that connected the garage to the main house. “They had both been such terrible hoarders all their lives, keeping and saving literally every useless piece of junk. After my grandmother’s death, my parents and I had to go through it all, and we discarded nearly everything. We also donated my grandparents’ clothes, and yes, including my grandfather’s. My grandma, when she was still alive, had refused to part with even a single thing that had belonged to my grandpa. Anyway, do you want a bedroom on the first or second floor?” “The one on the first floor will be fine.” “Great. Follow me.” “Okay,” Vance agreed while glancing around. From where he stood, he could see the living room, the dining area, and the kitchen. The furniture and fixtures didn’t seem expensive, but they were obviously in good condition. Vance was grateful when Brett switched on the heater in the living room because he could feel the warmth all around him less than a minute later. “It must have taken you and your parents quite a while to get rid of your grandparents’ things.” Brett visibly grimaced as he led Vance all the way to a long corridor directly across from the kitchen. “More than three weeks. The longest three weeks of my life. Fortunately, my parents had helped me out with most of those things. Otherwise, I might have ended up spending three months on them instead.” “Don’t you have any other relatives?” Brett shook his head. “Both of my parents have no siblings, and neither do I. What about you?” “I frankly have no idea,” Vance admitted. “I’ve been in the foster system since I was five, moving from one place to another before eventually aging out. I worked hard to get multiple scholarships for my college education. Without those scholarships, I most probably wouldn’t be where I am today.” “That’s impressive, man. I always admire people like you. I’d been an average student so no scholarship for me. My grandparents had been generous and kind enough to pay for my college education.” “And you repaid them by taking care of your grandmother, and now, you’re running the bed and breakfast that they had started many years ago.” Brett nodded as he stopped in front of a door at the end of the corridor. Then he opened it before gesturing for Vance to step inside. “Do you like this room?” When Vance peeked into the room, he immediately noticed the queen-size bed and the nightstands on either side of it, along with the wooden cabinet, the flat-screen television hanging on the wall, and the en suite bathroom. He gaped a little. This bedroom alone was so much better than his studio apartment in San Francisco. “I do,” Vance replied after a moment. “I like it very much.” Then he dug out his wallet from the pocket of his jeans and paid in cash for the room since he happened to have the exact amount. Brett accepted the money before informing Vance that breakfast would be served daily between seven and eleven o’clock. “Sally, my next-door neighbor, will cook whenever I have any guests in the house. For dinner tonight, the two of us will have to make do with some microwaveable meals.” “I’m cool with that, and I’ll pay for my share of dinner since that isn’t included in the—” “Nah. Don’t worry about it. It’s your first time here, and since you’re the only guest I have, consider it as a treat from me.” “All right then. Thank you.” “You’re welcome, man. Anyway, you must be quite exhausted after spending more than two hours on the road all the way from San Francisco. It’s only three o’clock now. Why don’t you take a nap or something? You have plenty of time to rest up before dinner.” “I will. What time is dinner, by the way?” “I usually have it at six, but you can eat earlier or later. It’s up to you.” Vance shook his head. “I’ll have it at the same time as you do.” “Cool. See you later, man.” “Count on it.” After that, Brett walked away, and Vance shut the door before he switched on the heater inside the room and lay down on top of the comfortably firm mattress. He only wanted to relax for a bit before taking a refreshing shower. However, he must have been more tired than he expected. The last thing he thought about was how quiet and warm it was inside the bedroom. Then the darkness overtook him, and there was nothing else.