“Speculation.” She shrugged as he joined her. “No matter how many satellites they put up there, it’s still guesswork.”
He opened his mouth to contradict her but thought better of it and bit into his sandwich instead. “Does it bother you?”
“What?”
“Being...” What phrase would she use? “Being cut off.”
“Not really—at least not for a day or two. After that I start to go crazy.” She winced, wondering if that was the best choice of words. “How about you?”
“I don’t like being closed in,” he said simply. He had to smile when he heard the light tap of her foot on the floor. He was making her nervous again. He took an experimental swig of beer. “This is good.” He glanced around when a voice broke into the music to announce the weather. The cheerful, painfully breezy announcer carried on for several moments before getting to the mountains.
“And you people way up in the Klamath might as well snuggle up. Hope you’ve got your main squeeze with you, ’cause it looks like you’re in for a big one. The white stuff’s going to keep right on falling through tomorrow night. Expect about three feet, you hardy souls, with winds gusting up to thirty miles an hour.Brrr!Temperatures down to fifteen tonight, not counting old Mr. Wind Chill. Bundle up, baby, and letlooovekeep you warm.”
“Not very scientific,” Jacob murmured.
Sunny made a rude noise and scowled at the radio. “However it’s presented, it means the same thing. I’d better bring in some more wood.”
“I’ll get it.”
“I don’t need—”
“You made the sandwiches,” he pointed out, sipping more beer. “I’ll get the wood when we’re finished.”
“Fine.” She didn’t want him to do her any favors. She ate in silence for a time, watching him. “You’d have been better off to wait until spring.”
“For what?”
“To come to see Cal.”
He took another bite of his sandwich. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was terrific. “Apparently. Actually, I’d planned to be here... sooner.” Almost a year sooner. “But it didn’t work out.”
“It’s a shame your parents couldn’t come with you... you know, to visit.”
She saw something in his eyes then. Regret, frustration, anger? She couldn’t be sure. “It wasn’t possible.”
She refused, absolutely, to feel sorry for him. “My parents couldn’t stand not seeing Libby or me for so long.”
The disapproval in her voice rubbed an already raw wound. “You have no conception of how the separation from Cal has affected my family.”
“Sorry.” But she moved her shoulders to show that she wasn’t. “I’d just think if they were anxious to see him they’d have made the effort to do so.”
“The choice was his.” He pushed back from the table. “I’ll get the wood.”
Touchy, touchy, she thought as he started toward the door. “Hey.”
He rounded on her, ready to fight. “What?”
“You can’t go out without a coat. It’s freezing.”
“I don’t have one with me.”
“Are all scientists so softheaded?” she muttered. Rising, she went into a long cupboard. “I can’t think of anything so stupid as to come into the mountains in January without a coat.”
Jacob took a deep breath and then said calmly, “If you keep calling me stupid, I’m going to have to hit you.”
She gave him a bland look. “I’m shaking. Here.” She tossed him a worn pea coat. “Put that on. The last thing I want is to have to treat you for frostbite.” As an afterthought, she threw him a pair of gloves and a dark stocking cap. “You do have winters in Philadelphia, don’t you?”
His teeth gritted, Jacob struggled into the coat. “It wasn’t cold when I left home.” He dragged the hat down over his ears.