Chapter 3
Three
The sound of an incoming text woke Jess up Monday morning.
Holly: Everything going okay with the house sitting?
Jess stared at the phone and had to fight the urge to scream. It was barely eight in the morning and she wasn’t ready to deal with her anger toward her friend.
But she also couldn’t keep it all bottled up either.
Jess: What in the world were you thinking??
Jess: Do you have any idea how awkward you made things?
Jess: AND you ruined my writing mojo!
Tossing the phone down, she stared up at the ceiling with a weary sigh.
It would be so easy to unleash on her friend right now, but the truth was…
the weekend wasn’t as horrible as she’d thought it would be.
After she and Ryan had lunch together on Saturday, they settled into a routine where she read and wrote while he seemed perfectly content to work on his plans for the cabin.
The snow had finally stopped overnight, but there was more in the forecast.
So…they were snowed in together.
Sort of.
She’d heard him leave the cabin about an hour ago and knew he was going to make a bunch of calls this morning to get everything turned on at the main cabin.
Neither of them were leaving so…maybe this was something that needed to happen, even if it didn’t lead to their happily ever after.
And after all the years they’d been a couple, this could be the closure they needed.
But there was no way she was going to thank Holly or give her any credit for it.
Also, for some strange reason, her creativity was on fire! She’d been writing like crazy and it felt so good that she wasn’t really looking to change anything.
Well, she’d still prefer to be alone, but…that wasn’t going to happen.
Kicking the blankets off, she shivered as she stood.
It wasn’t surprising that the cabin didn’t have great insulation, but even in flannel pajamas, she was cold.
Grabbing her robe, she pulled it on and walked over to the window, only to find nothing but white for what seemed like miles.
It was blindingly bright, but beautiful.
And it also meant she was staying inside for at least a few more days.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have anywhere to go,” she mumbled before tapping on Holly’s replies to her messages.
Holly: Your mojo is only ruined if you let it!
Holly: And I know you’re angry with me right now, but this is a good thing!
Holly: Just…try to open your mind and your heart a little. He really misses you.
That last sentence hit her hard.
Every message Ryan had left for her since the breakup, he’d tell her that same thing, but she thought it was just words. For some stupid reason, having Holly say it made it feel…real.
Jess: I can’t talk to you about this right now. You totally ambushed me and I’m pissed.
Jess: So let’s just drop it and I’ll talk to you after the holiday.
Holly: Okay, but can I just say one more thing?
Jess: If I say no, will it matter?
Holly: Lol! Fine, it wouldn’t.
Holly: This might feel like an ambush, but the house sitting thing really was for your own good. You need time to write and you never take it for yourself. This was a nudge to make you sit down and work on your dream.
Groaning, she wanted to strangle the phone because it was hard to stay mad when, on some level, she knew her friend only had her best interest at heart.
Even with the ambush.
Jess: I’m going to make coffee and then write. I’ll talk to you when I get back to Raleigh.
Holly: Sending you all the good writing vibes!
“Yeah, great,” she murmured as she walked over to the kitchen.
Yawning, she put a pod in the Keurig and waited for her coffee to be ready.
Walking over to the kitchen window, she had a direct view of the main cabin.
It was too far away to see if Ryan was in there, but…
where else would he be? She’d heard him leave, but they didn’t really talk about what his schedule would be like once the heat and power were back on up there.
Would he pack up his lunch and stay up there all day, or would he be coming back and eating with her?
“Ugh…stop thinking so much about him and what he’s doing.
You have your own stuff to think about.” Her mind instantly went to what she planned to make for dinner tonight—beef stew.
It required little prep work, so she could easily wait until after lunch to start it.
With her coffee in hand, she walked back to her bed, thinking about the scene she wanted to work on today.
Glancing around, it seemed like something was…
off. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something looked different.
“Clearly I’m imagining things.” Opening her laptop and glancing at her notes, she took a sip of her coffee and read, smiling. “Damn, I’m pretty good at this,” she said, feeling excited about getting to work.
Placing her mug down on the nightstand, Jess got comfortable. Her fingers were poised above the keyboard. Closing her eyes, she let out a long breath and it was like her characters were right there with her.
