Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
SNOW-PAVED INTENTIONS
DYLAN
I got up early to go grocery shopping because I was too excited to sleep.
I’ve got Grandma Nancy’s Swedish pancake batter made, the lemons and powdered sugar are ready to go on top, the vegetables are chopped for the omelets, the light roast is brewed, and I’ve squeezed some fresh oranges for our orange juice.
I even have champagne, should we decide to do mimosas.
I love the house where I grew up. It makes me miss my mom more than ever, but I like being near her things. She always loved pretty dishes, and I’m using her colorful little bowls for all the ingredients, and her favorite china is already on the table. I have never done this for a girl.
My brothers would give me so much shit right now.
I’d give myself shit if I weren’t so excited to see Dahlia today.
Being the baby of the family and not as, shall we say, talented, as the rest of my siblings, I could let it get to me.
But I don’t. They claim I’m the best-looking one of the bunch, and my family is insanely good-looking, so I’ll take what I can.
And let’s be honest, I’m not suffering.
But I’m not breaking records and winning awards like they are.
One of my older brothers, Camden, who had a Michelin-starred restaurant in Colorado, has moved to Windy Harbor and opened a new restaurant named Elm & Echo that’s already creating a buzz in the culinary world.
My oldest brother, Noah, has been the head contractor and project manager involved in creating the amazing ideas Goldie and her fiancé Milo Lombardi have dreamed up.
He’s incredibly skilled. Goldie is an interior designer and artist, and Milo is a world-renowned architect who fell in love with my sister and began pouring all of his creative energy into Windhaven.
My brother Tully and I are the last ones to get to Windy Harbor.
Tully and Goldie are twins. Tully plays hockey for the Minnesota Fierce and was willing to drop everything when we found out Dad was sick, but my dad put his foot down about any of us uprooting our entire lives to be with him.
He wanted us to be on board with Windhaven if we chose to be, but it wasn’t until we realized how sick he was that we felt the urgency to get there. Now it hurts every time I leave him.
I see both of my parents all over this house. I cannot lose my dad too.
Dahlia comes right on time, taking me out of the melancholy that was coming on, thinking about Dad. She looks like a goddess in a sweater dress that fits to perfection and tall boots that make my head swim.
“Good morning,” I say, kissing her cheek. “How are you so beautiful?”
Her cheeks turn pink, and in the morning light, her green eyes are even more vibrant.
“Thank you,” she says shyly. She looks around the room. “Your house is gorgeous. I’ve always loved the houses on this street, and this one has always stood out to me. It’s even more beautiful inside.”
“My parents would love to hear you say that. Houses are their passion. My mom was an amazing architect.” I take her hand and lead her back to the kitchen.
“Oh, wow, this kitchen!” Her eyes widen when she sees all the food. “Oh my goodness, Dylan.” She looks around like she expects someone to pop out. “Did you—you did all this for me?”
“Yes. For you.” Now I’m the one ducking my head, embarrassed as I turn on the pans for the omelets and Swedish pancakes. “Feel free to take a look around if you want. Make yourself at home.”
“Can I do anything to help?”
“Grab some coffee or a mimosa…get comfortable.”
She grins. “So fancy.” She moves toward the beverage bar and turns to me. “Can I get you anything?”
“I’ll take a mimosa.”
“Coming right up.” She pours two into the tall glass flutes sitting on the counter and brings one over to me.
We clink glasses and stare at each other before lifting the glasses to our lips. The energy between us is crackling. Finally, we take a sip, our eyes never leaving each other’s.
“I wasn’t imagining it,” I say.
“Imagining what?”
“This draw I feel toward you.”
Her mouth parts, and then she slowly nods. “ I feel it too.”
“And this desire to know everything about you.”
She nods again.
I clear my throat. “Um, okay. I promised you breakfast. Maybe go look around so I won’t be so distracted, and then I can find out all your secrets over breakfast.”
She laughs. “Let me help. I can do the omelets.”
“Yeah?”
She shoots me an indignant look. “You don’t trust me?”
I hold up my hands. “Totally do! Just gives me one more thing to be impressed by with you.”
She laughs. “Well, don’t be too impressed yet. The vast amount of fillings you have here is nothing short of amazing. Mushrooms, jalapenos, green onions, white onions, red onions, sausage, ham, cheddar, feta, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, salsa…cilantro? You thought of every possible option.”
I lift a shoulder and grin. “I didn’t know what you’d like.”
