“Ruby has needs,” I say, setting my cup on the table and standing.
Gabriel gets up with me. “I’ll get out of your hair.”
“No,” I say quickly. It’s the second time today I’ve discouraged him from leaving. “I mean, if you don’t have anything more to do, you should stay. Keep me and Ruby company.”
Gabriel smiles. “I would love that.” He glances out the window. “There’s enough snow to sled. The owners have sleds somewhere around here. I’ve seen people using them.”
I don’t know what constitutes enough snow to sled, but it sounds like fun. “You lead the way,” I say, gesturing outside.
Gabriel looks for the sleds, while I get dressed in more appropriate attire. I grin at the bed when I walk in the room. It’s rumpled, and the sheets are tossed aside. Gabriel never did like making the bed.
I pull on jeans over my leggings, and a sweatshirt over a long-sleeve shirt. I find Gabriel in the one-car garage. There isn’t space for a vehicle, because it’s packed with other things. Bicycles, an old dresser, and a disassembled bed.
“Found them,” Gabriel announces, holding up a bright red sled. A burnt orange sled leans against his leg.
He carries both out the back door, Ruby at his heels. She doesn’t know what’s going on, but she’s here for it.
I grab my jacket from the back of a chair and pull it on as I follow Gabriel out. I make a sound when I step out, something unintelligible. It’s cold.
Gabriel looks back at me. He pulls his beanie from his pocket and slides it over his head. “Do you have a hat?”
I shake my head and tuck my hands into my underarms. “It’s April. I thought I was safe from snow.”
Gabriel pulls off his beanie in one swift movement and hands it to me. “Wear this.”
“What about you?”
He dismisses my question with a small head shake, as if there is no way he’ll wear a hat when I don’t have one.
I slip the fabric over my head while I follow Gabriel around the house, to a spot between our cabins.
He tosses the sleds on the ground and looks back at me. “You ready for this?”
“Will you show me how to do it?”
“All you need to know is to lean one way or the other to direct where you go. I’ll go first.”
Gabriel sits down on the orange sled and pushes off. Toward the lake he goes, sliding to a stop twenty feet from the waters’ edge. He rolls over on the sled and looks up at me. “Come on,” he yells.
I copy what Gabriel did, pressing my palms into the soft snow and pushing.
Air whooshes past my head. I’m probably not going as fast as I think I’m going, but it’s exhilarating. The cold bites at my cheeks, and my bare fingers.
“Lean left,” Gabriel yells, hands cupped around his mouth.
I do as he says, but it’s too late. I’m heading straight for him, and he scoots out of the way with only a second to spare before I hit his sled and am dumped on my back in the snow.
Cold seeps through my clothes as if they’re not there at all. I cover my face with my arm, laughing and blushing. Gabriel’s feet crunch through the snow, and he drops down beside me. I lower my forearm enough to peek out. Gabriel’s on bent knee, smiling down at me.
“I crashed.”
He chuckles. “You sure did.”
My lower lip juts out, and he taps it with one finger. I capture his finger between my teeth, biting down gently. His eyes darken, his face heats.
The frigid air changes. I stop feeling the cold, and instead feel the intense desire to have Gabriel again. Right this second.
Apparently, Gabriel can read my mind. He pulls off his coat, laying it down on the snow. He guides me to lie down on it, and I don’t feel the cold at my back anymore. His coat is far more suited to the weather than mine.
