“We’re talking thousands of square miles of ranch land.But we ended up in the same area.Close enough that you heard my avalanche whistle.What are the chances of that happening?”
“Zero.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Me either.”
“I shouldn’t be alive, Evander.”
My instinct is to reassure her thatof courseshe should be alive, but that would be bullshit.And all I can think is…the idea of Phoebe dying strikes me with horror.
The death of someone I care about is the one thing I can’t stomach.
“I’m very glad you’re alive,” I say.“And here with me.”
“I’m alive and herebecauseof you.”
I drop my hands from her hair and wrap my arms around her middle.She leans back into me.I appreciate how her slim, strong legs are stretched out and crossed at the ankle in front of her.“Are you cold, Phoebe?”
“I’m good.I’m in front of the fire and I’m actually wearing something.”
“Do you mind that I’m not?”
She laughs a little.“I don’t mind.It’s just…”
“What?”
“I have to ask—how much do you work out?”
“Usually about two hours a day, with one to two days off a week, depending on which muscle groups I’ve been targeting.I’m also a big fan of intermittent fasting.”
“Yeah, I know some people who really swear by it,” she says.“And as long as you’re not prone to an E.D., then it’s healthy.”
I freeze.Did I hear that right?
“Wait,” I ask.“There’s a link between intermittent fasting and erectile dysfunction?”
“What?”She whips around to stare at me.“E.D.in that context stands foreating disorder!Holy crap on a cracker, you should see the look on your face right now.”
I bust out laughing.She does, too.It takes me a minute before I can speak.“You just took several years off my life.”
She snuggles into me again.Her caresses resume, but on the other leg this time.
“How’s your surgical site, Evander?Is the cold causing any pain?”
“You know, it’s good.I forget about it most of the time.”
“I’m very glad.”
“Your turn, Miss Travis.What were you doing out here?”
Phoebe sighs.“I volunteered to deliver a bunch of supplies to the caretakers of our farthest-out grazing land.I was supposed to leave everything at a drop-off hut.And I almost made it when the storm hit.”
I listen.Hold her closer.
“Jake didn’t want me to go.”
“Why?”