She grins back at me. “Are you this charming on every second date?”
“No,” I say honestly. “I’m not. Only for beautiful women who fall into my lap on airplanes.” I grin, and she sighs.
“Never gonna live it down.”
“And why would you want to? It’s what brought us here.” I bump her hip with mine, and she laughs.
Her laugh is like a jolt to the chest. I want to bottle it up and pull it out at random times to enjoy it.
Fucking A, who even am I?
Also, dude, that sounded way stalkerish than you intended. Just think, “I dig her laugh.” Period, end of.
She waves her hand in front of me, and I blink.
“You okay?” she asks.
“What did I say?”
“Nothing.” She laughs. “You just got this spacey look on your face, and I didn’t know if you were about to pass out yourself.”
“Nah.” I clear my throat and try to pull my man card back to the forefront. “My feet are firmly planted.”
It’s a lie. I feel like I could go down at any second. I’m sweaty and discombobulated from all these weird thoughts running rampant in my head.
“Let’s get this food going,” I say.
We stand side by side. She works on the omelets, while I work on the Swedish pancakes, and it’s all so unreal…so domesticated and fucking heartwarming I can hardly take it.
If this is how heaven is, I’m all in.
When we sit down across the table from each other with our feast, we smile happily. At least she seems as happy as I am. I want to keep her that way as long as possible.
She takes a bite of the pancakes, and her eyes widen. “So good. I’ve never had them this way—with the powdered sugar and lemon on top.”
“My favorite way to eat them.” I point at her when I taste my omelet. “You downplayed your omelet skills. This is delicious.”
“I had all the perfect ingredients to work with.”
“I know you have a work meeting this afternoon, so I want to make sure I get you out of here on time,” I say.
She makes a face. “I got a message right as I was leaving that the meeting has actually been moved to tomorrow. I would’ve been so upset about leaving California sooner than I had to, but then I would be missing out on this.”
“It sounds like serendipity,” I say. And then I make a face.
“No, wait. I take that back. Saying the word makes me think of that movie, and I hated the movie. My sister made me watch it, and when those characters—John Cusack and Kate Beckin-what’s-her-name, left each other saying they’d rely on serendipity, I almost quit watching right then. But I had to see what would happen.”
“It was beautiful. They found each other again after all those years.”
“So many wasted years! No, we are not doing that. I have your number, and you know where I was raised.” I hold my hand out to wave across the room. “I won’t be leaving it to chance with my number on a dollar bill.”
She laughs. “I thought it was so romantic that she put her number in a book.”
I shake my head. “You’d get along with my sister. She started putting her name and number in every book for a while, hoping she’d randomly meet the right person for her. So…I don’t have to go into work. Maybe we could have our third date as soon as this afternoon? Is that what you’re saying?”
Her eyebrows lift, her green eyes so bright. “You won’t be sick of me by then?”
I grin. “Not a chance.”
“Well, what did you have in mind?”
I look at my watch. “Can Can Wonderland wouldn’t be open yet.”
“I haven’t been there.”
“Fun vibes. We could…” I glance out the window and curse under my breath. “Be snowed in.”
“No way.” She glances out and gasps. “That must have just started after I got here. There’s already at least four inches out there.”
“It’s really going down.” I lift my shoulder. “I guess we’re stuck. I mean…are we ever really stuck in Minnesota? Sometimes I wish they’d shut everything down once in a while.”
“I know. Me too.”
“Everyone’s so damn hearty around here.”
She giggles. “It’s true. We never had any snow days during school. Ever.”
“Never,” I agree.
We watch the snow for a minute.
“Californians wouldn’t know what the fuck to do with this.” I snort. “They cry when it drizzles out.” I take a deep breath. “If you need to get anywhere soon, I can take you. I’m an extremely cautious driver. I…lost my mom in a car accident. Almost lost my sister in another one…”
“Dylan! Really? Oh, I’m so sorry. That’s…I don’t even know what to say. I can’t imagine how painful.”
I nod. “Sometimes it feels like just yesterday, and other times, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve seen her.
” I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry for taking a serious turn.
Family means so much to me. I’m grateful to my siblings, and my dad, and my grandmas for helping keep her memory alive with me.
My mom wouldn’t want us to be sad. She was so fun, so full of life.
I’ve tried to live my life that way too. ”
Her eyes are glassy when I look up. “That’s a really beautiful way to think about it.”
“Are you close to your parents?”