Only…the hero suddenly looked a lot like Ryan.
“I’m not going to think about that. It’s just a coincidence.”
She immediately dove right back into the story, finishing the chapter she had stopped in the middle of last night.
Occasionally she’d take a sip of her coffee, but the peacefulness of the cabin became her muse.
When her fingers started to cramp a bit, she allowed herself to stop.
Standing, she stretched and went to grab a bottle of water, since her coffee was long gone.
It was almost lunchtime, and she was already imagining the last of the chicken tortilla soup and maybe a salad.
“Let me just finish this scene and then my reward will be soup.”
No sooner had she sat back down with her laptop when a loud crash shattered the silence. Jumping up, she first ran to the kitchen window to see if something happened up at the main cabin. When she didn’t see anything amiss, she ran to the front door and yanked it open.
And spotted Ryan lying on the snowy ground with tools all around him, not moving.
“Please don’t die! Please don’t die! Please don’t die!”
The words sounded a little far off and fuzzy, but they seemed pretty sincere.
When he opened his eyes—which hurt like hell—Ryan swore he must either be dead or dreaming because Jess was staring down at him and crying. It was almost like she still cared about him.
“Great. I finally get her to talk to me, and I’m dead,” he mumbled as he tried to sit up.
“You’re not dead,” she whispered. “But you took one hell of a fall. What hurts?”
“Um…everything,” he said with a small laugh. “But mostly my ego. I can’t believe I fell.”
Jess shifted beside him. “Okay, we need to get you out of the snow and into the house. Lean on me and we’ll just take it slow.”
It took much longer than his pride was comfortable with for them to get to their feet and it left him feeling weak and a little out of breath.
And not only because he just had the wind knocked out of him.
“Jess, I’m fine. Really. You don’t have to hold me up. I’ll use the railing to get up the stairs and…”
“I don’t know…”
“I’ll be fine, and we’ll just take it slow.”
It wasn’t like they had a choice. The stairs were slick, and they had to get back inside. Jess was in her robe and pajamas, along with a pair of boots. No doubt she was freezing. Getting her inside gave him the strength to push his own issues aside and move.
When they finally stumbled through the front door, she guided him over to the sofa before rushing away to get him some blankets to warm up.
While she did that, he got up and stoked the fire.
“Ryan! You’re supposed to be sitting and resting! Can’t you just relax?”
“Too cold,” he admitted. “And once this is going again and I change into dry clothes, I’ll relax. You should do the same. You’re just as frozen and covered in snow as I am.”
For several minutes, he worked on the fire while she went and made him a fresh cup of coffee. By the time he changed into something dry and was sitting on the sofa under a pile of blankets, a wave of exhaustion hit him.
“Okay, now tell me how you feel,” she quietly urged when she sat down beside him. “I didn’t feel any lumps or bumps on your head, and you seem to be moving fine, so I don’t think anything’s broken, but what hurts?”
“If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh.”
Her lips instantly twitched, even though she was trying to look somber. “I promise.”
“My butt,” he stated wearily. “I landed hard on my butt first and then just got the wind knocked out of me, so…I’m fine.
Really. I should have done everything differently.
” Shaking his head, he let it loll back against the cushions.
“What was I thinking, taking on a job like this? No one would have blamed me if I waited until the weather cleared to start.”
“Okay, yes, Holly’s parents would have understood, but you probably didn’t think you’d have to deal with a blizzard.”
“It wasn’t supposed to snow this much, but I’ve been alive long enough to know how to avoid falling on my ass.” With a snort, he shook his head. “I feel…hell, I’m embarrassed, Jess.”
Beside him, she chuckled softly before taking a sip of her coffee. She’d changed into dry clothes as well and was under her own blanket. “There’s nothing for you to feel embarrassed about. And really, I’m just thankful you weren’t here alone and seriously hurt.”
“Having an audience makes everything worse,” he groaned miserably.
“I should know better than to take risks when I’m the only guy on the job!
And now look what happened: my ass is killing me and I made a fool out of myself in front of you.
” Snorting with disgust, he added, “You’re probably more thankful than ever that we broke up. ”
Why he said it, he had no idea. But now that it was out there, he was curious about how she was going to respond.