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He exhaled slowly. “Then I’m relieved.”

I held out my hand to him. “Come on! Let’s keep going!”

When we left the museum almost two hours later, pure chaos awaited us.

Cars were parked haphazardly in the parking lot. People were crawling on the ground. Others were simply sitting on their backsides.

Lights were flashing from the street.

“What on earth happened here?” I stared at the disaster in horror.

“Excuse me. Can I get through?” Behind us, a man armed with a shovel, a bucket, and a determined expression made his way through the crowd.

He immediately set about clearing away the ice that had formed across the entire forecourt in front of the entrance. As he worked, he sprinkled a mixture of salt and stone chips.

“That won’t do any good,” grumbled a woman’s voice from the cash register.

“We have to do something,” the man countered.

“Not even the emergency services can get through,” the woman continued the discussion. “The cars are parked right up to our driveway.”

I turned to the driveway in question. The lights on the street turned out to be the flashing lights and warning lights of cars that had skidded into the ditches or were blocking the width of the road.

“Fuck!” I blurted out.

Shane pulled me out of the entrance area by my arm, checking his phone.

He swiped wildly at it.

“When do you have to work tomorrow?” he wanted to know.

“Not until lunchtime. I am supposed to be there around nine. Why?”

“My first student is at ten.” He tilted his head. “How about we extend our date for the night?”

I frowned. “What do you have in mind?”

He pointed across the parking lot, where the dark night stretched out. “Behind this park is a field. And behind that field—not even a mile away—is a small boutique hotel on the outskirts of Burlington. I just made a reservation online and will call right away to secure the room for us. Tomorrow morning, when this mess has been cleared up, we can drive back at a leisurely pace.”

Stunned, I stared into the darkness ahead of us and then at Shane’s face. “How do you plan to cover that mile? On skates?”

He looked back at his phone. “It’s grass. Despite the black ice, we can walk there without any problems.”

“Says who?”

He tugged at my sleeve again. “Shall we go? Should I call? Do you have a better idea?”

I shook my head. “Call. If the bears eat us, I’ll hold you responsible.”

A broad grin lit up Shane’s face. “All right. Buckle up, we’ve got an adventure ahead of us.”

I smiled as I watched him enthusiastically dial the number.

“Yes. Right, we made a reservation online and wanted to make sure.”

The person on the other end of the line must have been talking, because Shane nodded and made sounds of agreement. Finally, he continued.

“I see. Perfect. Sure. The honeymoon suite is ideal. We’re on our honeymoon.”