Aspen peeks out from under the covers, sucks in an audible breath, and dives back under the quilts.
“Shower,” I hear her whisper.
Cooper looks at me.
Then angles his head toward the interior of the cabin.
“Just you two?” I ask him with a nod to Davis. “Let me grab my coat. I can help shovel.”
Cooper doesn’t move.
Dude takes his time crossing his arms over his chest and looking at me.
“Don’t be an ass,” Aspen calls from under the covers.
“There’s only one woman in the world who can tell me that, and you’re not her,” he replies.
“Does Waverly know you still only take orders from your mother?” Aspen retorts.
Cooper cracks a grin, looks at me, and goes straight-faced again. “Why are you here?”
“Don’t answer that,” Aspen orders.
Cooper’s nose twitches like he can smell what we’ve been up to.
“Cabin’s on a well,” I tell him. “No power, no water. And the chicken almost went bad.”
“That doesn’t answer why you’re here.”
“I’ve been ordered to not tell you.”
We have a stare-down.
“You two asshats gonna keep staring lovingly into each other’s eyes, or are you gonna get out here and help with the snow?” Davis calls.
“They didn’t send a helicopter?” Aspen’s voice is still muffled under the covers.
Cooper half snorts, then frowns like he didn’t consider the helicopter, then finally grins again. “We don’t love himthatmuch.”
“Davis needs to keep himself busy or he gets in trouble,” I add.
“Huh,” Aspen says. “That makes sense. Cooper too.”
The back door of the extended cab with the snowplow opens, and Waverly pokes her own beanie-covered head out.
“Is Aspen in there? Is she okay?”
Aspen sticks her head all the way out of the quilts but keeps her neck and shoulders covered.
“Was that Waverly?”
Cooper leans past me to look at her. “Yeah, she wanted to check on you herself, but she can’t get through the snow yet.”
Aspen’s eyes get shiny. “Then get to work.”
I’m already grabbing my coat and boots.
Davis is alternating between clearing snow off the fallen tree and cutting segments of it to clear the road. I start shoveling a path to the cars. Cooper wades through the nearly waist-high snow to get back to the truck, then returns to join me with a second shovel.
