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She was a nice person, he decided. And pretty.
Dangerous combination.
Chapter Eleven
The windows rattled as the wind screamed through the eaves, waking Patience in the middle of the night. But when she opened her eyes, she couldn’t tell where she was. What was going on?
She lifted her head, saw the outline of a man in bed beside her—and stiffened. Kanon! She was still in his motel room.
No, not his motel room, she corrected. That made it sound worse than it was. This was his home. For now.
But…what’d happened? Why hadn’t she gone back to her father’s?
Slowly, the memory of their last conversation filled in some of the blanks. She’d been waiting for Kanon to walk her out. He’d insisted he’d scrape off her windows and help her clear a path through the parking lot—with a shovel, if necessary, since the snow had piled up. And then…
She couldn’t remember what’d happened next. She must’ve drifted off and instead of waking her, he’d covered her with a blanket and gone to sleep himself. He probably thought nothing of it, didn’t realize what staying with him would do to her relationship with her father. Carl didn’t agree with sex outside of marriage, and even though she and Kanon hadn’t touched each other, he’d assume the worst if she didn’t show up until morning. Then he’d give her the silent treatment for a week or longer.
She could already imagine Sunday’s sermon. It would most definitely be about sins of the flesh. She pictured herself sitting in her usual pew beneath the withering glare of her father at the pulpit, feeling as if everyone could tell he was speaking directly to her…
She flinched. He always made her feel so much shame and guilt. She hated that, hated that she even had to worry about what her father would say or do. It made her feel like a teenager again. But she’d already proven him right by getting pregnant out of wedlock, and he’d never let her forget it—not to mention she was now a mother and needed to set a better example for Ari.
Damn… She had to get home. But if anything, the storm had only grown worse.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, she inched over to the side of the mattress so she could get up and immediately slipped into the bathroom because she had to go so badly. When she came out, she peered through the only window into the parking lot. Her SUV was nearly buried in snow.
It would take a lot of work to dig it out…
She bit her bottom lip as she gazed back at a sleeping Kanon. What was she going to do? She didn’t have any tools except the small windshield scraper she carried in the vehicle. It wouldn’t be easy to make progress with that while the snow and wind continued to howl around her.
But she had to try, didn’t she?
Suddenly, as if he could feel her looking at him, Kanon lifted his head. “What is it? You okay?”
“Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to disturb you. I’m just…trying to figure out how to get home.”
He rubbed a hand over his face as he looked at the alarm clock. “It’s only three. Why not sleep a little longer? Maybe the weather will improve. The snowplows should start at four or so, and I’ve already set an alarm for five. Then I’ll help you get out of here.”
“Five?” she echoed. “I can’t imagine you really want to get up that early…”
“I want to get up at five much more than I want to get up now,” he clarified, but she could tell he was joking. Even if he wasn’t, she didn’t blame him. Who’d want to go out in weather like this just to be polite to some woman he was working with on a festival? He certainly wouldn’t feel obligated to do the same for a male friend.
When she didn’t answer right away, because she couldn’t decide how to respond, he said, “That’ll be before anyone’s up at your place, won’t it?”
She let the breath she’d been holding seep out. “Yeah. My father and I don’t get up until six-thirty. Ari waits until seven. School doesn’t start until eight-fifteen.”
He yawned. “We can make it.”
She peered outside again. “Are you sure? I don’t want my daughter to think that I…that I…”
“Had sex with some dude who just moved back to town?”
“Yes!” she said in exasperation.
“We’ll get you home in time.”
She eyed the chair that held her coat. She could either take his word on that, or she could insist on leaving now—except leaving now didn’t seem wise. She could very easily get stuck in the snow, which meant it could take just as long to get home as if she’d waited, and she wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable over the next two hours. “Okay.”
She returned to the bed, but she knew as soon as she lay down that she probably wouldn’t go back to sleep. She was too aware of Kanon.
