Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
AXL
I waited outside on the steps for what felt like an eternity. It was cold, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Billie and Angel inside. I should have stayed and run interference, but interference from what?
Angel was my ex, and Billie was just someone I knew.
I busied myself brushing off the sled. The temperature was rising, and snow continued to fall. The talk in the cafe had been about the road opening by morning. This was good news. With enough daylight, Billie and I could probably dig out enough room for her truck to get some traction. She had the chains ready.
The door to the cafe flew open. Billie stood on the front porch and walked down the steps. She held the rail with one hand. In the other, she held an insulated bag.
“Here,” she said, shoving the bag in my direction. “We should tie this down. I’m driving the sled this time.”
“All righty,” I said, taken aback.
She walked around the back of the snowmobile and took a seat on the front. It did not take a rocket scientist to pick up on the attitude she was throwing. The woman was pissed. What had Angel told her, and why did I care? I wanted Billie to go home. Maybe I should be thanking Angel? It was one thing for Billie to leave. It was another to have her drive the snowmobile.
“I should drive,” I said. “I’m, like, twice as big as you.”
She sat in the front seat, hands fiddling with the controls.
“Don’t be a sexist dickhead,” she said.
“It’s not sexism if it’s factual.”
“Get on the sled, or I am leaving you here,” she shouted, pulling on her helmet, eyes fixed forward.
I could have forced her to talk to me, but I wasn’t sure what I would say or what I wanted. So I accepted the fact that Billie was pissed off at me. Maybe it was better this way. After all, I wanted her to leave Smoke River.
I attached the bag to the back of the sled and climbed on the machine behind her. I held onto the arm holders as she hit the gas. I realized as we drove that on the way out, she’d held my middle the whole time. She could have grabbed the handlebars, but she didn’t.I thought about reaching around her tiny waist, but as the sled bounced over the icy flats, I knew that my touch was not welcome. I felt the sickness of regret, but pushed it down fast.
I didn’t owe Billie anything. If she was going to act like a jealous girlfriend, well, that was her problem. I didn’t have a girlfriend anymore. Billie was my landlord’s granddaughter, and chances were I needed to find a new place to live.