CHAPTER
ONE
Rett
Two Years Ago…
I wasn’t sure what was worse: the copious amount of bone-chilling flakes tumbling from the ashen sky or the skin-numbing wind accompanying them.
Perhaps it was the combination of the two. After all, wasn’t two better than one?
I wouldn’t know because I was chronically on my own, but the tag team this winter weather created sure convinced me.
Snow wasn’t exactly a surprise in Buffalo, New York, but it did make me wonder about my life choices. When I’d hopped a bus a few months ago, what had possessed me to get off here? I should have kept going south, crossing state lines until I reached a place where the sun kept blizzards at bay.
Maybe if I had, my fingertips wouldn’t be stinging painfully, my knees stiff and cheeks peeling off my face. The fact that I could only afford a bus ticket so far seemed like a worthlessexcuse now.
Tucking my chin into my chest, I burrowed into the nicest thing I owned—a black North Face coat—and made my way down the block and around the corner to a small internet café. Stepping into what should have been a blissful kiss of heat was more like a rabid bite as my constricted blood vessels began to dilate and my nerves woke from the numbing cold.
The sting elicited by the foreign warmth was almost unbearable and nearly sent me back out into the very weather I’d just been daydreaming about fleeing. Eyes watering, I glanced out at the white tundra blanketing the city and debated if the pain of thawing out would be worth it because I wouldn’t be able to stay indoors long. I had no cash to purchase any internet time, and the free ten minutes they offered was a tease.
A phone went off close by, startling me and making me turn.
“Yeah?” The guy at the computer nearest the door answered on the first ring. “Shit, for real?” he asked, leaning forward in his chair. At his elbow was a cup of what was probably coffee from the complimentary bar at the back of the room.
My stomach growled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since the day before.
“I have thirty minutes left here,” he said, then listened for a moment before grunting. “Fine. I’m coming.”
He stood, pocketing his phone, and grabbed his coat, hurrying to shrug it on.
“What are you looking at?” He confronted me with a glare.
I stiffened, embarrassed he’d caught me staring. “Nothing,” I replied.
“What?” he challenged, pausing as he hooked his scarf around his neck.
“Uh, noth—” I started, but he cut me off.
“You know what? Whatever. I don’t have time for this. Clean this up, and you can have my last thirty minutes.”
It took a second for his words to sink in, and when they did, I nodded dumbly.
He scoffed and shoulder-checked me on his way by, and I fell against the partition blocking his computer screen from view. Internet dude didn’t even look back as he rushed out, snow swirling inside the second he opened the door.
The attendant openly stared through the service window at the back of the space, and I pointed to the newly empty seat. She rolled her eyes and gestured for me to go ahead.
I slid in immediately, embarrassed to note the body heat still lingering in the chair yet sinking in a little deeper. It seeped through my threadbare jeans, making me shiver.
Grabbing his empty cup and a wrapper for some sort of sub sandwich, I tossed them in a nearby trash bin and glanced back to note the attendant had disappeared back inside the small cubicle. I took that as my chance to visit the coffee bar and help myself to a cup of the dark, steaming liquid, adding too much sugar. The cream pitcher was empty, but there were some of those little plastic cups, so I added a few and then shoved some more in my pocket for later.
Hey, calories were calories.
Sure, technically, the coffee was complimentary for paying customers, but I did have thirty minutes of purchased Wi-Fi to use. That counted, right?
The anticipatory rumble my stomach threw out made someone lift their head on my way back to my seat. I was too excited about the hot, sweet bounty to be embarrassed and took a generous sip before I was even sitting down. The coffee was scalding and it burned going down, but I didn’t mind. The warmth was so nice.
Staring at the monitor, I marveled at my good luck. I hadn’t had thirty minutes of Wi-Fi in so long. The possibilities were endless.
