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“Shane!” I punched him lightly on the upper arm. He covered the microphone and pushed me away with his shoulder.

“It’ll take a while for us to get there. We’re walking.”

Shane paused again and continued nodding to himself.

“No. We’re going cross-country. You have my credit card number. We’ll show up.”

“Unless the bears eat us,” I grumbled, and Shane put his arm around my shoulder. He ended the call and kissed me on the cheek.

“Even though I understand why the bears would want to eat a cute cook, I’ll prevent it.”

Apparently, I still appeared skeptical, because he kissed me again and pulled me toward him. “They won’t come that close to the city. Most of the time.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re only making it worse. Let’s go.”

We made our way along the building to the park adjacent to the museum. Even here, we were walking on grassy areas covered in snow. I tried to make my way along one of the small paths and immediately slipped. The frozen snow and grass crunched under our feet, and we skidded from time to time.

When we stepped onto the field Shane had identified on the map, it became abundantly clear that we were not dressed appropriately for this adventure. Immediately, we were ankle-deep in snow in the furrows. It slid over the edge into my shoes and I cursed. The disgusting cold penetrated my socks, and my feet were icy within seconds.

“It’s just up ahead,” Shane assured me, and we picked up the pace. We were making good progress, but the cold was creeping up my calves. My pant legs were getting wet, and the uneven ground required me to use all my strength to keep my footing.

Together it took us almost thirty minutes to cover a distance that Shane on his owen probably covered in ten minutes. Finally, we reached the back of the hotel and made our way around the corner to the main entrance. The last part was the most difficult because the hotel parking lot was as slippery as the museum’s.

Shane glided toward the entrance on his boots with relative elegance, while I couldn’t find the slightest grip with my leather shoes.

A cute little woman suddenly appeared at the door. The green suit she was wearing was tailor made for her. She wore white sneakers that either matched the classic outfit perfectly or didn’t match at all. I couldn’t decide. “Oh my goodness! Where did you come from? We’ve just cleared a path to the street.”

“No problem.” The effort Shane had to make was clear in his voice. His pants were wet up to his knees, and his shoes had seen better days.

My next step met with no resistance and I flailed my arms. At the last second, I managed to grab hold of the wall of the house.

“Wait!” Shane called. Exhausted, I stopped and stared at the entrance.

“I probably won’t get any further, anyway. I’ll just spend the night here.”

Shane laughed. “My drama queen!”

“Pfft,” was all I could say.

“Could you please . . . ” Shane pointed behind the woman.

She turned around and nodded in agreement. “Good idea. Here.” She handed Shane a shovel with a long handle, and I groaned.

“Oh, come on, how is that supposed to work?”

Shane had slid over to the side of the house and held the handle out to me. “It’ll work. Now do it.”

Grumbling reluctantly, I grabbed it and let Shane half pull me, half crawl toward the entrance.

Finally, I was only a few inches away and reached Shane’s hand. With a strength I didn’t expect, he hoisted me into his arms.

Super elegant, flashed through my mind.

“No matter what you do, it’s always elegant,” Shane murmured.

“So that’s what I was thinking out loud.”

His gentle smile tickled my ear. “It must be the thrill of adventure that’s making you talkative.”