“I know what you were going to do, but you can’t. It’s ten below out here. The second you pour the water on your car, it will freeze. Not to mention, probably ruin your car in the long run.”
“But everything’s in there. My food. My clothes.” My flannel pajamas.
He walked closer to the vehicle and began working the handle, jiggling places all around, trying to get something to open, when the snow on top of the car from the avalanche was shaken loose just enough to send a shower of packed snow cascading toward us. More specifically, Chase. Within seconds, he was Chase no longer, but a puffy, frosted snowman with angry eyes. Well, I don’t know if Chase can get angry, but they were definitely annoyed eyes.
I set the jug of warm water on the ground while I sheepishly helped to brush the snow off the back of his coat.
“If we do anything else to this car, the snow will fall down and cover the road, and then we’ll both be stuck here until it melts. You’d better say goodbye to the car for now. And everything inside.” He moved to stand closer to me, flinging his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close before adding, “I guess your wildest dream came true. You get to cozy up next to me for a week.”
“Great.”
As two bundles of exasperation waddled back up to the cabin, I allowed his arm to remain around my shoulders, purely for the warmth it provided.
* * *
We decided not to waste the hot water in the jug, although now it was more lukewarm, and dug through the cupboards for some hot chocolate. After filling our cups to the brim in semi-awkward silence, we both settled at the small kitchen table.
“So…” he began.
“Look,” I started at the same time.
“You go first,” I said.
He brushed his hand through his hair. “Okay, so logistically, this is where we’re at; we have blankets and heat and water. So that’s good.”
I forced myself to hold his gaze, while trying hard not to roll my eyes at his serious tone. The Marines really did a number on this guy.
“We have all the hot chocolate we can drink and some oatmeal, but other than that, we have to live off the food I brought, which I wasn’t planning to have to share.”
“Sorry.”
He stopped speaking for a moment and looked at me—his brown eyes piercing into mine. “I don’t mind sharing. What I meant was, I didn’t pack much. I planned on eating a lot of fish.”
I swallowed as I tore my gaze from his. “Fish?”
“I came here to ice fish all week.”
My heart sunk. Although I knew if it came down to a matter of life and death, I would eat fish, but really, I would have to be almost dying. I gave him a cheerful smile; being literally at his mercy, after all. “Sounds great. What else did you bring with you?”
“Breakfast stuff. Eggs, a few potatoes, and lots of bacon. A loaf of bread, peanut butter… that kind of stuff.”
“Great.” My eyes lit up at the wordslots of bacon. I could eat bacon.
He looked at me for a moment, a slight smile playing in the corner of his lips. “You don’t like fish, Blister?”
Dang it. My cheerful response must have been over the top. I took a sip of my hot chocolate.
“I love it. And I appreciate you sharing, but my name is Penny.”
“That’s nice.”
After a long silence, I couldn’t help but add in forceful undertones, “and itwasn’ta blister.”
“I feel like the nickname is pretty generous, all things considered.”
“Shut up.”
He laughed, showing his smile. I’ll admit, it was a great smile. It was all this big, sports crazed, still stuck in high school, meathead had going for him. Of course, I would never admit that to him.