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“Are you searching for rescue and worried you’ll miss it?” he asked, amused that she had chosen to stare out the window for the past hour.
“Yes, there aren’t many days until Santa arrives, and I might get lucky, and he’s doing a recon mission of the area,” she replied before climbing back onto the stool and taking in the scent of her food.
“It’s not poisoned,” Billy said. “I don’t like to waste good food.” He walked around the counter and sat on the last stool, dragging his plate towards him.
Zoe scowled. “I hadn’t thought of that, but now that you mention it, you take a bite first,” she said with a teasing grin.
Billy obliged. He piled his fork high and dug in. “Wow, I said, a bite. Why not just tip the plate up and toss it in?”
Billy chewed fast and swallowed hard. “Sorry not to have your city manners up here.”
“Any manners would do,” Zoe replied, grinning to herself as she loaded her fork with eggs and tried his cooking for the first time. Fluffy and light, she closed her eyes and savoured the taste. “It’s like heaven on a plate,” she said.
Billy grinned. His eggs were the best in town, and he regularly cooked at his mother’s pub, but usually during tourist season. Still, when she complimented his food, he couldn’t help but stick his chest out with pride.
When he tossed a look over at her, she was digging in like she hadn’t been fed in a week. “Where are those city manners now?” he said, grinning at her with victory.
Zoe stopped in mid-chew and frowned. But his smile was worth a thousand words, and she carried on eating. “These are really good,” she said, forking more eggs.
“You missed the word, surprisingly,” he said and saw her smile.
~
“Hello, hello, hello, and a merry whiteout to you,” Kristen called as she entered the cabin and Maria and Heather looked up from the books they were reading. “Wow, you two are getting into the holiday spirit of things.”
“The tree is trimmed, the logs are burning, there’s a casserole in the oven, and we have a beer,” Maria said. “Not much else to do when the road to town is snowed under.”
“One of the guys from the pack is ploughing it as we speak,” Kristen said.
“And what about Zoe – any word?” Maria asked.
Kristen couldn’t help but grin. “She’s still snowed in the cabin with her mate, but we didn’t hear a mating howl last night, so who knows what they are up to.”
“Probably murder-suicide,” Heather said, returning her gaze to the book.
“You’re cheery today,” Kristen said.
Heather lifted her head, eyed the Christmas tree and considered things. “Could be murder-murder,” she offered.
“I don’t think he’ll kill her,” Maria said. “They are mates.”
“That’s not to say she hasn’t murdered him yet,” Heather said.
“Robert took a morning run over that way, and he assures me that they are both still alive,” Kristen said, perching her backside on the arm of Maria’s chair.
“A truce of sorts,” Heather said. “I wonder how long that will last?”
“Until they are mated,” Kristen announced with glee.
Heather stared at her friend through narrowed eyes. “You’re just happy that Zoe has to stick around this mountain if she mates the wolf guy. That way, you won’t be alone.”
Kristen grimaced. “I can’t lie…”
“Sure you can; you do it all the time,” Heather said. “Just look around at the Christmas decorations.”
Kristen chewed her inner lip as she considered it. “Okay, I can lie, but I won’t.”
“Turned over a new leaf?” Maria said with a teasing smile.
