“Thank you,” I said, acknowledging his gentlemanly ways. Priscilla’s eyes were still glued to him, and she even triedto sniff him as he stepped by us to get the door. He flipped a switch before shutting the door behind us, and the whole valley was lit up by his flood lights. It wasn’t yet pitch black out, but the light had been so dim, it was hard to see. Now, I could see everything.
Priscilla’s Inner Monologue
These boots might look fabulous on me, darling, but they are a far cry from Chanel.
Big, fat snowflakes were falling fast. I closed my eyes and stuck my tongue out to catch them, bringing waves of fond memories of my childhood back to me. After Priscilla was finished, we ran back to the door, frozen solid. Just thirty seconds being outside and my teeth were chattering, and I was covered in snow.
Chapter 4: Ford
Snowbound Hospitality
The storm weighed heavily on the rooftops. Plows were groaning in the distance and while the power outage was straining on the community, I was surprised that not more of the chalet guests had come knocking.
It was strange having guests. As I watched Presley and her little fluffy dog that was more bundled up than I’d ever seen any creature on earth navigate the outdoors in the snow, it made me feel something I hadn’t experienced in a long time. Next thing you know that dog was going to have a set of spurs on those boots. I didn’t know what it was. Annoyance? Acceptance? What I did know: this woman wastrouble.
Presley sure did have a lot of questions. And I sure hated questions. It was making me remember why I was so relieved to break my phone earlier. That reminded me; I needed to get them into another chalet. I instinctively reached for myphone, and remembered again that it was shattered, so I looked at my watch. It was past five on a Friday; there was no one at the office tonight. With the roads shut down, what kind of crew was I really going to be able to get in here to fix that chimney? It was unlikely that it was going to get done in the short time this woman was here. Besides, I’d be out most of the week and the weekend with the Winter Games and all. I bet I’d barely see this woman. We’d be like two ships passing in the night. Well, three ships, if you counted Priscilla.
I didn’t know what was more ridiculous—little dogs or their requiredclothing. Presley and her dog came racing back in the chalet and the dog waited patiently while Presley took off those little snow boots. The dog even stuck her legs out, one by one, as if to assist. There ain’t nothing natural about a dog needing clothes or shoes.
Then she made an announcement about making a late dinner and asked if I wanted anything. Truthfully, I was starved after my day on the slopes, but I wasn’t yet prepared to share a meal with this woman.
“I’m alright. I’ll probably throw something on the stove in a minute.” That did the trick, and she got to making her meal while her little dog, now wearing footed pajamas with pinksnowflakes all over, sat on top of a pair of shoes I had on the floor and watched me. I tilted my head to the side and her eyes followed. Tilting it to the other side, she followed again. I didn’t know if that meant she liked me or she hated me, but I decided she was just being protective of her mom. It was sort of funny, in a way, how much personality she had.
As Presley cooked, the aromas of her meal wafted right into my nostrils. She hummed a familiar tune while she stirred the pot with my wooden spoon. I wanted to ask her what song, as I couldn’t necessarilyShazamit, but I just listened instead.
When I closed my eyes, it was almost like having Poppy back here with me. My dog, a much larger, respectable sized dog would be kind of where Priscilla was sitting. But he would be enjoying his chew bone instead of singling me out with an intense, obsessive gaze. It pained me to think of him; I missed that dog. My mind went back to the wedding photo I saw of Poppy; all of my old friends were probably at that wedding. Heck,mydog was probably the ring bearer.Traitors.Other than my brother, whom I was not close with, I was completely alone in the world. If only I could have ended the estrangement I had with God. . .
“Dinner’s ready.” Presley interrupted my thoughts. I opened my eyes and saw that she had two bowls of food on the table. “Nothing fancy—just some curry. I added a few things to it to jazz it up. I hope you don’t have any food allergies.” I looked at her like she was from another planet.
“I said I didn’t want food?” I stood, not sure what I was supposed to do. She didn’t back down.
“And it’s the least I could do, since you are putting me and Priscilla up for the time being. So here, please eat the food I prepared.” Taking a few cautious steps forward, the aroma of the food made my mind relent. It smelled delicious, and my stomach did a churn to let me know I was in fact starving. As I sat down on the opposite chair Presley was in, I reached for the utensils, when Presley put her palms together, closed her eyes, and started to pray—out loud.
