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That look communicated a lot without words, their relief, their excitement, and their happiness.
She grabbed the candle and lit it, knowing that they probably weren’t going to have to conserve matches but not wanting to waste one just in case.
“That is one of the best things I’ve seen all day.” Franklin spoke with finality. Then he stammered a bit. “Not that the decorations at the barn dance weren’t very nice.”
She laughed, somehow pleased that he remembered that she’d been in charge of them. “You know, I’m with you. I thought the decorations were really nice, if I do say so myself, but the matches and the flame? Yeah. Best thing all day. All week. Possibly in my life.”
They laughed together before she set the candle down, putting the match in the lid and grabbing the bag.
“There are two blankets,” she said as she pulled them out. “And these are cold cuts, and there is a loaf of bread. They didn’t give us any mayonnaise or mustard, but I’m just thrilled that we’re not going to starve to death, and I’m not going to complain about it.”
“Me either. I always wondered what was in a romantic bundle, and now I know.”
She chuckled. “I thought maybe you got quiet when I said that and perhaps you were wondering what exactly that would contain.”
“I’ve never been involved in anything that had to do with a romantic bundle. So, this has been educational in more ways than one.”
Maybe he was thinking about the cat. She was.
“We could probably save some cold cuts for the cat,” he said, his voice holding a bit of a question.
“Yeah. I couldn’t sit here and eat without making sure that she got something as well.”
“Then I guess the next thing we need to do is to start a fire?” It was another question that was said more like a statement as he moved across the room and stopped beside her.
“I think that’s right. I’m pretty sure we’ll have to bring wood in from outside.”
He didn’t say anything else but walked to the door and opened it.
Everything was white. Where there had been just a few flurries starting to come down when she arrived, the entire world was now blanketed in white, and there were at least two inches on the top of her car.
“You were right about it coming down fast,” he said, his eyes widening. “I have to admit I held out some hope that we would be able to go home.”
“We can still try if you want to. But my tires are bald. I’ve been meaning to put on the winter tires before winter, but with all the planning that I was doing with the barn dance, I just ran out of time. Plus, it was kind of expensive, so I was putting it off as long as possible.” She almost didn’t admit that last part, but she didn’t see any reason to try to pretend that she was anything that she wasn’t. Money was tight for a dog groomer, and she would be silly to pretend otherwise.
“Well, I guess I wish that had been different, but I think at this point, we’re better off staying and making do with what we have. Which is food and heat, and maybe we can figure out a way to melt some snow and get some water.”
“Actually, I think there are a couple bottles in the bottom. I assumed it was water, but I just didn’t say.” She should have gotten all the things out and lined them up.
“Anything else?” he asked, looking back toward the duffel.
“I think there might have been some chocolate in there too. At least, it felt like a box that’s long and low, and I assumed it was candy. But being that getting the matches and the blankets and the food was so exciting, the candy kinda slipped my mind.”
“Candy is food.”
“True,” she said, laughing. It was funny, she wouldn’t have thought being trapped with Franklin would be fun. Maybe it wouldn’t have been if he had been angry. The fact that he’d taken everything so calmly, that he hadn’t gotten upset, he wasn’t railing against her friends or telling her how stupid she was, or anything like that. He’d absorbed the fact that his evening wasn’t going the way he planned, and he’d been a great guy to be around.
She was...actually having fun. If she were being honest with herself, she thought she might actually be disappointed if they got rescued.
Wasn’t that sad? It probably said something about the state of her life, more than anything else, although it was most likely a huge compliment to Franklin as well.
Probably he was surrounded by women eager for his attention when he was in Chicago. That might have been another reason that he found her so distasteful when she stood in front of him at the barn dance. She squirmed a little at the thought.
“I’m pretty sure the wood is behind the shed. That’s where it always was, and if we’re lucky, it’ll be nice and rotted, and there will be some kindling at the bottom of the pile.”
“All right. I think we should leave the candle in here?”
“Yes, it should be light enough to see without it. I could be wrong. Sometimes when it’s snowing, the cloud cover makes everything really dark, but usually the white reflects any light that’s out there.”
