Adrienne felt herself blushing again, that wink doing things to her stomach that she still wasn’t ready for. Ethan ladled some more soup into both of their bowls and then looked at her.
“You know what I don’t understand?” He asked.
“What?”
“Why it is so easy to talk to you. I haven’t really been able to talk about Lani to anyone since it happened. And here you probably think it’s an amenity, for me to unload all my feelings to everyone who checks in.”
Adrienne laughed. “Do you charge extra for that amenity?”
Ethan laughed back. “No, consider it a wash for the labor for the Christmas decorations.”
“Oh perfect. Then I don’t have to get my lawyer involved in the whole unpaid labor business.”
“Ha!” Ethan coughed into his napkin, sounding like he’d inhaled some of his soup. A few hacks and back slaps later, he let out a small laugh. “On a serious note, I did refund you the price of your stay. It probably won’t hit your account until after the holidays, though.”
Adrienne stared at him. “Wait. Why would you do that?”
Ethan shrugged. “You really did do a lot around here this week. I haven’t seen Ava so vivacious in a long time. Helen even said she did a pinky swear. This all means a lot to me.”
So many questions swirled around Adrienne’s mind, but what came out was, “Pinky swear?”
Ethan gave a small smile. “She only ever did that with Lani. It was their thing.”
Adrienne felt tears rush to her eyes. “And this doesn’t upset you?”
His dark eyes bored through her, and she felt like they saw straight through to her soul. “No. It doesn’t.”
“But I’m leaving in two days.” Adrienne choked out.
Ethan let out a long breath. “I know.”
There was an awkward silence between them, spanning a number of silent conversations between them that they didn’t actually have. Adrienne had to remind herself that she wasn’t living in a Hallmark movie. He wasn’t going to ask her to stay. He wasn’t going to offer to leave his home and business to move to her. He was simply showing remorse for their situation. A remorse that she shared, but one that she too, had no idea how to resolve.
“Well…thanks for dinner.” Adrienne smoothed her napkin and set it on the table. “It was really good. Kudos to the chef.”
Ethan looked like he wanted to say something, but he visibly bit it back and instead gave her one of his small smiles. “You are most welcome.”
“I think I’m going to head back, and get the fire started before the snow comes in.”
Ethan nodded slowly. “Yes, that makes good sense. I’ll make sure you have enough wood for the night.”
Adrienne stood. “Thank you. I’m sure I do, but you’re welcome to check.”
He nodded distractedly. “I’ll be by in about a half an hour. I just have a few things to finish up.”
“Ok.” Adrienne made her way back to her cabin, the wind biting behind her, practically shoving her along. She wasn’t dressed for this level of cold, she quickly realized, and the moment she got back to her cabin, all she could think of was ahot shower to warm her bones. She tossed her coat onto a chair, grabbed her robe and went straight to her bathroom.
It was one of the best showers she’d ever had in her life. Her bones had never been so cold, she thought, and she let the hot water wash away the tears that came to her again.I don’t want to leave, she thought.But you’re painfully cold,another part of her pointed out.It doesn’t matter, I have feelings for him. Maybe I don’tlovehim, like that silly thought last night, but I really like him. And I really like Ava.Adrienne worked some shampoo through her hair.It doesn’t matter what you think, or who you like. He didn’t ask you to stay. That’s the point. If he wanted you to stay, he would ask.She rinsed her hair.What do you expect from a recent widower, Adrienne Marie Croft? That he’d take one look at you, have his whole world turned upside down and boom, you two have a happily ever after? This is real life, not a book, not a movie, not TV.
She didn’t know how long she’d taken in the shower, but there was a lot of steam by the time she dried off and wrapped herself into her robe. She turned the knob to the door and heard a panicked “Just so you know, I’m out here!”
Adrienne froze and inched the bathroom door open. Now she heard rustling and realized that Ethan had been building her a fire. She opened the door the whole way. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, I knocked to bring you in some wood, and I heard you in the shower. I realized that you hadn’t built a fire and then I thought about how cold you were going to be if you came out here without the heat after a shower, and I thought maybe I could build it before you got out. Obviously I didn’t finish and then I wanted to warn you because I didn’t know if…” Now he turned and saw her, all words immediately ceasing. Adrienne bit her lip, wishing she’d brushed her hair, put on some make up,something. Not that she expected to walk out of her bathroom to a visitor. His eyes slowly took her in, from the tips of her damp,bedraggled locks, down past the white terry cloth robe, to the bare legs and toes that she suddenly wished sported some cute nail polish.
“Um…thank you. It’s not freezing out here now. I guess I should have thought to build that fire first. Rookie suburb girl mistake, I guess.”
Ethan was swallowing hard, and he tore his eyes away from her. “Right. Rookie mistake. Yes. Well.” He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together, bringing them to a point at his mouth. “You have enough wood now.”
