January
“Andie?” Doc kicked the snow off his boots before stepping into the cottage and shutting the door behind him. He winced at the high-pitched howling wind outside. “Andie? Why’s it so cold in here?”
Rupert whined from the living room. Doc found himself shivering despite his coat. He followed the sound to find Andie under a blanket with her dog on top of her.
“What the—” Doc quickly jerked off his coat. He rushed over to get the fire going, stoking the embers. He put the kettle on, turned the temperature on the radiators up and then returned to the sofa. “Andie? How long were you outside?”
She didn’t respond. Her entire body seemed to be shivering underneath the blanket. Doc pulled his gloves off and tossed them along with his coat onto the nearby armchair.
“Andie? I need you to sit up for me, love. Can you do that? We need to warm you up.” Doc rubbed his fingers together for several seconds to warm them before gently massaging her hands. They were ice cold. “Sit up, love. Come on.”
“Doc…”
“You’re hypothermic. I’ve got the fire going. We’ll get some tea in you. Where are the spare blankets?” Doc had some training in first aid, having taken a course ages ago. He’d also done a fair amount of research while writing about the Arctic. “Were you trying to escape our conversation this badly?”
“No.” Andie stammered the word out. She managed to raise a trembling arm to put toward the hall closet. “Blankets.”
“All right.” Doc got her sitting up with Rupert pressed against her side. He draped the available blanket around her shoulders. “We’ll get you warmed up.”
With a bit of digging through the cupboard, Doc managed to find several quilts. He carried them into the living room. In no time at all, Andie vaguely resembled a mound of shivering fabric.
The kettle whistled in the kitchen. Doc hesitated briefly, tucking in the edge of the blankets. Andie continued to shiver violently.
“I’m going to make tea.” Doc didn’t even know if Andie had processed anything he’d said since stepping into the cottage. He checked the fire before making his way into the kitchen. “You have herbal tea, right? From your nonna? Anyone with a meditation app addiction has to have herbal tea.”
Checking through the cupboards and drawers, Doc eventually found the tea cabinet. He grabbed a large mug and a box of non-caffeinated tea. He also discovered her hot water bottles stashed to one side.
Once the pot of tea was brewing, Doc started the kettle a second time. It took a little while for him to get both bottles filled. Finally, he carried them into the living room along with a mug of tea.
The fireplace had finally begun to warm up the cottage. Andie still continued to shiver uncontrollably. He had to get her temperature up quickly, or they were in for a trip to the hospital.
Sitting on the coffee table in front of her, Doc gently removed her boots and replaced her damp socks with ones he’d briefly warmed up by the fire while making tea. He wrapped the hot water bottle in a spare towel and then placed it under her feet, covering her up again with a blanket.
Doc slipped the second hot water bottle behind her to rest between her back and the sofa. “Think you can manage the mug on your own?”
“Can’t….” Andie gave up attempting to take it from him. “Cold.”
“Okay.” Doc shifted forward and placed the mug in her hands, covering them with his own to provide support. “Can you take a sip?”
“No.” Andie’s teeth chattered. She didn’t seem able to string a complete sentence together. “Need help.”
“Right. We’ll manage together, love.”
It was awkward and slightly messy. But Andie got a few sips of tea. He continued to warm her hands, periodically offering her more from the mug.
After what seemed like ages, Andie stopped trembling quite so violently. She managed to hold the mug on her own. He’d topped it off for her while busying himself in the kitchen.
Scrounging around in the fridge and cupboards, Doc had found ingredients to make a simple chicken, veggie, and rice soup. He’d been halfway through dicing everything up when her tablet made a sound. It was buried underneath a stack of mail that she’d obviously picked up earlier.
“Your nonna’s on Zoom.” Doc held the tablet away from him like it was contagious. He didn’t mind electronic communication, but video seemed unnecessary. “Want me to ask her to call back?”
“I can manage.” Andie sounded far better than the hoarse chattering she’d done earlier. “Sorry to be such an absolute bother.”
“You’re not a bother.” Doc answered the call with a short wave before twisting the tablet around and setting it up on her knee. “I’ll finish making soup for us.”
