She’s eagerly looking out of the window and chatting to Joseph about what is beneath us and how long it’ll take to get to Whale Cove in Canada.
“Will there be snow?” she asks, her eyes bright with excitement.
I wonder if she really knew what he was doing when he was screwing me over?
“There should be. It’s definitely going to be cold,” Joe explains.
“Will we see a polar bear?” she sounds like a kid on the night before Christmas.
I can’t help smiling. Her expression is infectious. “I’ll book us a helicopter tour, and we’ll go look for the polar bears,” I tell her.
“Really?!” she exclaims in utter happiness.
“Really,” I smile. “I have no idea if we’ll find one, but there’s no harm in trying,” I shrug.
“It’ll be a great view either way,” Ben nods.
***
The plane lands, and I grab a jacket from the closet and wrap it around Maria’s shoulders before we disembark and climb into the waiting car. She smiles at me, but it’s wary and cautious.
The driver takes us straight to Whale Cove beach resort. The air has a sharp bite of cold to it.
“Shit, it’s a lot cooler out here.” Joseph shudders as we head up to the private villa I’ve booked us for a week.
It’s away from the other properties on the beach resort, so we have space to ourselves. Besides, this villa is far more luxurious than the beach villas, and I wanted everyone to be comfortable.
“There’s not much out here,” Ben remarks, standing at the tall living room window and looking toward the ocean. Light snow glows over the ground and in the distance on the mountains.
“That’s the point, though, isn’t it?” I ask, throwing a log onto the massive fire they prepared for us. Heat spills from it into the living room and creates a cozy glow.
“I guess it is the point. Can we snowboard out here?” he asks.
“We can do anything we want. There’s a little village nearby to explore. We can take the helicopter anywhere. Ski, snowboard, explore…”
“Sounds good to me. Sometimes the less there is to do, the better the relaxation is anyway,” he grins.
“Oh, and there’s an excellent spa at the resort,” I tell him. “If you want a massage or something like that.”
“This place is incredible!” Maria calls out, running down the stairs from the bedrooms to stand near the oversized fireplace. She crouches in front of it and holds her hands toward the flames. “I can’t believe how beautiful it is!”
Her cheeks are red from the cold.
“Do you want to throw on an extra few layers and go for a walk?” I ask.
“Oh yes, are you coming with me?” she asks.
“I’ll come with you while the others unpack,” I agree.
She runs away again to find the warm clothes I arranged for her before we left Chicago.
I wait in the living room wearing a dark gray snow jacket and matching snow boots over my jeans and hoodie. Maria comes down in a pink jacket, white boots, and white fluffy mittens. Her fluffy white hat is decorated with cat ears, and I shake my head, chuckling at her.
“You warm enough?” I muse.
“I am perfectly snuggly, thank you for asking,” she replies as I pull the door open for her and gesture for her to go ahead of me.
Why the hell does she have to look so damn cute?
