The sound of their boots crunching through the snow crust was deadened somewhat by the fresh flakes that drifted down onto Auggie’s forehead and nose. The air was that level of cold that had puffs of her breath streaming through the air, but not so cold that walking didn’t keep her warm.
Behind them, the fresh snowfall was already burying the tracks their passing had made in the snowy park down the street from the house. Right now, for the most part, the streets were silent. Later, Auggie imagined, cars would fill the streets as people headed to family dinners that evening. She could see lights on in the houses they walked past, and smoke drifting up from chimneys. Other than that, though, she and Josh might well have been the last two people in the town.
They walked side by side, her arm linked through his. Their bodies were near enough that they each kept their hands in their jacket pockets for warmth. Josh’s dark hair was covered in a white cap of snowflakes. Auggie had to assume her own hair was in the same state. On him, though, a white head looked distinguished, and for just a moment, Auggie could imagine what he’d look like in fourty years.
Still good. Still hot. Still like a man she’d like to plaster her body all over.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Josh said, breaking the spell of peace that had fallen over them like the clouds draping the mountains.
Auggie exhaled a breath. There was no chance she could explain the thoughts that had been flowing through her mind.
“I was wondering, if I were to kiss you out here, would our lips freeze together?”
Josh snorted.
“More likely, given how hot you get me whenever we kiss, we’d combust and turn this field to a river of melted slush.” He stopped walking and turned to face her as he spoke. “But I’m game to experiment if you are.”
His lips found hers before she even had a chance to answer. In a sense, Auggie thought, they did get stuck together. Every time he kissed her, he made her want to stay with him just a little bit more. Fumbling with the phone in her pocket, Auggie lifted it at arms length and snapped the photo -- his lips on hers, her body straining forward to meet him.
When his eyes opened, she moved her head to his shoulder, waited until he noted her intent and posed obligingly for her, then she snapped another photo.
“Come with me,” Josh said, his voice low, his tone urgent. “Don’t just take photographs to remember me by, Mo Cuishle. Come home with me.”
“Josh…”
He silenced her with a shake of his head that ended with another kiss. When he pulled back from her, his hand held an envelope, and he thrust it in Auggie’s direction.
“Please, Augusta. You are Mo Cuishle. You are the pulse of my heart. Let me bring you back to Ireland with me.”
“That’s what it means? That’s beautiful, Josh.”
Still, she stared warily at the envelope a long time before accepting it. Even then, she hesitated to open its seal. In her heart, she already knew what it contained.
The ticket destination ended in Dublin. Auggie whistled when she saw how much the ticket had cost.
“I told you I wasn’t going to go.”
“I hoped you’d change your mind.”
Auggie glanced up from the ticket and into his face, then she looked back down at the price tag.
“That’s a lot of hope, Joshua McLaughlin.”
She couldn’t completely fault him for hoping. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to say yes. There was nothing she’d rather do than move to Ireland and give it a go with this man. And it was tearing her apart knowing she was going to have to turn him down, anyway.
“It’s not that I don’t want to…”
“Then say yes. Say you’ll be on that plane with me.”
Auggie’s forehead lifted, wrinkles creasing the top of her brow.
“I can’t.” Her voice was little more than a whisper drifting away into the snow. “At least, not now. With everything that’s up in the air with the magazine? There’s just no way.”
“Auggie,” Josh said, swiping snow out of his eyes in one quick, frustrated gesture, “Look at your phone.”
Now her forehead crinkled into a confused frown. “What?”
“Just,” he nodded in the direction of her pocket, “Look. Read.”
She frowned again, but with her eyes locked on his, she pulled her cell from her pocket. When she glanced down at the screen, she was surprised to see the red bubble indicating ten unread texts waiting for her.
“What’s this?” Her eyes jerked to his. “What did you do?”
“Something you should have done,” he said with only the slightest censure in his tone. “Instead of making assumptions, I asked questions.”
Auggie blinked several times, frowning as she tried to process what he was telling her. Wordlessly, she opened the slew of texts from Mellie. She scanned them a second, then her eyes flew back to meet Josh’s. She saw nothing in his to indicate he felt sorry for what he’d done. Instead, his eyes begged her to understand.
