4
With Eric’s snowmobile, Lauren made it into town in less than ten minutes. Sure, she loved the remote cabin, but was glad civilization was nearby. She pulled the snowmobile into an empty lot across the street from a small café.
Lauren entered the café, ordered a hot chocolate, and pulled out her phone. Ahh, the joy of cell service. She dialed her best friend.
“Lauren, what’s going on? I thought you’d be incommunicado for the week.”
“I had to talk to you, Stacey.”
“You’re all alone in the cabin in the woods and something interesting actually happened?”
“I’m not alone anymore.”
“No. Don’t tell me Nick came after you. I’d say it was super romantic, but you two don’t belong together.”
Lauren laughed. “No, it’s not Nick.” She filled Stacey in on the previous evening’s events.
“I need to see your face. Switch over to video.”
Shaking her head, Lauren complied, and the picture of Stacey sprawled on her living room couch with an expectant expression on her face lit the screen.
“Well, here I am. What are you looking for?”
“I need to see your face while you talk about this guy. Is he cute?”
Lauren’s cheeks warmed.
Stacey sat up. “He is! You’re interested in him!”
“How can you tell by my face?” Lauren asked.
“You’re blushing.”
“I just got off a snowmobile. Of course, my cheeks are red.”
“Nope, you can’t get off that easy. Now let’s go back to the part of the story where a gorgeous guy crashes into your cabin, you nurse him back to health, and you fall madly in love.”
“Stacey, I met the guy last night. I can’t be in love yet.”
“Oh, but you could be soon. You already sound more interested in him than you ever did in Nick. What is it about him? You’re not having the nurse-patient thing, where you fall in love with him because you’re taking care of him, are you?”
Lauren grimaced. “Do you always need to be so dramatic? I bandaged the guy’s head and wrapped his knee. He’ll be walking in a few days. It’s not serious.”
“He would have frozen to death if you hadn’t rescued him from the storm.” Stacey’s eyebrows rose.
“That’s not the point. I don’t want a guy to take care of, I want a guy who will love and respect me.”
“Don’t we all,” Stacey sighed. “So what happened next? You ate dinner together, then what?”
“I read the Christmas story to him, I decorated the cabin, and we talked until 3:00 AM in the morning.”
This clearly got Stacey’s attention. “You, who normally get up at 5:00 AM? Are you for real? Boy, oh boy, I try to get you to stay out with me at night, and you’re dragging by ten. You meet this guy once, and he has you up until 3:00? He must be something special.”
Lauren sipped her hot chocolate before answering. “We talked as if we’ve known each other forever. I’ve never been so open with a guy. Maybe it’s because he was a complete stranger. I wasn’t dressed up, didn’t have on a drop of makeup, and I wasn’t trying to impress anyone.”
“Did you fall asleep in his arms on the couch?” Stacey asked, a dreamy expression on her face.
Chills ran down Lauren’s spine. She wouldn’t mind those muscular arms wrapped around her. “No. I slept in one bedroom, and he slept in the other. You know me better than that.”
“Yes, but it might be a little tempting, being all alone in an isolated cabin with a hot guy. No one would ever know.”
“I would. And nothing happened, so get your mind out of the gutter.”
Stacey’s eyebrows lifted. “My, my, a little defensive, are we?”
Lauren grimaced. “I’m sorry, Stace. I’m a little unsettled about the whole thing. I can’t fall for someone who’s only in my life because he’s stuck there.”
“Maybe he crashed there for a reason. What was the morning like?”
Lauren’s mind flashed to Justin shuffling into the living room, rumpled, rubbing his eyes after too little sleep. “He’s adorable in the morning.”
“Oh, girl, you’re already in it too deep.”
“You’re right.” Lauren slumped against the booth. “Anyway, this morning we ate breakfast together, and I skied over to his friend’s place to tell him what happened to Justin. When we got back to the cabin, Justin was making cookies for me.”
Stacey’s eyes went wide. “What? What kind of guy does that?”
“He asked me my plans for Christmas, and I told him one thing I wanted to do was bake cookies. He wanted to do something nice for me since I was taking care of him.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet. I can’t imagine Nick making cookies for you. Were they any good?”
“They were. And no, Nick wasn’t the baking type. From Justin’s friend’s reaction, Justin isn’t either, but you couldn’t tell from eating them.”