“What have you done to yourself, Andriana?” Her grandmother switched to rapid-fire Italian. Doc could hear other voices, the rest of Andie’s family in the background as well. They were all talking over each other. “Docherty? Where are you? Come back and tell me why she’s not saying anything.”
“Maybe because you haven’t let her have a word in edgewise?” Doc stepped around behind the sofa so they could all see him. He almost laughed at the number of people trying to squash themselves into view on the Zoom screen. “Your Andriana got a little cold. She’s going to be fine, but maybe she can call you later when her teeth aren’t threatening to break themselves into pieces?”
Alex, Andie’s da, waved at him from the bottom corner of the screen. “Take good care of our wee bairn.”
“I’m thirty-five,” Andie grumbled hoarsely. She shivered and pulled the blankets up higher. “I haven’t been a ‘wee bairn’ in many years.”
“I’ll take good care of her.” Doc waited for all their goodbyes to be said before disconnecting the Zoom call and turning off her tablet. “You okay?”
Andie sank back against the cushion and dragged the unwieldy mass of blankets more tightly around her. “I can’t seem to completely warm up.”
“Give it time. You’ll get there.” Doc set her tablet to the side. He offered her the mug of tea for a second time. “How are your hands?”
“A little better.” Andie struggled for a few seconds before getting both hands out of the blankets. She clutched the mug in both of them. “Not sure what happened. It was chilly. I couldn’t think straight. No idea how I got into the cottage. Rupert kept nudging the back of my legs when I stopped walking. The wind and snow. Everything’s a blur. I tried lighting the fire, but my fingers refused to cooperate. Like I’d lost all my fine motor skills.”
“Hypothermia can sneak up on you. It’s a windy but damp cold out there. Seeps into your bones.” Doc returned to the kitchen to check on the soup. “This needs to simmer for another thirty minutes. I’ll set a timer.”
“Doc? Come keep me warm.”
Doc stirred the soup a few times before setting it on top lengthwise to prevent the pot from boiling over. “Just a second.”
Settling on the sofa beside her, Doc stretched his arm along the back of it. Andie eyed him briefly before tilting over until she crashed into his side. He chuckled while helping her into a more comfortable position, cuddled against him.
“Feel like a numpty.”
“You shouldn’t. It can happen to anyone. I bet you were thinking of a quick whiz around the farm to check on everything. You planned to go right back inside. No reason to think you’d wind up hypothermic.” Doc adjusted his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to tuck herself closer to him despite the layers of blankets.” You warm enough?”
“Nice and toasty. No longer feels like I’m going to rattle my teeth out of my head.” Andie sipped her tea in silence for a minute. “Why’d you run away when we first kissed?”
“What?”
Andie tapped her fingers against the mug. “Maybe I’m still rattled by the cold. Just a question that’s been floating around in my mind for a while. I shouldn’t have blurted it out like that. Sorry.”
“Fair question. Just… trying to process my thoughts.”
There was another more prolonged silence. Doc thought carefully about the question. It had been one he’d asked himself several times as well.
“Fear,” Doc finally responded.
“Of me? Us?”
“Of myself. I didn’t understand what I was feeling physically and emotionally. And my lack of interest in sexual shenanigans has been an issue previously. I just… thought something was wrong with me. I didn’t want to wreck our friendship.” Doc saw the irony in his thinking in retrospect, but he hadn’t been ready for the lifelong sort of relationship he hoped they’d have. “I didn’t have the words for it then.”
“What words?”
“I’m asexual. Those words. I’m asexual.” Doc had repeated them to himself a number of times. He’d experienced immense relief at no longer feeling broken but having a way to express who he was. “Not sure I could’ve managed a relationship with you until I understood myself better.”
“You saying you had to warm up to the idea?” Andie tried to hide her snicker in the blankets.
“Might be the worst joke you’ve ever told me.” Doc stretched his legs out in front of him. He laughed when Rupert made himself comfortable underneath them. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”
“Just glad you followed the breadcrumbs back home.” Andie offered him her mug of half-finished tea. She gave what seemed like a satisfied sigh and settled back against him. “I knew you’d come back.”
“I didn’t.” Doc placed her mug on the coffee table. “Thought I’d lost my chance. I’m glad I came home.”
“Me too.”