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“Great. Bye-bye.”
“Bye. And LeeHanne, I truly am glad we’re going to spend some time together.” Jess smiled, thinking about some of the things they might do together. Sheer fun was ahead of them.
ChapterEleven
OCTOBER
Four days later, someone knocked on the door of the log cabin. It was just after three p.m., or so her phone stated. At this time of year, one couldn’t tell the precise time simply by looking outside the window, because of the limited hours of light during the day.
Looking at the door, Jess wondered who it might be. LeeHanne was due to land at Fairbanks International at ten past five, and Jess didn’t know all that many people around town who would want to call on her in the afternoon. Maybe her friend had taken an earlier flight and decided to surprise her. That was something she could envision LeeHanne doing.
With a welcoming smile on her lips, Jess left the futon and the cozy warmth of the fleece blanket, and hurriedly went to answer the door. Her smile collapsed when she was confronted not with LeeHanne’s feminine curves, but with a large body enfolded in a down coat that made him so bulky, he took up the entire threshold.
“You,” Jess choked on plain distaste, stepping back to slam the door in his face.
“Surprise!” Reece mocked, raising a hand to stop Jess’s impulsive reaction.
“Ha, ha, ha. Very funny.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “For whatever reason you’re here, you’ve got to take your business somewhere else, because I’m about to go to the airport to pick up LeeHanne.” Again, but this time with a conscious effort to make it happen, Jess tried to close the door in his face.
“She won’t be coming.”
His words effectively froze Jess. It drew into her then that this was the true reason behind herex-best friend’s phone call last Friday evening. Anger replaced the initial shock. The conniving, sniveling bitch.Just wait until I have her head under my hands. At her next appointment at the salon, I will die her hair green, Jess mentally swore.
“What is all this about? No doubt you and LeeHanne are in this together.”
“We need to talk.”
“Concerning what?”
“Can we do this inside?”
“No.”
A chilling, bitter wind was sweeping the streets of Fairbanks, giving the impression that the temperature outside was a few degrees lower than what the thermostat affirmed. Some of that frosty wind, curled around Jess’s body, which was clad only in her beloved red tracksuit. But right then, she couldn’t care less. Reece was not going to set foot inside her cabin. He would probably never leave it again.
“I won’t budge until you’ve listened to me.”
“State your business then.”
“Not out here.”
“Not in here either.”
Reece sighed aggravated, passing his hands over his face. He’d known even before leaving Chicago that Jess would not be over the moon to see him –it was the first thing he’d told Johnny and LeeHanne when they’d called him last Friday evening while leaving for Lake Tahoe, suggesting it was high time he knock some sense into Jess. Reece had listened to his friends’ idea with mounting disbelief, promising to think about it. By Tuesday, he’d talked himself into liking it.
He’d landed at Fairbanks International, hoping Jess would be so stunned to see him, he could easily win his way inside her cabin. He’d not bargained on her being colder than an iceberg, and just as firm.
“Let’s go somewhere else then. Is there a place around here where we can get a cup of coffee?”
Not any she could think of right then. Nonetheless, she stepped back around the front door, grabbed her down jacket from the peg behind it, retrieved her purse, and stepped back around the door, ready to go.
Reece didn’t budge, efficiently blocking her exit. Their stares met.
“No matter how much coffee we drink, I’m not going back to Chicago. I plan to bunk it in here with you.”
“What?” she choked.
“You heard me. I came here to stay.”
