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“Or maybe,” she said, sounding less than sure of herself. “Would you like to come out to my house and have lunch there? I have some leftover lasagna that needs eaten up. I always tend to make too much and end up eating it for days. But, if you don’t care for leftovers, then we can grab a bite somewhere else.”
Now that was a lot closer to the response he had hoped for. “Leftover lasagna sounds great. I can eat it hot, cold, anyway it’s available. Nothing better.” He patted his stomach.
“Me too. The only thing I don’t like eating cold is cold gravy.”
“Yech. Me either.” Chalk up two more things they had in common. “My uncle Tony loves it though. It grosses Aunt Savia out. She can’t even stand to watch him eat it.”
“I don’t blame her.” Anna chuckled. “I really like your aunt and uncle. They both seem really sweet. Did you know that Savia is coming to my shop tomorrow? I hope she likes it.”
“What’s not to like. Especially if you’re there.” Oops. Nicholas knew he should’ve left that last part out. He didn’t want to give her the wrong impression until he had a good heart-to-heart with God about her.
“That’s really sweet of you to say.” She smiled and settled back into the seat. It didn’t take long to get to her shop.
Once there, Nicholas opened the door for her and let her out. Then he opened the driver’s side door of her car and waited until she was inside. “You want to give me your address in case I lose you?”
“I won’t let you lose me.” She angled a grin up at him, and his mind snagged on her words and struggled to catch up with her next words. “I’ll keep my eye out for you and pull over if I have to.”
“Oh. Okay then.” He nodded and closed her door.
Not having an address or knowing his way around Colorado, Nicholas followed closely behind Anna as they headed out of town toward the foothills. About twenty minutes later, she turned into a driveway of a large white, two-story house with a bright red door. It had several long thin windows on both levels, a massive brick chimney, and an attached three car garage. If he wasn’t mistaken, there was a small pond off to the left of the house.
Pine trees, aspen trees, and several other kinds of trees surrounded the place. Their branches were weighed down with snow. In fact, snow covered the entire area except for the driveway, the sidewalks, and a wide path that went around the side of the house. There had to be a good two feet or more of snow. It amazed him how one area would be blanketed in snow and another area only a few miles down the road had very little if any snow at all.
The garage door opened, and Anna pulled inside. He parked outside the garage right behind her.
They both got out, and she walked toward him, closing the garage behind her using a touch pad outside. She stepped past him and looked back at him.
Her white coat, white pants, and white mittens blended in with the snow. The only thing that stood out against the snowy backdrop was the brown fur around her hood and knee high boots, the little splotches of blue and purple in her mittens, and her long brown hair and beautiful face.
A face he wanted to kiss again and again.
But he wasn’t sure if he should or not until he had his long talk with God. “Nice place you have here.” On puffs of white his words floated out of him and vanished. “I can’t believe how much colder it is here than at your shop.” He glanced over at her.
Only thing was, she wasn’t facing him but looking around her property.
“You have quite the drive every day, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said, looking back at him. “But it’s worth it.” Her attention shifted back to her property. “I love this place. It was my folk’s house. When they moved, I talked them into letting me buy it. I still can’t believe it’s mine. Well.” She chuckled. “Mine and the bank’s.” Suddenly she stopped and ducked forward a bit.
Nicholas followed her line of vision. “What are you looking at?” he asked.
Anna pointed toward the trees. “There.” She peered up at him. “Do you see them?”
Nicholas strained to see what she was looking at. “I don’t see anything.”
She stepped closer to him. “Right there. Between the two big pine trees. A bull with a nice rack on him.”
“Where?” He glanced over at her again and then back to where she was pointing.
In the trees, something moved.
The elk’s head shot up, and he looked over and right at them. A second and the animal jerked around and took off into the trees. Several cow elk followed him. “Wow, that was amazing. I’ve never seen elk in their natural habitat before.” No wonder she didn’t want to leave this place. He didn’t blame her. From what he’d seen so far, he wouldn’t want to either.
