I slow and pull up alongside the car, studying it carefully. The windows are completely coated with at least two inches of fluffy white stuff so they must have been out here for awhile which iswhy I barely noticed it on the road. The dull red color is almost completely covered with snow that’s quickly caking.
They’re probably freezing. I grab a couple of emergency blankets that I always keep in the back seat of my four-door truck and hop out, sinking into the airy snow.
Crunching across the road, I study the situation. I can probably push the car off the road with a little help if it’s a mechanical issue. Or maybe it’s just gas or something. I always carry a spare can. On the mountain, you always want to be prepared for any emergency you can.
Rapping lightly on the window, I step back when the snow breaks free and falls to the ground. My whole body stiffens when I see the terrified pair of light eyes staring back at me. There’s something a little familiar about them.
But there’s no time for that. I can see a faint blue tinge to her full lips and my heart is pounding out of control. I yank at the door but it doesn’t open and I yell, “open the door” to her.
She freezes for just a second and there’s a thump from the backseat. Then she lunges for the door and it swings open, snow dropping off of it like it’s raining white stuff.
“Hey, what’s the problem?” I ask her, stunned at the soft, crimson curls that explode out from underneath her pale lavender stocking cap with a little pompom on the end. Her body is completely hidden by a lavender winter coat that looks like it’s seen better days. And her eyes shimmer like silver stardust at me. Wary yet hopeful. A wild animal praying for help from a human instead of getting trapped by them
“I don’t know.” Her voice is husky and soft, a little ragged. My whole body tightens up and I straighten, shocked.
I’ve never reacted like this to any woman before. Not in forty-five freaking years. I’m on my way out of town and I run into an angel in a snowstorm that has an unfamiliar ache taking over every part of my body and soul.
I don’t know what’s happening but I sure as hell know that I don’t want to leave, don’t want to take one step away from her.
“A big animal ran in front of the car and I lost control for a minute, trying not to hit it. And then when we stopped, it wouldn’t start. It just keeps making a clicking noise.”
“Won’t even turn over?”
“Nope.”
A small smile curls my lips. Her silvery eyes narrow on my face like she knows me, recognizes me somehow. And like she wonders what kind of madman smiles at a broken-down car.
Wiping the smile off my face, I push the door open further. “How about you hop up in my truck and get warmed up while I take a look at this.”
Her eyes dart to the backseat and for the first time, I notice that she’s not alone. Two little kids stare back at me from the backseat, wide-eyed and wondering.
A real smile curls my lips. I love kids. “Hey, guys! You want to get out of this cold car and get warmed up in my truck?”
I don’t even wait for their mother to open the door. Just open it myself and usher them out. The boy’s older and he studies me warily, shooting his mom a quick glance. She nods, biting her full pink lower lip and my belly dips, my core tightening with hunger.
He hops out, sinking in a snowdrift, keeping his eyes, so like his mother’s, fixed on me. Then he reaches back in and helps his younger sister out, keeping an eye on me the whole time.
She grabs onto his hand to steady herself and when she looks up at me, I see her mother’s eyes again. Her red curls dance around her head in the wailing wind and snow. Her soft pink hat barely covers her thick curls.
“Come on, guys. Let’s get y’all warmed up.” I lead them to the back door of my truck and help them in, tucking a blanketaround them. The boy eyes me critically but like he can’t help himself he sighs, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, guys. Just hang on and I’ll get your mom settled in here too.”
The girl smiles at me and my heart melts. It’s wide and toothy and so damn full of life that she’s got…shining with it. I can’t help smiling back at her.
But I close the door and turn back to the car, finding the woman standing outside the vehicle, her eyes fixed on her kids.
I step around her and sit down in the seat, cranking at the car and just from the clicking sound, I know this car isn’t going any damn place. Not without some mechanical intervention.
Shooting her a smile, I nod at my truck. “Why don’t you grab what you need and I’ll take you guys where you’re going? That car isn’t going anyplace. Needs to go to a mechanic.”
Her pale face goes alabaster white and she whimpers. Cocking my head, I stare at her, sure yet again that I know her.
“I…we can’t just ride along with a stranger.” Her words are firm but her voice is so soft it almost disappears on the wind.
“I’m Landon Winters.” I hold out my gloved hand. She sets her own tiny palm covered in a lavender mitten into mine. Heat streaks up my arm and spreads in my body like a wildfire blaze.
“I’m Kinsey Martin,” she says. That’s when it all clicks into place.