“I’m so close with my mom. My dad…it’s complicated.”
“Ahh. Complicated can be hard.”
“I’m an accountant at his company, so it’d probably be a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with him in that capacity, but…it’s a great job. I think he tries to the best of his capability with me…he’s just not capable of a whole lot.” She laughs quietly, looking down at her plate.
“I’m sorry. That’s hard.”
Her eyes are sad when she looks at me and nods. “I didn’t mean to go to the dark side.” She crinkles her nose.
“You didn’t. I’m the one who brought this conversation down,” I say, smiling at her. “Since it’s snowing so hard out, I vote we go make a snowman or something…”
She looks down at her clothes. “I’m not sure—”
“I’m sure there’s something of my sister’s here. She lives in Windy Harbor now, but we’re all in and out of this house from time to time.”
“Okay. If we find something, I guess I’d be game. That whole ‘live life to the fullest’ mentality…maybe you’ll rub off on me.” She swallows hard and looks away, while I stare at her, my mind reeling with mental images of just that. Her cheeks flush, and I try to reel in all my lustful thoughts.
We finish up with breakfast, and I tell her to leave the dishes when she tries to clean. I take her to the mudroom and show her all our snow gear.
“You guys must be really…outdoorsy,” she says.
I laugh. “You could say that. I own a surf shop in Malibu and am about to become the activities coordinator for a resort. Are you not outdoorsy?”
She makes a face. “Not so much. I should try to get better at it. Chloe loves being outside so much, and we go for walks and to the park…but during the winter, I look for indoor activities.”
I grin. “Challenge accepted. I’d like to find things you like to do outside.”
Her head tilts as she looks at me skeptically. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”
I find a hat with cat ears and hand it to her. “This will look great on you,” I tell her. “My grandma made it.”
“Aw, that’s adorable! Wow, she made this?”
“Grandma Donna would cover the world with her knitting if she could. She’s definitely done her part.”
I hold up a black fitted snowsuit that looks like it’s her size. “You’re taller than my sister, but this should fit you…you think?”
She nods. “I think it’ll work.”
I point at the array of snow boots on the shelves in the closet.
“Wow, you really are prepared.”
She goes to change, and when she comes out, it’s impossible not to smile.
She’s covered from head to toe and looks so cute and sexy in the snowsuit.
I’m just putting on my boots, and she picks out some in her size.
A few minutes later, we’re braving the cold.
The snow has slowed down, but not much. The only thing I couldn’t find in her size was waterproof gloves, so she’s wearing some of mine, and her hands are swimming in them.
“It’s beautiful out here,” she says.
“I love it when the trees are lined like that,” I say, pointing to a huge one in our backyard. “Should we build a snowman first?”
“You build a snowman, and I’ll do a snowwoman,” she says.
I grin. “I love this idea.”
We get started, rolling snow into a ball that will be big enough for the bottom. I get done, and she’s still rolling when I plop mine down in the middle of the yard. When I look back, her ball has collapsed into fluff, and she makes a pouty face.
I laugh. “Need help?”
“How did you get yours to stay together?”
“I packed it together before rolling…”
She looks at me in confusion. “I’ve never done this.”
I stare at her. “This is your first time?”
She laughs shyly. “Don’t look so shocked.”
“I didn’t know there were still virgin snowpeople builders out there.”
She packs a nice round ball, and I’m proud of how perfectly shaped it is…until she chucks it at me.
It hits me right in the chest, and I yelp, which makes her crack up. While I’m bending down to make my own snowball, she pelts me with another one. I reach out and put my hands on her waist, pulling her close to me.
“For someone who doesn’t know how to build a snowman, you sure know what you’re doing in a snowball fight,” I say, my forehead leaning against hers.
She laughs. “I was inspired.”
“Yeah?” I tickle her sides, and she jerks around, laughing harder.
She tries to get away from me, going for another snowball, and falls. I rush over to help her up, and she pulls me down, so I fall into the fluffy snow too. We’re both laughing so hard, we end up covered in white.
“We may as well make snow angels while we’re down here,” I say, flinging my arms out.
She looks over at me and does the same, her nose and cheeks red from the cold. She looks so beautiful.
When we’re done, I stand up carefully, holding my hand out for her to take. She takes it and we stand there, assessing our angels.
“Impressive,” she says.
She turns to face me and shivers. I put my arms around her and hug her to me. When she lifts her face up to look at me, I can’t resist—I kiss her.