“What happened?” Her body was receiving a score of confused signals. Cold but not. Pinned down but also shielded.
She couldn’t be back at the stadium.
“The awning collapsed.” It sounded like he was shifting around.
“It collapsed?” she clarified, the signals making more sense. Bowen was lying on top of her, and they were buried after the awning lost its battle with the weight of the snow. “Are you okay? The snow has to weigh a ton.”
“Yes, but it’s not too packed, and it fell evenly. Trust me, I’ve been hit much harder by three offensive linemen. This stuff wasn’t even sprinting.”
“You saved me. You jumped on me to protect me, and you’re holding up the weight.”
“That was never in doubt. Doing what God intended. Big guy protect lady from being smashed.”
“Then why haven’t we gotten out?”
“Had to check on you first. Not sure what’ll happen when I push against the awning. So, here goes, Three, two, one.”
He grunted, and nothing happened.
Rory felt her way past Bowen’s shoulder until she reached the hard ‘ceiling’ of vinyl. “Are we trapped?”
“Might be. Any chance you can get your cell phone?”
“No. It’s in my bag, which I think is under me. Can you reach it?” Rory found the strap of her bag.
“Not unless you want me to stop holding up the awning. I’m on my hands and knees. If I move much, you might get flattened.”
“Fabulous. When they identify our frozen corpses, they’ll assume we were having blizzard sex.”
“A great way to buy it. There’s no one else in the world I would want to freeze to death with except you. I love you that much.”
Rory couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking. “I think we’re premature in moving from five minutes in a pile of snow to what we’ll write on our gravestones. We can figure it out.”
“Forget that. This is the second time I told you I love you, and you didn’t say it back.”
Was he miffed?
“I did.”
“No, when I asked if you loved me, you said ‘yes, and there was no wiggle room.’ This should be a no brainer. It’s a decision to make a goal-line stand in the red zone.”
“I love you. I do. Part of being in love is not deciding to die together before we’ve even had sex. It’s not quitting time yet.”
“So, if we don’t die, we’re going to have sex?”
She wished she could see his face. “Your apartment is around the corner. Were you really going to invite me up there to play Madden 2023? Yes, sex.”
“That settles it. I’ve decided I must live. If only for the sex and future Super Bowls. I have a confession.”
“Another one?”
His voice got closer. “I didn’t try very hard to lift the awning. I was using this to get alone time.”
“Only you would think pretending we could freeze to death together was a good idea.” Rory tried to shake her head. This was one of the awesome parts of Bowen. He had a wicked sense of humor, and when he let his guard down, he could be hilarious.
“I do tackle people for a living.”
Ten minutes later, they were two snowmen riding in the elevator up to his apartment. Last time she’d been there, the doorman had to help hold Bowen up. Today, the doorman was missing, and Bowen had to pry the door open by hand.
