“Hey, sorry, Danny gets excited to ring doorbells.” I shrugged.
“Oh sure, Danny’s the only one excited about today.” She smirked.
What did she mean by that?I didn’t take the bait, but I took a subtle sniff of my cologne. Had I put on too much? I remembered Rose a little; her older brother Lucas was in my graduating class, and I think she was in elementary school then.
I flinched. I hated when I got those unexpected reminders of my age. I was only thirty-three, but somehow it felt drastically older than Faith when I thought about high school. I think there was about eight years between us.
Is that okay? Or is this creepy? Not that I was doing anything or expecting anything. I shook my head.
“Faith, your Christmas date is here,” Rose called into the house.
“We are actually not a date.” Danny stated with no pretentiousness, just facts.
“He’s right,” Faith hollered back from inside the house. She appeared in the hallway behind Rose, her cheeks flushed bright pink. Her blond hair was pulled up in a pony tail and the blue of her sweater matched her eyes and fitted her small frame. She grabbed her jacket. “We’re not on a date.” She glared at Rose as she passed her, grabbing her hat and gloves.
“Sure you aren’t.” She dragged out the first word and then winked at me.
I gestured to the truck. “Do you want to come?” I asked Rose, showing her this wasn’t an exclusive event. Part of me really hoped she said yes; it would keep things from getting too “family-ish,” but if she did, it would be a tight fit on the four wheeler.
Rose took a step back. “Go freeze and walk around in the snow for hours to find a tree infested with bugs? No thanks.”
Wow, tell me how you really feel.
I chuckled. “Fair enough.” I turned and headed toward the truck, Danny and Faith already ahead of me.I’m not sure when it happened, but she was no longer Ms. Faith, Danny’s teacher in my thoughts at all. Instead, she was just Faith, our friend.
“Be careful.” This time her voice didn’t hold sass but worry.
I turned back to her. “We’ll have your roommate back in no time.”
She closed the door. I rushed to hold the door open for Faith and Danny. “Are you sure that coat is warm enough?” I nodded to her coat.
She shrugged. “I’m sure it will be fine. Thanks for checking.”
Doubtful, but I had a few extra down feather coats in the back if needed. We turned out onto the main road and headed out of town and toward the mountains. As we drove, I was relieved when I lost cell service and could no longer play Frosty the Snowman on repeat from YouTube.
Danny was on the bench seat between Faith and me. He was unusually talkative. Telling Faith about the new game hedownloaded and the different levels he’d beaten. She asked questions and encouraged the conversation.
The road turned rough with potholes and high snowbanks on either side, pushing the rare traffic and slush all to the middle of the road. We drove through several cattle guards, past some broken wire fences, and to a wide turnaround where we would leave the truck behind.
I stepped out of the truck, and the heaviness of silence, pine trees, and snow-covered mountains pressed in on me. I loved being in the mountains and away from everything. It was peaceful. It was just you and nature. We used to fish and camp a few miles up the road when I was a kid. I went with Grandpa John and Dad sometimes, although Dad wasn’t much of a fisherman.
Maybe Danny would like to go this summer? Not sure he would like the idea of potentially hurting the fish though.
I unloaded the four wheeler and secured the saw to the front along with the tarps and rope. Faith stared up at the mountains and trees. “This is beautiful,” she whispered, and her breath billowed around her as it rose. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” I watched her spin, trying to see everything at once. Her lips parted as she smiled. “Wow.” It was obvious she enjoyed the view. I shook my head when I realized I was doing the same, only I wasn’t focused on the mountain. I cleared my throat and went back to the truck to grab an extra coat. Faith’s cheeks were already turning pink, as well as the tip of her nose. It was obviously colder outside than what my body was feeling.
I walked back toward her and held out the coat. “Would you like to borrow one of my coats?”
She stopped looking at the mountains and focused on me. I resisted the urge to stand taller.
Her brow furrowed.
“This coat is down feather, and is pretty warm; it can get pretty cold out here, especially with the wind as we ride.” I was stumblingover my words. I set the coat on the four wheeler. “It’s there if you want it, up to you.”
“Thanks.” Faith slid out of her jacket. I pried my eyes away from her. I never felt this pull to be near Jessica, to touch her flushed cheeks. I shook the thought away, but as I turned, Faith held the jacket up to her nose and smelled it.
I smiled and then cleared my throat. “All right, let’s load up.” I called over my shoulder to where Danny was studying some animal tracks he found in the snow. They were small, maybe a rabbit. I sat on the four wheeler and Danny hopped on behind me, his arms wrapped around me tight. Faith stood to the side unsure, the arms of my coat reaching well past her fingertips. She chewed her bottom lip.
“You okay?”
