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“There he is. Here, Alex,” Del said from the mudroom off Mia’s kitchen, digging snow pants and boots out from the pack he’d seen on Isaac’s back. “Give these a try.”
The pants were a smidge long and the boots a size too large, but he’d rather have too much room than too little. “We’ll make them work,” he told the others.
“Good,” Mia said, also now bundled up. “We don’t want you to turn into a popsicle out there. Have you ever ridden before?”
“Nope. Buddy from college offered to take me once, but he came down with the flu and we never found another time to make it happen.” He finished tugging on his coat. “So, who am I riding with—Del or Isaac?”
“Neither,” Del said with a grin. “Your girl knows how to drive just fine.”
At his surprised look, Mia shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a small-town girl with many talents.”
Yes, she certainly was. They all donned ski masks—which made him grin; now they looked like a band of robbers—and headed outside. One step off the side steps, they were smacked by a snow-filled gust of wind.
“Okay, now I understand the ski masks,” he admitted to Mia as they climbed on the nearest snowmobile.
“Like I said, we don’t want you to become a human popsicle.”
“I appreciate that.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear, “Although, I know a woman who would warm me up in no time.”
She laughed. “Not this woman. You’ve gotta be warmbeforeyou get anywhere near my bed.”
“Who said anything about a bed?”
Mia looked over one shoulder. “Careful, now. You distract me too much and I won’t be paying enough attention to where we’re going.”
“Fair enough. I promise to behave. For now.”
It was a good thing he did—the reserved woman he knew went on hiatus as wintertime Mia stepped on the gas and threw caution to the wind. She and Del zipped down the streets in town and angled for the countryside, cranking up the speed as they flew across the empty roads. Apparently, this was their old stomping ground, where both had cut their teeth on snowmobile driving. And though Alex was usually one who preferred to drive, today he was content to hang on to Mia and enjoy the adrenaline rush.
Theirs weren’t the only machines out and about, which meant there were trails to follow and new friends to make. The troop made their way south of town, past an old train depot toward a pair of small waterfalls, partially iced over. The other riders continued on, but Mia and Del stopped and turned their machines off so Alex and Isaac could stretch their legs.
The scene was beautiful, but it was the quiet that first caught his attention. Gone were the usual sounds of traffic, electronics, and the big-city hustle and bustle he was used to.
“Now this is what I call a good old-fashioned cleanse for the soul,” Del said.
A family of birds chattered from a pine across the stream before them. Alex could get used to small-town living. Heck, he’d visited dozens of them over the years, checking in on customers throughout the eastern portion of the country. The slower pace used to bother him, but then, he hadn’t had a woman at his side worth slowing down for, either.
“Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Mia asked, her gaze on the falls.
Alex pulled her closer, his gaze shifting from the majestic view to the woman in his arms. “Sure is.”
“Ugh, time to go,” Del said. “Alex is getting sappy over there.”
Laughing, they all mounted up and continued on. The girls drove over to their father’s farm to check on her aunt Faye and their old dog Rex, since the chief was on duty. Then they looped around Del’s store and greenhouse, which Alex had to remember to pretend he’d never seen before, and a secluded little ranch just past it that Isaac had apparently rented before meeting Del. A few more races through what the girls said were soybean fields and dusk started setting in. A quick poll found that fingers and toes were beginning to go numb, so the group called it a day and headed back into town. They passed a snowplow along the way, slowly making its way along the main road leaving town to the north. Mia’s street, however, had yet to be touched.
“Bummer. I was really hoping they’d get the snow cleared by now for your sake,” she said as they waved good-bye to Del and Isaac. “Looks like you may be stuck here again tonight.”
“You’ll get no complaints from me.”My father, on the other hand…
Alex pushed that thought aside as he followed her to the side door that she’d left unlocked. He was not about to let his thoughts go down that path after a fun-filled afternoon. They stepped inside and began shrugging out of their snow-covered gear.
“Me, either. But I’m sure Brooklyn will have a fit, being stuck at her father’s house for an extra night.”
“Maybe school getting canceled will ease the pain a bit?”
Mia snorted. “Nope, they all have computers they bring home with them, so they can have e-learning days when school gets canceled now. I made sure she took everything, just in case.”
“What? No more weather cancellations? No fair!”
