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So, he lets that go.
Jer claps a hand on my shoulder. “Keep an eye on that one, yeah?” He nods toward the house. “There’s something special about her.”
I’m seeing that too.
I’veseenit too.
Which is why I sacrifice another pair of my tickets before I let him go.
“About that,” I say. “Do you still have that contact at the gallery?”
With a promisefrom Jer that he’ll follow up with me after he makes a few calls, I wait until I’m sure everyone gets off safely—the engine noise of the snowmobiles reverberating through the trees as they pull away.
Nova’s car keys are in my pocket, but George’s are long gone because I gave those to Mack to deal with.
Iwasslightly annoyed that when Ashley came out of the house, he merely passed them over to her, though the petty in me loved that no one offered her a ride down the hill to where she and George left the vehicle, unable to make it all the way up to my driveway.
Watching her slip and slide her way down the street was perfection.
And it was definitely worth gifting those tickets to the tow company for whatever magic they pulled to get Nova’s car to my house.
Now, though, my driveway is clear and my peace is restored, and I have nothing keeping me out here except for…
The knot in my gut that’s telling me if Idogo inside, everything will keep changing.
Slippery fucking slope.
And not just out here.
Sighing, I embrace the inevitable and make my way into my house. Nova’s cooking something that smells delicious, but it’s not her at the stove that has my stomach knotting.
It’s the bottle of vodka on the counter.
The smell of lemon in the air.
Damn.
I move to her, taking a peek at her face, seeing the slightly reddened eyes, the puffiness around them. Crying, but not any longer.
Christ, she’s strong.
“Just grilled cheeses and tomato soup,” she says. “Nothing fancy.”
I want to pull her close, to bend my head and inhale the scent of her, to get that tingle of cinnamon in my nose. “You didn’t have to cook. I could—”
She smiles brightly. “You got my car out of the snowbank. It’s the least I can do.”
“It’s nothing.” I shake my head. “There was a break in the storm, and the tow company—”
“You asked.”
I couldn’t fudge that over. “Yeah,” I admit.
She sighs, that bright smile dimming.
“What?”
A little of her this-is-fine, everything-is-fine veneer shatters. “Why would you do that?” she whispers. “I—you don’t even like me.”