“You better come into town daily to give me updates,” Stacey said, grinning.
“There won’t be much to tell,” Lauren said, a weight filling her stomach. “He’s in my cabin until the road gets plowed. Then he’ll go back to Philly.”
“You mean where you live, too? What’s wrong with that? It doesn’t mean you’ll never see each other again.”
“How do I know he’ll want to see me again?”
“You’ll know.”
~*~
“OK, what’s going on?” Eric asked.
Justin busied himself by picking cookie crumbs off his shirt. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve known you since we were seven. Not once have you ever baked cookies for a woman.”
“I’ve never had a woman save my life before. She dragged me into the cabin when I was unconscious, took care of my injuries, fed me, and gave up her peace and quiet to take care of me. I needed to do something.”
“Normally you’d send a check in a thank-you card,” Eric said.
“I wanted to do something for her. Is that so wrong?”
“It’s not wrong at all. It’s great. But your phone?”
Justin shrugged. “I wanted my messages.”
“Yeah, but you only met this woman yesterday. You’ve got your credit card info linked to your phone, don’t you? And all your personal contacts? She could mess with your life.”
“Lauren is the sweetest, kindest human being I’ve ever met. If I can’t trust her with my phone, this world isn’t good for anything. Besides, she’s a Christian. Do not steal, remember?”
“Yeah, speaking of that, were you reading the Bible when we came in?”
Justin did not want this conversation. “In case you didn’t notice, there’s no cell service, no internet, and no TV. I was bored, OK?”
Eric’s eyebrows lifted. “Do I need to go back to the part where I’ve known you since you were seven? Even if you were in solitary confinement and the only thing to read was a Bible, you wouldn’t pick it up. What happened last night?”
“She read the Christmas story to me out of her grandfather’s Bible,” Justin said.
“There must be more to it. You’ve heard the story countless times before.”
“I wanted to read what happened next.”
“What do you mean?”
“All those years, we went to church on Christmas and Easter. I know Jesus came as a baby, and He died and rose again, but I heard nothing about what happened in between. Lauren read Luke one and two, so I kept going from there.”
Eric leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the coffee table. “I’ve been asking you to come to church with me for twenty years. You meet this woman one time, and you’re reading the Bible. She must be something special.” The corner of Eric’s mouth lifted. “She’s pretty, for sure.”
Jealously rose in Justin’s chest. “You have a wife and kid at home.”
“Relax, man. I’m pointing out a fact.” He rubbed his chin. “I like this woman. She could be good for you.” He shook his head. “Making cookies and reading the Bible. Never thought I’d see the day.”
“It’s not a big deal, OK? Once the roads are plowed, I’ll leave, and she’ll be grateful for the peace and quiet. That’s why she’s here, not to take care of some idiot who can’t even drive in the snow.”
“You don’t think she wants you around?”
“Why would she? It’s not as though she invited me. Ever since I crashed into her tree, she’s spent every moment taking care of me.”
“She didn’t give me the impression she minded having you here,” Eric said.
“Of course not. She’s far too polite. Thanks for letting her borrow your snowmobile, by the way.”
Eric waved a hand. “That’s no big deal. Besides, she’s saving me a trip. She’ll come back with a report on the roads. I’m sure the plows were out on the major arteries.” He stood and peered out the window. “This place is pretty remote. Not likely to be plowed for a while.”
“That’s what Lauren told me last night. Hopefully I can get out of here before too long.” He rose unsteadily and grabbed the walker, moving to stand beside Eric at the window. “I’ll need a little help to dig out my car.”
“Say no more. I’ll check the garage for a shovel and dig you out.”
“I hate to ask, but…”
“You don’t want Lauren to do it.”
Justin grimaced. “That’s the last thing I want.”
Eric clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll shovel her driveway first. If she wants to go anywhere, she won’t have to worry about it.”
Justin gave Eric a smile. “Thank you. That means a lot. I hate feeling so helpless. I should’ve been shoveling the driveway, not making cookies, but I could do most of the cookie work sitting down.”
“I know you’re not used to having people do things for you, but it’s not such a bad thing once in a while,” Eric said. He eased into his parka and disappeared out the door.
After a few minutes, Justin couldn’t stand it any longer. He’d become useless.