“You’re a shifter.”
“I’m not!” She abandoned the zipper and picked the handle of her enormous purple suitcase off the ground and then stormed away.
“The check-in desk is that way,” he offered, pointing behind him.
“I did early check-in!”
“I’m holding a purse that does not belong to me,” he called after her.
“Shoot,” he heard her mutter as she pulled a wide circle with her suitcase. It looked heavy, and the wheels weren’t turning very well in the snow.
She stomped back toward him and relieved him of the purse and shoulder bag.
“There’s a lot of snow on your glasses. Can you even see?” he asked.
“Can you even tell how rude you’re being?” she spat back at him.
“I’m literally trying to help.”
“By announcing what I am thirty seconds into my stay here,” she whisper-screamed. “I want one weekend off. One weekend.” The last two words sounded different. More somber and desperate.
“Uuuh.” Crap, was she about to cry? He didn’t know what to do with women’s tears. Never had and never would.
“Do you want some peanut butter crackers?” he asked, pulling out a half-eaten package of his midday snack.
The miniature person just stood there, frozen. “You…you want me to eat your pocket snack?”
“I don’t know. Whatever will keep you from crying. Crying makes me freak out.”
The woman pursed her lips against a smile and ducked her gaze to the snow, but he’d seen it.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m a little stressed.”
“Ummm…” Lance looked around and the girl dressed in black was glaring at him over the hood of her car as she unlocked it. “Stressed about what?”
“I’ve never been to Colorado, and I don’t know this place, and I’m here to meet someone, and I’m nervous, and I’m pretty sure she won’t like me and will send me away.”
“Oooh, you’re here to meet your girlfriend?” he guessed.
“What? No. I’m here to meet…” She looked around, and her frowning eyebrows disappeared behind her humongous sunglasses. “I’m here to meet someone like me.”
“Does she know?” he asked, suspiciously.
“Not exactly.”
“So, you’re stalking her?”
The pixie of a woman shrugged her slim shoulders. “No?”
“I don’t think truthful answers come with a question mark at the end. I’m guessing you’re here to see Ava?”
Her face snapped right up toward him. “You know her?”
“She’s my best friend’s wife, and you should know, if you’re here for any kind of weird reason, I won’t have it. She’s good. She doesn’t need anything extra. She is not alone here. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
“You’re being protective of her,” she guessed.
“Call it whatever you want. I’m going to let her know you’re here,” he said, aiming for the lodge.
