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What the hell is wrong her? One would think I was going to murder her by the way she was looking at me. I can’t figure out what happened. I’ve been doing my best to keep my distance and to limit the amount of interaction. I honestly don’t need or want a distraction of any kind. Her being here is throwing me off. It's been years since a female has been in my home and it just doesn't feel right having her here, even after all this time.
I finish my breakfast and take care of my plate and Taylor still is in her room. I don't want to care, but it concerns me that she bolted off and didn't eat while it was warm. Pissing me off, really. I decide to try and get her to come out to eat once more before putting the remaining food in the fridge. I pace back and forth a few times, thinking about how to approach her. The last thing I need is to have her hide all day because I was too mean asking her to eat.
I knock on the door as light as I can and wait to hear a response. Nothing. I knock once more with no answer. Curiosity gets the best of me, and I lean my ear against the door to see if I can hear her moving around. To my surprise, I hear her crying. I'm baffled. I'm a mix of being surprised she's acting this way. I start racking my brain to try to remember if something happened last night to upset or scare her, but nothing comes to mind.
Knowing I should walk away, I stand there and wait because I can't let this go, not when she's upset. We are going to be stuck here for who knows how long and we're going to have to get along.
When I know my temper isn’t going to get the best of me, I knock one more time. No response, again.
“I’m coming in, princess!”
Again, no response. So, I try the handle, and when I feel it's unlocked, I slowly open the door. I'm half expecting to get hit in the head with a lamp, but am surprised to see the room is dark and Taylor is sitting on the bed, weeping into her hands. Now I feel as though I'm in uncharted territory and regret ever opening the door.
What did I expect to find? I knew she was crying, but when I walked into the room, the energy was so sad and unexpected. I'm frozen, just watching her shoulders jump up and down slightly with her sobs, not wanting to make anything worse. I know I will look like an idiot if I walk back out of the room, so I take a deep breath and slowly walk towards the bed and sit next to Taylor. I make sure not to touch her, even though my instinct was to wrap my arm around her.
It's hard to see her like this. She has been so confident and feisty, and now she looks sad and beaten down. I give her a few more moments to try to control her tears. Once I hear that she's at the end of it, I decide to try to talk to her and find out what brought all of this on.
“Hey, princess, what’s all this about?”
She says nothing. I watch her as she wipes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She stares into her lap, playing with her fingers, avoiding any eye contact. I know she's trying to compose herself, but I'm also wondering if me being so close is causing an issue. I decide to not jump to conclusions and to let her talk.
“Is there something I’ve done to cause all of this?”
She just quietly shakes her head.
“I need you to talk to me. You can’t just hide in here all day.”
With this, she looks over at me and glares.
"Or maybe you can. Look we’re going to be stuck together for days, so we're going to have to help each other and get along."
She still doesn’t respond.
“Okay. I get the hint. I’ll leave you be.” I let out a deep breath in exasperation and shake my head before getting up and walking out of the room.
I pace the floor and think of something I can do to keep me busy. I decide to check out the weather and see just how bad the snow has gotten overnight. Maybe it isn’t as bad as they thought and she can head home. I click on the news, but there are no updated reports on the weather at the time. Wanting to see for myself, I walk to the front door and am expecting to see a few added inches, if that. But what I see is nowhere near what I expected. I'm looking at a blanket of snow that is well over five inches on my porch, which is already a foot off the ground, and the snow is still coming down at a steady pace. Shit.
Realizing the storm is on its way to breaking records, I know Taylor isn’t going anywhere any time soon. This could end up being problematic if things didn’t turn around, and fast. I run my hands through my hair and look at her door one more time, almost willing her to come out. When she doesn’t, I give up.
I sit, and I turn my chair, so it's facing the fireplace, leaving my back to Taylor, and settle in to read. I welcome the warmth of the fire and let the words on the page swallow me up.
The snow is falling and making everything beautiful and bright. Winter in the mountains has always been my favorite, and I'm so excited I get to experience with her. I step out onto the porch at taking it all in. Once I'm satisfied with my surroundings, I make my way to the garage to let her know lunch is ready. I make long strides to make it harder for her follow because I know she loves to try to walk in
my footprints. Laughing at myself and what I must look like, I make it to the shed and stomp my feet in the mat as soon as I open the door.
“Honey, lunch is ready. You better come and get it before I eat it all!”
I laugh at myself again and look up to find the workshop empty. I walk deeper into the garage, looking in every nook and cranny, knowing she likes to jump out and scare me. Well, she tries to anyway. Once I know I have looked in every possible hiding place, my heart sinks to my stomach. Where could she be? I hurry back to the door and slam it shut as I run back into the house and look all around for her. I track snow all over the hardwood floors, knowing I will catch hell for it later, but at the moment I really could care less. Again, she's nowhere to be found, not even in the loft.
I run back outside and start yelling her name as loud as I can. Both cars are sitting in front of the house, and the snowmobiles were tucked safely in the garage. I start to round the corner to the side if the house and….. Whack! I'm hit in the head with a snowball. Once I was over the shock of the onslaught, I hear her adorable giggle and instantly know she's the culprit. Before I can even take a step towards her, I'm hit with another snowball. Her laughing is endless, and she looks like an angel in the falling snow, and it seems as if the sun was shining just on her as her own, personal spotlight,
I dip down as fast I can to gather my snowball and throw it at her as soon as I straighten back out.
“Oh! You’re gonna get it now Maddox!”
My heart is so full knowing she's so happy. I watch her gather snow for the largest snowball I have seen. She struggled to throw it but managed to get it into the air in my direction. I turn my head to avoid getting hit in the face only to have it hit me in the leg.
“You’ve done it now, Angel! You’re gonna be sorry you threw that!”