“You texted Mellie?”
“While you were doing dishes. Right before I signed the contracts.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
She did know why. He was a man who went after what he wanted. The fact that it was also what she wanted didn’t change the way she felt about his going around her to accomplish it.
“You should have asked me.”
“Probably. Read the texts, Auggie.”
Snow fell on the screen of her phone as she read. Impatiently, Auggie wiped it off. He’d started simply enough.
Auggie: Just wanted to congratulate you and
your fella. And to thank you again for
arranging the billet.
Mellie: Is this Josh? Thank you and you’re
welcome and is this not the best Christmas
ever?
Auggie: It has made the top of my list.
Mellie: Indeed? Do tell? I certainly hope that
means our little Augusta has made your
stay… hospitable.
Auggie: I want to bring her home to Ireland
with me.
Mellie: Do you now! So, hospitable, indeed!
I knew she was too smart to pass you up, You
may thank me now. And I hope you signed
the contracts before you got, er, friendly with
my best friend.
Auggie: lol Friendly is maybe not the right
word for it.
Mellie: What is, precisely? I sent you over
there as a Christmas gift for her. I swear, if
you’ve hurt her, I will make you pay.
Auggie: I’m in love with her.
Mellie: Aww. This IS the best Christmas
ever! And I am a genius.
Auggie: Clearly. She says she can’t come
with me.
Mellie: What? Why ever not? Oh, blimey.
Certainly not because Isla and I left her
running the magazine? We ARE coming
home.
Auggie: Tell her, not me. Please.
Mellie: Auggie?
Mellie: Augusta, don’t be daft. Go to Ireland
with the hottie I sent you.
Mellie: Auggie, we ARE coming home. In
fact, I’d planned to call a business conference
tomorrow to say so, but I need to let you all
know I’m going to be doing more field work.
I’m too restless at home all the time. Travis,
too. But, we still need a base to call home.
We’d thought to make Vernon that base.
Which means, since you have the cushy
numbers job, anyway, that you don’t need to
be the one holding down the fort. You can
work for us from anywhere in the world. So,
go to Ireland with McLaughlin. Live a little.
Don’t make my mistakes, luv.
Mellie: Well, unless you don’t want to and
are just using us as an excuse. Maybe he’s
not so great in the bedroom? Maybe he has a
tiny penis? Although, it’s not the size, it’s
how you use it. Or, so I’m told. I wouldn’t
know. Travis has plenty of inches. He told
me I must say so. Also, it’s all true. I’m a
happy woman.
Mellie: Besides, Isla’s going to be near
enough to commute to the office. If she can
ever pull herself away from her cowboy’s
bed. Honestly, she’s become some sort of sex
addict, she has. It’s just a touch grotesque.
That’s MY role in this family.
Mellie: Auggie?
Mellie: Augusta Chamberlain, the least you
could do is respond when I’m being
magnanimous and solving all your problems.
Mellie: Why do you all IGNORE me like
this???
Mellie:...
Mellie: Josh, you did hand her the phone, did
you not?
Auggie looked up from the screen with tears in her eyes. Wiping the wet from it, she stuffed it back into her pocket. Then she added the envelope with the plane ticket.
“You still shouldn’t have done it.”
He ignored the complaint and homed in on the point.
“Do you want to come with me or do you not?”
She studied him a long moment. They’d only known each other an incredibly short time, and today he’d shown her the ruthless side she’d suspected had to be part of the package. She should be angry with him. Really, she should. But the man was looking at her with an expression that was a mixture of such hope and fear that any anger melted faster than the falling snow.
He had snow on his eyelashes. She wanted to watch them melt off -- preferably while they were naked together in a nice, hot shower.
And anyway, she already knew her answer. Holding out a gloved hand, she reached for him. When he took her hand and slipped it with his inside his jacket pocket, she smiled.
“Let’s go home, McLaughlin. You can peel the potatoes for dinner while I pack.”