“Jeep?”
“If we’re lucky, I can get us into town. If we’re not…” He shrugs a shoulder. “We’ll improvise.”
“Are we getting the Christmas tree?” I ask, too eager.
He pauses halfway into his coat.
“You really want that tree.”
“I really do.”
His eyes soften—barely, but enough. “Then yeah. We’ll get the tree.”
The snow outside is deep, but not impassable. Calder’s jeep, parked beneath a rough lean-to he built off the side of the cabin, is half-buried but intact.
I help brush snow off the windows, feeling entirely too proud of my ice-scraping skills. Calder tests the battery, then nods once.
“Good sign. She might start.”
“She?” I ask. “Your jeep is a she?”
“She’s stubborn,” he says.
“That tracks.”
He opens the passenger door for me without thinking about it, which makes my heart flip even though I absolutely pretend itdoesn’t. I climb in, he rounds the front, and after two grumbling attempts, the engine catches.
“Ha!” I cheer. “Yes! We win!”
He glances sideways at me, expression caught between amusement and disbelief. “You celebrate like this every time a vehicle starts?”
“Only when it’s heroic.”
He shakes his head, but the smile is there.
We crawl slowly down the driveway, tires crunching through thick snow. The forest opens around us—trees bowed under the weight of white, branches glittering in pale sunlight.
“This is beautiful,” I whisper.
Calder’s hands tighten on the wheel. “Yeah.”
We reach the main road. Or what should be the main road. In reality, it’s a partially plowed suggestion of a road.
He leans forward slightly, scanning. “I can get us into town. We’ll have to take it slow, though.”
“Slow is fine,” I say, taking a deep breath to steady the knot forming in my belly. “I’m not in a rush.”
He flicks a glance at me—sharp, considering—but doesn’t say anything.
We drive in silence for a stretch, the kind of silence that feels comfortable, not strained. He’s focused, but calm. I’m warm, watching the scenery blur past like a living postcard.
And then?—
“About yesterday,” he says suddenly.
My heart stutters. “Yesterday?”
“When I…grabbed you.” He clears his throat. “When the chair wobbled.”
