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Elio nodded, his face solemn as if he was explaining some religious rite. She might have thought him serious if not for the laugh lines around his eyes betraying him. “The cabin demands it.”
“Well, then it’s a good thing you came, or I might have been in trouble. All I brought was wine.”
Elio feigned a shudder, then crossed himself.
She placed his bottle of tequila next to the other two and tried to shut down the part of her head that told her she could reduce the number of bottles in that cabinet by half in less than ten minutes. She’d intended to tackle that task tomorrow, but now that Elio was here, she suspected he’d look at her like she was six eggs short of a dozen if she tried. She was already on shaky ground, considering he’d caught her scrubbing the oven.
Gianna followed him to the kitchen to help him unpack his groceries.
She blushed slightly when she realized he was standing by the refrigerator looking at the weekly menu she’d printed out before leaving home and hung up there with a magnet. Oh God. All her crazy was showing right now.
He glanced back at her curiously.
“I like to plan my meals. It helps me make a grocery list.”
“You do this every week or just when you’re on vacation?” Elio appeared to accept her explanation, which was a relief.
The weekly menu had been a bone of contention between her and Sam the last couple years of their relationship. So much so, he’d become passive-aggressive about it, cooking things that weren’t on the list, and telling her he wasn’t going to eat macaroni and cheese on Tuesday just because it was written on her damn menu. The truth was, she wasn’t that committed to the actual days as much as she just liked knowing she had every night covered. But…well…she hated passive-aggressiveness, so whenever Sam hit her with it, she dug in her heels and pushed the issue in retaliation.
“I make a menu every week. I guess you probably think that’s a bit silly,” she said.
“Not at all. I’m a disaster at the grocery store.” He reached into his bag. “Case in point,” he said, as he pulled out taco shells, refried beans, and taco seasoning. “I went to the store with no list. Thought tacos might be good one night while I was here. Got halfway up the mountain before I realized I forgot cheese and sour cream. And hamburger.”
Gianna laughed as she pointed to her menu. “You’re in luck. Because I’d planned a burger night and a baked potato night. I have all those things. We can combine.”
“Perfect. Tell you what, let’s finish unloading all this stuff, and then we can sit down and revise the menu to incorporate all our food. Maybe you can teach me how to meal plan, because I don’t want to tell you how many times I either have to go back to the store, order Instacart for forgotten shit, or wind up just saying fuck it and getting pizza delivered.”
She grinned, touched that he not only wasn’t making fun of her list, but he seemed impressed by it. Then she considered what he’d just suggested. “We don’t need to figure out more than tonight. I really am going to head home tomorrow,” she reminded him.
Elio reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. He tapped on the screen a few times, then turned it around to show her what he’d opened.
A weather app.
One that predicted eight to twelve inches of snow tonight.
Holy. Fuck.
Chapter Four
“I think we might want to go ahead and figure out a few days’ worth of menus,” Elio suggested, as she tried to wrap her head around the fact they were going to be trapped here together for days.
“When I checked the weather yesterday, it was only calling for a light dusting of snow here,” she said stupidly.
Elio nodded. “Forecast updated this afternoon. I almost considered changing my plans and driving back to Baltimore. Glad I didn’t. I wouldn’t like the idea of you up here alone in a snowstorm.”
“You wouldn’t have known I was here,” Gianna pointed out, surprised when Elio looked almost angry about that fact.
“Does anyone know you’re actually here—safe and sound?”
“I texted Liza earlier to let her know I made it.” Gianna expected that to appease him, but it didn’t seem to, so she continued. “Liza said she comes up here on her own sometimes too.”
Elio sighed. “I’m aware of that. Doesn’t mean I like it.”
Gianna grinned. “Careful, Elio. Those overprotective Moretti genes are creeping out.”
Rather than reply, he finished unpacking his groceries. “I’m going to go bring in enough wood to keep the fire going tonight. Temperatures are supposed to plummet, and without that fire burning, it gets pretty chilly in here.”
“Okay. While you do that, why don’t I figure out dinner?”
