“Officer Freeman here with highway patrol,” came a voice.
He’d guessed right, which meant the canyon roads were officially clear. He glanced over his shoulder. “You decent?” he asked. “Want me to give you a moment to put your clothes back on, Goldie?”
She laughed. “Stop it. I’m dressed, of course.”
He chuckled too and twisted the knob. Cold air wafted into the yurt as he tugged the door open—a drastic change to the blustery blizzard. “How can we help you, officer?”
“I saw your Jeep up there, and the smoke from your structure here, and hoped you might be able to explain the SUV we found off the roadside midway through the canyon.”
“Oh, yes, sir. That belongs to my…friend. She’s right over there. In her very own sleeping bag,” he added.
“Hi there.” Ivy waved and came to a stand. “I got stuck on my way up the day before Christmas Eve, and Easton was good enough to come get me.”
The officer’s eyes went wide in question. “You two got snowed in up here, eh?”
“We did,” Easton said. “But I’m guessing the roads are open now?”
“We put our best plows to work, threw some salt and sand down too. The entire pass is good to go.”
Disappointment struck him at the confirmation. “That’s great news, officer.”
The man nodded, looking from Easton to Ivy, then back again. “Well, it’d be best if you could clear the stranded vehicle from the roadside within the next few hours or so.”
“Oh, we will,” Easton assured. He shouldn’t harbor any ill will toward the man for doing his job, but he couldn’t help but be irritated by the way he’d pressed about the SUV.
“Very well.” The man looked down at his snow-covered boots. “You don’t happen to have a pair of snowshoes I could borrow for the trip back, do you? I could lean them up against the lodge when I’m through…”
“Sure,” Easton said, lifting a pair off the hook and handing them over. “Here you go.” Under different circumstances, Easton might invite the man inside to strap them onto his boots. As it was, he didn’t feel like inviting the party crasher himself to barge in for the party’s final moments. “You have a good day.”
“You do the same,” he said with a nod. “And be safe out there.”
Easton returned the man’s nod before closing the door. It took him a moment to spin around and see, for the last time, the gorgeous sight of Ivy standing in the firelight. He spun slowly, his mind drifting back to the passionate moments they’d shared the night before. He hadn’t wanted to stop kissing her. And if Easton hadn’t started to worry that his self-control might slip as the night went on, he might very wellstillbe kissing those tempting lips of hers. Until the officer had come by, anyway.
“I can’t believe they got it all cleared up out there.” Disbelief coated her words. He detected a somber tone as well, as if she were no happier about the news than he was.
He thought back to his musings from the night before. An idea had come to mind. One that said he could just…tryhavinga relationship with Ivy and see where it went, if she was up for it. Sure, the distance might be enough to keep things from really goinganywhere, but it had to be worth a try.
Easton could barely even believe his own mindset. It was as if someone else had climbed into his head and shoveled out the layers of pessimism and doubt. Not all of them, but enough that he was tempted to speak up and see if she felt the same.
“I feel really bad that you did so many nice things for me, even giving me gifts with the tree, the Christmas carols, and the texts you downloaded for me…” She lowered her gaze to the sleeping bag she’d rolled up. “I’m thinking of something I might be able to gift in return, but—”
“I appreciate that,” Easton interrupted,” but I doubt we have time for…that.” He lifted an insinuative brow. “Plus, you just rolled the sleeping bag up.”
Ivy tossed a pillow in his direction and smacked him upside the head. “You’re terrible.”
Easton grinned as a vision ran through his mind. A playful pillow fight with Ivy, wrestling and laughing while tiny feathers got caught in her hair. Another very dreary wave of gloom sank in. Saying goodbye to Ivy was going to suck.
“What I had in mind,” she said, tucking the sleeping bag back into the cupboard, “was maybe deleting the interview. I’m not sure what I would tell Marsha since she’s got her heart set on you being on the show, I know it…”
Wait, she might actually be able to get him out of the show? Not that he was certain to be picked like Ivy thought he was, but still.
Ivy busied herself by tidying up as she continued. “I might be able to say that, I don’t know, something went wrong with the recording. Or that my battery ran out a few minutes into it and I didn’t even notice.” She and Nancy never touched one another’s work, after all. And it wasn’t as if she’d labeled the file. It was just sitting there, a blank folder with the date. One Ivy could delete once she got the chance.
“I wouldn’t want you to take any heat at your job over it,” he said, coming up alongside her where she tucked the pillows into the cupboard as well. “Here,” he said softly, reaching for the laundry bag in one of the cubbies. He proceeded to tug the pillows from their place and remove the cases. “We can take these up to the lodge on our way out. The kids, depending on where they’re at in the program, don’t often get those sorts of luxuries. These accommodations are more for the staff. “
“I hate lying,” Ivy blurted, proving her thoughts were still on the dilemma, “but I don’t think you should have to go onto that show if you don’t want to.”
Easton snatched the hand towel off the table, tucked it into the laundry tote, and walked over to drop it beside the door. It was obvious there was more at work in that mind of hers, as there was in his too. They’d just had a couple of amazing days together and now it was all going to come to an end.
