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While he refilled their cooler with sodas, ice, and a few sandwiches, she chased a puppy in the parking lot. Of course she’d made friends with a teenager, running the dog around between two lanky boys.
Kendall didn’t even think twice about asking. And the good-natured sixteen-year-old boys had been dumbfounded when she’d turned her lethal grin in their direction. They probably would have handed over the dog to her if she’d asked.
Shane was glad the sadness was out of her chestnut-brown eyes. She fell into a heap in the middle of a small patch of grass as the exuberant puppy licked her face and neck. Her laughter rang out in the waning sun.
He nursed a soda and watched her for a few more minutes before he waved to her. She waved back and jogged to him.
“Sorry I got so morose in the truck.”
“I’m sorry Larry dropped the ball so bad.” He tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “I wish you’d known him the way I did.”
“As I said, I had a good childhood. What we didn’t have in money, my mom made up in creativity and love.”
He cupped her face and dropped a soft kiss on her mouth. Instead of spiraling out into a hungry meeting of lips like they usually did, they kept it leisurely paced and sweet. A stiff wind blew across the flat landscape, and she burrowed into him.
Her warm breath puffed against his neck, and he watched the clouds roll forward, heavy with snow if he didn’t miss his guess. “I smell snow.”
“Oh, really? The California boy smells snow?”
“Hey now, I ski.”
She laughed, and the sparkle was back in her eyes. “Good to know. I can add that to the brochure.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I don’t have the patience to teach people how to ski. You know that.”
“You can learn patience.”
“Doubtful.”
She tucked her icy fingers under his shirt, and he hissed. “We’ll see.”
“Let’s get on the road. Winchester Falls waits.”
He opened her door and sighed, handing her his soda. She grinned and climbed up, her mouth already on the lip of the bottle.
The rest of the drive was uneventful, but he still didn’t like the look of the sky. He hoped they could outrun the storm that was brewing.
The lake effect dumped a good six inches of powder on them before they made it into Buffalo.
Kendall worried the power cord to her phone. “Do you think we’ll make it home by Thanksgiving?”
“If we can get away from this snow, we should be fine.”
Kendall studied her phone with a frown. “I’m not sure we’re going to get that lucky.”
He looked up at the clear skies. “Why?”
“We’re heading through Syracuse if we stay on 90. They’re getting fourteen inches, and we’ve already been set back two hours with traffic.”
He sighed. “I’m doing everything I can to get you there.”
“I know. I just have a bad feeling.”
“How far is Winchester Falls from Syracuse?”
“Two and a half hours.”
“We’ve got a ways to go.”