“Lord, thank You for this meal. May it provide nourishment to our bodies. Thank You for this storm bringing lots of wonderful snow to Sage Mountain. Thank You for keeping Priscilla and me safe by bringing us to Ford. And we thank You for Ford. Without his hospitality, I don’t know where we would be tonight. Please, Lord, bless him. In Your name, Amen.” When her prayer was done—though I had been following along withher words—I had been watching her the whole time. The shine of her nail polish reflected under the light of my antler chandelier while her hands were pressed together. They were pressed together, because she was praying. My mind did some tumbling while I worked this out.
“Amen,” I mumbled, realizing I was in the presence of a godly woman. I didn’t come across those too often in my life these days. I guess you could’ve said because of my dating decision, I didn’t come across any women anymore. I took a bite of the curry. The chances of itnotbeing delicious were slim to none, and I was right. It was fantastic. It was nice to have something different. My meals mainly consisted of “red meat and potatoes,” and I didn’t detect either in this dish.
Presley didn’t say much while we ate, which was fine with me. She was guarded, but I was, too. It was a relief knowing that we both had our walls up, and this wasn’t going to turn into something awkward. As I took the last bite of the red curry, a squeaking noise came from under the table.
Her dog, Priscilla,had a toy in her mouth that she was squeaking ever so softly, as if to get my attention. Presley looked under the table, asking the dog to hand her the toy so shecould throw it, appearing to appeal to this dog's every whim and fancy. But, the dog didn’t budge, keeping her eyes on me.
“I believe she may wantyouto throw it.” Presley put her hands up with an apologetic look on her face, as if the simple task of throwing a dog toy would put me over the edge, and I’d send them out in the cold. Before I could, she reached under the table and picked the dog up, who still held the toy securely in her bite.
While she held Priscilla in one arm, she picked up her dish with the other, quietly loading the dirty items into my dishwasher. I stayed at the table, considering if I wanted to throw the dog's toy for her or not. I decided that if it happened again, I would throw it for her.
I retreated to my bedroom after Presley and her pooch went to the guest bedroom and called out goodnight. I replied with a simple “night” and put my bowl into the dishwasher and turned it on. Tomorrow, I had a long training day—the last one before the Games—with my teammate, Chase, my horseback rider, so I prepped some oatmeal that would cure in the fridge overnight. Normally, I’d make a big breakfast, but now that I had guests, I was aware they might have a different sleeping pattern than I did. I was an up at dawn sort of man; I remembered howmuch that irritated Poppy. She would always go on about her needing her beauty sleep. Yes, we were crazy incompatible, but I cringed as I thought about the patterns we had set. We shouldn’t have known that about each other, because we weren’t married. While we didn’t live together, I had made so many mistakes in my life that I didn’t see a reason to improve upon it or set new standards when I met her. I wanted her to fit perfectly into my life that I was creating, as it grew further and further from God.
Closing the door of my bedroom, I found myself tiptoeing around the room. Holding the light switches tightly to ensure no sounds were made. For all I knew, Presley was up reading or a deep sleeper, but I did it anyway.
Crawling into bed, I reflected upon the changes today brought. Presley’s prayer was at the top of my mind. There were so many areas of my life that were tarnished—my relationship with God being just one of the many—but her prayer seemed soeasy.Was it just that easy to come back to Him? For my transgressions to be forgiven, for God to forget them forever? I wondered.
Life without my phone meant no alarm set. The moment I opened my eyes the next morning, I sat up in a panic, thinkingI'd already missed my training session at 8. Opening my automatic blinds, the light for this time of year looked like it could be anywhere from 6:30–7:30. Scrambling to my closet, I threw on some clothes that I would wear under my ski things in case I had slept in. Opening the door, I stopped in my tracks at the aroma and sizzling that only bacon could make.
“Good morning. I hope I didn’t wake you.” Presley, in her ski clothes and hair pulled back into a braid, looked at me with her clean face and bright blue eyes. Her dog ambled quickly over to my feet, standing up on her hind legs as if to crawl up mine.
“No, you didn’t. What time is it?” I looked around as if I had forgotten that I didn’t have a clock in sight. I really did rely on my cell phone for everything these days, and I hated that.
“A quarter to seven. I had to check the time on your computer; I hope you don’t mind. I can’t seem to find my phone charger anywhere. Roads closed, powers out, and not a cell phone between us.” She looked back up at me. “Do you have somewhere you need to be?” Her inquisitive look from yesterday returned.
