Page 29 of A Winter Thaw

Theo grinned and followed her outside with his cart. A sharp wind was blowing, and it nipped at Michelle’s cheeks vigorously. She found herself wanting to look at Theo, but instead she kept her eyes glued to her yellow jeep, which was halfway across the parking lot. She still hardly glanced at him even when they reached the jeep and she opened the trunk.

“Are you stocking up for the zombie apocalypse?” Theo teased, lifting a bag of supplies and setting it carefully inside the trunk.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “You would be the kind of person who would joke about the zombie apocalypse.”

He laughed as he hoisted another bag into her car. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Because you’re goofy, and imaginative, and have weird taste, she thought. And you know all kinds of things about stuff I don’t really know about, and it’s always interesting when you talk about it.

“Oh, nothing. Well, thanks for this.” She set the final grocery bag into her jeep.

“Hey, I’ve got nothing going on right now. I can follow you to The Birchwood House in my truck and help you bring the groceries into the house. I can help you unload them too.”

Michelle opened her mouth, and there was a “No, thank you,” on the tip of her tongue. A second later, however, she decided that she might as well say yes. After all, Theo was being kind, and it would have been a little rude of her to just brush him off. And the truth was that she was exhausted and the thought of someone helping her with all the groceries sounded incredible.

“Um, okay.” She offered him a small smile, feeling suddenly a little shy. “Thanks.”

“Awesome.” Theo’s grin was huge. “I’ll see you there.”

“See you there.” Michelle watched for a moment as Theo started off across the parking lot, whistling enthusiastically. For a moment, she wondered if she should offer to help him put his bags into his truck, but then she decided not to, since he only had a couple.

She got into her jeep and started the engine, feeling an odd buzzing sensation in her chest. She felt almost like she’d drunk a triple shot of espresso, and she wanted to laugh.

I guess it’s just nice to have some help after a couple of days of doing everything by myself, she thought, and she started to whistle too.

* * *

Theo did his best to hold back a massive grin as he strolled along The Birchwood House’s garden path with a heavy bag of groceries in his arms. Beside him, Michelle walked with her own bag. She was being strangely quiet, but he didn’t mind. He was enjoying spending time with her without feeling like he had to play a game of snarky comment ping-pong the whole time.

I like helping her out, he thought. She hardly ever lets me do anything like this. I guess she’s probably pretty tired, having to run the hotel by herself while Audrey and Elaine are gone.

They reached the side door of the mansion, which led into the spacious but cozy kitchen. Theo took a deep breath as soon as he stepped inside, noticing that the kitchen smelled faintly of peppermint and ginger. He'd always been intrigued by the Sutton women and their beautiful home. They seemed to have a kind of magic touch that made normal things wonderful, and wonderful things extraordinary.

Michelle set her grocery bag down on the kitchen counter with a grunt. “Thanks, Theo. I can get the rest of them myself, it’s okay.”

“Not a chance,” he said. “You can wait in here where it’s warm and start unloading and I’ll get the rest of the bags.”

An odd look flickered over Michelle’s eyes for a moment. She almost looked starry-eyed, but Theo was sure he was reading that wrong.

“No, that’s okay, I’ll come with you,” she said.

They went back out into the cold together. Theo found himself wanting to say something to her, but he didn’t know what. Puddle, who had been tagging along at their heels the whole time, bounded off across the yard, barking wildly and tossing up snow with her paws.

Theo and Michelle brought the rest of the supplies into the kitchen, and he insisted on carrying two bags at once, something he hoped she’d be impressed by. Before she could say anything about him leaving, he started to unpack one of the bags, which was filled with breakfast food items and some canned blueberries.

“I’m assuming canned fruit goes into the pantry?” he asked, glancing up at her with an impish smile.

She was narrowing her eyes at him as though she didn’t know what to make of him.

“Uh, yeah. If you don’t know where something goes, you can just put it in the middle of the counter there. Or you can ask me.”

Wow, I can’t believe she’s letting me put things away in her kitchen, Theo thought, striding over to the pantry, carrying the can of blueberries as if it was a trophy. This place is pretty organized—I have a feeling that being allowed to put things away in here is a privilege.

Theo was just folding up the last paper bag after everything had been put away when he felt something bump against his leg. He looked down and grinned when he saw Puddle looking up at him with wide brown eyes.

“You want to wrestle, Killer?” he asked the puppy, who toddled over to a rope chew toy that was lying underneath the kitchen table. “I bet you’re going to beat me. You look really strong.”

Theo lay down on the floor and began to play tug of war with the animated little dog, who growled in a high-pitched voice that made him laugh. As he played with the puppy, he glanced over at Michelle, who appeared to be starting to cook something.