Snowed In Read online

  We had to wait ten minutes for one to open up, but it was so worth it. I was actually able to take off my jacket and gloves. I kept my knitted cap on, trying to retain any heat my body might absorb from the fire.

  After we’d given the waitress our order, Tara said, “I know this is supposed to be your day, Shaun, but there are so many little shops—”

  Shaun gave her a quick kiss.

  No doubt to shut her up. What guy wanted to spend his day shopping?

  He pulled his PDA out of his jacket pocket and started tapping the stylus against it. Then he showed it to Tara.

  She gave a little squeal before looking at me with a huge smile. “Number one on his list of things to do is ‘Let Tara shop.’”

  Squeezing his arm, she kissed him.

  Okay, so maybe I was starting to get the attraction to Shaun. His idea of having a great time seemed to be making sure that Tara was happy.

  I glanced over at Josh. “Did you know about the shopping?”

  “Nah, but I’m cool with it.”

  Lunch was tasty, but when we were finished, I sorta hated to leave the warmth of the fireplace. I prolonged it as long as I could by ordering dessert: apple cobbler. But I skipped the à la mode part. I couldn’t believe the waitress had even asked if I wanted ice cream.

  Then she looked at Josh and winked. “Two spoons?”

  “Sure,” he said, like we were a couple, used to sharing.

  I would have protested, but it seemed petty. Besides, Tara and Shaun were sharing.

  When I saw how large the bowls were, I was glad I had someone to help me eat it. It was scrumptious with a lot of brown sugar crumbs. And it was hot. Anything hot was good.

  Which meant Josh was good. I nearly choked with that thought.

  He looked up at me. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You mind sharing the cobbler?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “Thanks. I could die from boredom shopping, so this could be my last meal.”

  Grinning, I tapped my spoon against the side of the bowl. “You worry a lot about last meals.”

  “Hey, you never know.”

  “Actually, I do know. You’re not going to die from boredom.”

  I dipped out some cobbler. Some of the melted butter and sugar dripped on my chin. I wiped at it with my napkin.

  “You missed some,” Josh said.

  He grazed his thumb near the corner of my mouth. I swallowed hard. It didn’t mean anything, I told myself. So why did my toes curl?

  “There,” he said.

  And while I was still recovering from his touch, he finished off the cobbler, looking smug.

  I wanted to accuse him of distracting me on purpose, but that would mean acknowledging that he had the power to distract me. As a rule, guys didn’t distract me. They interested me…if I wanted to be interested.

  With Josh, I always felt like I had no control.

  Once we finished dessert, I couldn’t put it off any longer. We paid for our meal, bundled up, and strolled through a square that had all kinds of shops. I was very aware that Tara and Shaun were holding hands, while Josh and I weren’t.

  At one point my gloved hand bumped up against his and I jumped. It was embarrassing. I could watch a horror movie without closing my eyes, but I was all jumpy just walking with a guy. It made no sense.

  “So.” Josh cleared his throat as we walked along the cobblestone pavement. “You and Chase. I guess you’ve run your course.”

  I peered over at him. “What?”

  He held up a bare finger. Why didn’t he need gloves? “Date one, the hayride. Date two, V.P. And you’re a two-date girl, right?”

  “Usually, yeah. But I’m not sure V.P. really counted, since I spent more time visiting with Tara than I did with Chase. And he and Shaun were palling around, so if he asks, I’ll go out with him again.”

  “You would?”

  Would I?

  “Yeah, probably,” I said.

  “You really like him?”

  “I like him,” I clarified. “He gets the whole not-wanting-to-date-the-same-person-over-and-over thing.”

  “Yeah, but doesn’t that limit…” His voice trailed off.

  “Limit what?”

  He cleared his throat again. “The first time you kiss someone it’s kinda awkward. So isn’t your life just filled with awkward first kisses?”

  “You and I weren’t awkward.”

  The words popped out before I could stop them. Ours had been so not awkward—at least not until I realized I was suddenly the other woman.

  “No,” he said, and his gaze dropped to my lips, which made them do that whole irritating tingling thing. “It wasn’t.”

  His voice had gone deep like he might be strangling. He cleared his throat again. Maybe he was coming down with whatever Nathalie had been sick with.

  “Hey, guys!” Tara called out. “There’s a mirror maze over here. Shaun wants to go through it. You wanna come?”

  “Sure,” Josh said, taking my hand before I could respond. “It’ll be fun.”

  I wasn’t sure if his taking my hand was calculated or done without thought. But it seemed right as we headed to the building. Only when we got there, we saw that it was closed. The sign said they were only open May through October.

  “That sucks!” Shaun exclaimed.

  Who’d have thought he’d get emotional over mirrors?

  “We’ll come back in the summer,” Tara said.

  How could she be so sure they’d still be together come summer?

  Nodding, Shaun drew her up against his side. “Sounds like a plan, babe.”

  He sounded equally certain. I just couldn’t fathom that.

  For the first time in my life, I felt a flicker of regret that I’d been so insistent on not having a boyfriend. I had no one to make plans with for next week, much less next summer.

  “You okay?” Josh asked.

  “Oh, yeah, I’m just sorry it’s closed.”

  “Well, maybe we—” He stopped. Swallowed. “Maybe when they come back, you can go with them.”

  And I knew then he’d been about to say that he and I could come back sometime. Before he’d remembered that we couldn’t. That I wouldn’t.

  “Have you ever been inside?”

  “Oh, yeah. It’s pretty awesome.”

  We all started walking around again, but Josh didn’t let go of my hand. And while I knew that I should pull free, I didn’t.

  It was a couple of hours before we walked to the public garage where Josh kept his car. And—it was a red Ford Mustang.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  He seemed to be asking me that a lot today, but then I realized that my hand was aching from squeezing his so tightly.

  “It’s my favorite kind of car,” I admitted. “And my favorite color.”

  “Mine, too. On both counts. It was an early graduation present from Dad, which really puts the pressure on me now to graduate.”

  “Is there a chance you won’t?”

  He grinned. “Nah.”

  “You’d better drive it carefully,” I said.

  He gave me a really hot grin. “Careful is boring.”

  Tara and Shaun climbed into the back and I slid into the passenger seat. I took off my glove and ran my hand over the dash. Then I buckled up and listened to the car purr as Josh revved up the engine.

  But it was just for show.

  Once he started to back out, he did drive carefully. Mainly because the streets were slick. I was surprised that the bridge was open for traffic. Only a few cars were out, so I relaxed and enjoyed the ride.

  It had begun to grow dark already. The bridge lights came on as we were driving over it. It was beautiful from a distance, but amazing up close. When we got back to Chateau Ashleigh, I was going to have to thank Shaun for this day.

  “Winter’s the worst time to drive around, but any other season, it’s great. And each season is so different,” Josh s