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I let out a combination laugh exhale, reflexively tightening my arms around her as I say, “Well, if I’m being honest, at first it was because I knew it annoyed you when I did call you Laney.”
The end of my sentence comes out as a huff as she elbows me in the stomach. “I knew it,” she mutters.
Laughing, I squeeze her again. “Yeah, but eventually you seemed to stop getting pissed off about it, didn’t you? And dare I say, you might have even liked it?”
She glances up at me now, giving me a bit of side eye. “Is that what you think?”
Winking, I reply, “Yep, I do. And I guess I also kinda liked that it was my name for you, you know. I mean everyone else calls you Delaney or whatever, but Laney was just something we had.”
It feels fucking weird to admit this and even as I say it, I can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I have no idea what her reaction is going to be, god knows we were not in a good place before we got stuck in this cabin together. And considering we have no idea how long we’ll be stuck here for, getting into another argument is definitely the last thing I want.
Delaney doesn’t say anything, the only sound filling the cabin, that of the fire crackling beside us. I finally feel warm and judging by how hot she feels in my arms, I’m hoping she does too.
Eventually she pulls back and looks up at me, a soft smile on her face. “Okay, I kinda like that.”
Grinning, I lean in and kiss her forehead again. “We should get some sleep,” I say, falling back onto the mattress and taking her with me. “Tomorrow we’ll come up with a plan to kick this stuck in a cabin bullshit right in the ass.”
Delaney actually laughs as she lies down beside me and I pull the blanket up around us. With my arms around her, I pull her closer, leaning across to shut the door of the stove before closing my eyes, grateful that after everything that happened here today, at least we’re here together.
Neither of us sleeps well,which given the circumstances is hardly surprising. Three times I’d woken just to check if the fire was still going or to stack more wood inside it and when the first streams of daylight start to streak through the windows, I give up trying to go back to sleep. Thankfully, Delaney has finally fallen asleep beside me, and I can feel her soft breaths against my neck.
For a few minutes, I just lie here, holding her close as my mind reels with the situation we’ve found ourselves in. If you’d asked me a couple of days ago what I’d have thought about being stuck in a cabin with someone, Delaney probably would’ve been the last person I’d have picked.
But after last night and seeing her fear and vulnerability, being reminded of how it felt to sleep beside her, I can honestly say, there isn’t anyone else I’d rather have with me than her.
Delaney rolls over, turning toward the fire and I gently ease my body away from her. As good as it is to sleep beside her again, this thin single mattress is far from comfortable. I’m not sure the bed would be much better and at least here on the floor beside the fire is warm.
I sit up, groaning at how much my body hurts. Every single muscle and joint aches, like I’ve been put through the wringer and am covered in bruises. My left shoulder still hurts too, even though I can move it okay. If I had to guess, I’d say I dislocated it in the avalanche and somehow put it back in again while tumbling down the mountain.
“Jesus,” I mutter, pushing myself up from the floor. I scrub a hand down my face, before reaching for the water bottle and drinking half of the contents. I boiled a pot of water last night for drinking and after I finish the rest of my bottle, I refill it from the pot.
I move over to check our ski gear, my snow pants and jacket and Delaney’s ski suit, relieved to find they are dry. Although there are some things in this cabin, none of it is going to keep us warm if we have to go outside, which we’ll have to do in order to get more firewood and maybe food.
I pull on my jacket, not bothering with putting on my snow pants before I move over to the pantry to take stock of our supplies again. There are at least four dozen cans and thankfully, a fucking can opener. It’s a good start, although with two of us, it’s not going to last long.
Needing to take a piss, I grab a pair of the old hunting boots and walk quietly over to the door. As I gently ease the door open, I’m hit with a cold blast of air that nearly knocks the wind out of me.
“Shit,” I whisper, glancing over my shoulder at Delaney.
She’s still asleep on the mattress, the blanket pulled up to her chin. I drop my boots on the floor and close the door again before making my way over to the stove to add some more wood and grab the axe and my jacket. Then I walk back over to the door and taking a deep breath, I head outside.
As soon as I step outside, I can tell it’s been snowing all night. It started before the avalanche hit and didn’t let up, even as we stumbled around and somehow found our way to the cabin. It’s several feet high against the walls of the cabin now, almost making it invisible against the backdrop of snow-covered trees and mountains.
How the fuck is anyone going to find us out here?
After I piss in record time, my hands shaking so bad, I nearly piss all over myself, I grab the axe and head over to a patch of relatively small trees on the other side of the outhouse, hoping to fuck this axe isn’t so blunt that I can’t cut some of them down.
I need to get a decent supply of wood in case it keeps snowing. This is already going to need to dry out and the last thing we need is more snow to fall and making it impossible to get out, let alone chop firewood.
I don’t know how long I work on the trees, but I’m hot and covered in sweat when I suddenly hear the sound of my name being called. Pausing, the axe in mid-swing, I stop and listen, wondering if maybe someone has found us already.
“Alex?”
It’s more frantic now, a worried cry and I drop the axe, before running back around to the front of the cabin where I find Delaney standing in the open doorway wearing nothing but the flannel and socks she pulled on last night.
“ALEX?” She screams my name this time and I rush toward her.
“Hey, hey, I’m here, it’s okay,” I say, pulling her into my arms without even thinking about it.
