“The two of you,” he sighs but doesn’t leave me hanging. “She got here a few hours ago, thankfully she was ahead of the storm for most of the trip. I’ve already doled out my allotment of relationship advice for the day, so you’ll have to get her to tell you what I said.”
Biting my tongue on a string of curses, I thankfully see a sign for the next exit and slow down even more to prepare to take it.
“It’ll take me a couple of hours to get up that way.”
“I’m going back to sleep, so I’ll leave the side door unlocked. Her room is upstairs, last door on the left.”
“Thank you,” I say, guessing that him giving me directions to his daughter’s bedroom is as much of ablessingas I can ever expect.
*
It’s still snowing when I’m pulling into Dindak’s driveway, so I park near the street, enough so the plow won’t hit me but also leaving plenty of room for them to get their vehicles past me if needed. I sit there for a moment, clenching and unclenching my fingers before I start to massage the stiffness out of my shoulders.
Taking a deep breath, I stop delaying what I came here to handle and step out of the truck, my leg sinking several inches into the heavy snow. Every step feels like I’m walking toward my final judgment.
Christ! What’s gotten into me?Shaking off my dark thoughts, I double-time my steps to the side door, entering a mudroom.
Concentrating on kicking my boots off first, I sense motion to my right and look up to see Everly watching me intently. She’s framed in the doorway to the kitchen, her hair pulled into a loose knot, holding a mug of coffee out toward me.
“Dad slid a note under my door sometime between when I finally crashed and when I woke up a little while ago,” she says, looking tired, beautiful, and wary.
“What did it say?” I ask, letting the heat from the mug soak into my bones.
“Just in case I woke up with the ‘foolish idea of getting on the highway during a white-out’, he wanted me to know that you were coming here and that I should hear you out.”
“The Kings have a chapter in Wyoming. I can ask to transfer there, or I can move here and commute back and forth to Clear Creek,” I tell her, putting the mug on top of the dryer but holding myself back when all I want to do is pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out of her.
Her breath catches and it was like I felt it more than I heard it, and it made something inside of me crack open.
“I don’t know what you want from me right now,” she admits, her voice trembling as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“It’s not just that you’re the girl-next-door type. You’re sunshine and fresh air and everything I want more of in my life. I understand that I can’t just snap my fingers and you’ll agree to be my Ol’ Lady, but I need you to know that I will always show up for you. Yes, I have a temper and I’m a fighter. I promise that will never be turned on you.”
“I never thought it would be,” she interrupts me with a soft smile. “Even from that first night, you wanted to protect me. But I’m still scared.”
“Me too,” I say, finally stepping forward and reaching for one of her hands. “Nothing in this world has ever scared me more than the thought of losing you.”
“Come in,” she says, taking a step backward into the kitchen, then she giggles when I pick her up and I wrap her long legs around my hips.
Heading toward the stairs with my original destination in mind, I hesitate for a quick moment. “Um, is your dad a sound sleeper?”
“He is,” she instantly replies.
“Thank God,” I say, continuing up the stairs. “Otherwise, I was going to have to find someplace else for us to go.”
I’m not in top shape right now, but I’m still able to carry her upstairs, where she insists on me putting her down and tiptoeing to her room like we haven’t already made enough noise to wake the dead.
Surprised at the amount of luggage in her room, I start to ask about that but am easily distracted when she pulls her nightshirt off.
Everly crawls onto her unmade bed while I undress and join her. It doesn’t escape my notice that her eyes first go to the scar on my upper arm before checking out my calf.
“I’m better. I promise,” I reassure her.
“Good, you can be on top,” she says, giving me a wink that reminds me of the one she shot me weeks ago.
“Hey, do you think Grease and Griddle will be open today?”
“Work up an appetite first, worry about that later.”
