Chapter 5
Chapter five
With Father David’s help, Molly and Caleb loaded their car with as much as it could hold, which turned out to only be a fraction of what they’d packed.
The snow was already deep enough to tug at Caleb’s shoes, his feet sinking in up to the middle of his calf as they moved between the school and the car, soaking the lower half of his pant legs.
Molly did an admirable job of trying to clear the windshield, but for every swath of snow she cleared, more fell, faster and harder by the second.
Off in the distance, the streetlights were hazy in the white glow of the snow.
Caleb could hardly see the end of the school’s driveway.
Molly cleared the same area of the windshield for the third time, then dropped the scraper to her side, worry pulling at the corner of her mouth. “We can’t drive in this.”
His heart pounded. “I’m sure it will be fine once we get on the highway.”
Father David re-emerged from the school with the last garbage bag and handed it off to Caleb to place in the backseat. “Bad news, I’m afraid. I just got an alert the highway’s closed to all but essential vehicles.”
Fear slithered beneath Caleb’s skin. What had he gotten them into? “Then we’ll take backroads.”
“Those will be worse. White out conditions.” Father David flipped the collar of his jacket up against the biting wind and driving snow. “I think you two are stuck in Nativity for a while, Father.”
“No, we can’t—”
“We have a spare room here in the rectory, but I think you’d be more comfortable at the motel. It’s less than a mile down the road. If you leave now and go slow, you can get there before the wind kicks up and makes it any harder to see. Just look for the star.”
“A motel,” Caleb repeated. His face was numb in the frigid air.
“Go now, my friend. Stay safe.”
Caleb watched Father David retreat back towards the school, ducking his head as snow pelted him from all sides.
“Caleb.”
Blood rushed in his ears and he flexed his fingers in the pockets of his too-thin jacket. They’d go to the motel, they’d rent two rooms and ride out the storm, and in the morning, when the roads were clear, they’d drive home and everything would be fine. It was fine. It was just a little snow.
Or maybe it’s a sign...
Of what? My inability to check a weather forecast?
“Father West! We have to go.” The rising panic in Molly’s voice snapped him out of his trance and he gave a curt nod before joining her in the car, the heat blasting and the wipers working overtime to keep his view clear.
Snow crunched beneath the tires as he carefully steered the car out of the parking lot and onto the deserted road.
They moved at a snail’s pace, his attempts to keep the car from fishtailing on the slippery road at odds with his desire to move faster, to get them out of harm’s way—to get her out of harm’s way.
A gentle curve in the road felt like a roller coaster, each bend more treacherous than the last, until, at last, a giant, neon yellow, glowing star in the distance came into view.
“Follow the star,” he muttered.
The Starshine Motel was one of those two-story roadside motels Caleb had only seen in movies, with a whitewashed cement facade and a steel railing running along the second story walkway.
Each door was hung with an identical wreath and, beneath the sign with its neon star, was a nativity scene populated by plastic snowmen slowly being buried in the falling snow.
The car slid to a stop in the parking lot, snow coming down so hard and fast now it was hard to make out where the other cars were beneath the blanket of white.
“I shouldn’t have said anything. About the Church,” Molly said when Caleb had parked the car. “I made it weird.”
“I’m glad you said something.” At her little sound of disbelief, he reached across the center console and gripped her hand. “Are we okay?”
“We’re okay.”
She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something else, but the snow had already coated the windshield in the few moments they’d sat in the parking lot.
Despite the warmth rushing through him at her gentle reassurance, the voice in the back of his mind demanded he get her inside, get her warm, get her safe.
He squeezed her hand and reluctantly pulled away. “We should go in, before we get stuck out here.”
The small rental office was empty when Molly and Caleb pushed through the front doors, kicking snow from their shoes.
The light from a low ceiling fan cast the modest wood-paneled room in an orange glow.
A bell over the door announced their arrival and a woman in her mid-70s with a short, gray bob looked up from the Harlequin romance she was reading at the check-in desk.
“What are you folks doing out in this storm?” she gasped, dropping her book. “Come in, come in. Are you the couple in 3B?”
“What? No,” Molly sputtered. “Us? We’re not—we’re not a couple.”
Caleb did his best to block out the restless, staticky feeling pulsing through his veins at the mere idea of being mistaken for Molly’s partner and the sick weight turning over in his stomach from their last conversation.
“It seems we chose the wrong day to road trip to Nativity. I don’t suppose you have a couple of rooms open for the night? ”
The woman’s face fell. “No, I’m sorry, we don’t. My last room was booked just a few hours ago.”
Molly laughed, a brittle, hysterical sound. “You’ve got to be kidding me. We followed the star and there’s no room at the inn! I think I’ve heard this story before.” She jabbed a finger at the sky, her voice high pitched. “Joke’s on you, God! I haven’t been a virgin since high school!”
“Oh, my,” the woman said, glancing between them.
Caleb pressed a hand to Molly’s lower back and she sucked in a breath, turning her wild eyes towards him, but he was determined to ignore the way that small sound sent heat racing down his spine.
With his free hand, he lowered the zipper on his jacket, just enough to reveal his clerical collar.
The woman’s eyes zeroed in on the square of white like a homing beacon.
“Is there anything you can do for us? My friend and I just need a safe space to ride out the storm,” he said.
The woman thought for a moment, glancing uncertainly out the window at her back. “There is The Stable.”
Another incredulous puff of laughter burst from Molly’s lips before she clapped her hand over her mouth.
“It’s the renovated barn out back. We use it as a vacation rental home.
” The woman pointed out the window to a cabin set a little way back on the property, barely visible through the swirling storm.
“It was supposed to be rented out all weekend for a bachelor party, but they called yesterday and cancelled.” She dropped her voice and leaned closer.
“Apparently the bride and the best man were having a thing on the side.” Her eyes flashed to Caleb’s clerical collar again and she cleared her throat, straightening her spine.
“The house is fully stocked and sitting there empty. I could give it to you for the cost of a standard room, seeing how it’ll just be going to waste otherwise, if you don’t mind the bachelor party décor. ”
“That would be incredibly generous of you…”
“Mary.”
“Mary,” Caleb repeated with a strained smile.
Someone up there has a sick sense of humor.
The Stable may have been a barn once, but there was only the barest hint of that history remaining in the large, open concept cabin.
The wide-plank hardwood floors, exposed beams, and large stone fireplace with its barnwood mantle gave the space a rustic vibe at odds with the luxury furniture and stainless-steel appliances in the kitchen.
When Caleb and Molly burst through the front door, a flurry of snow followed them inside and covered the welcome mat.
It had been a treacherous trudge from the motel to the cabin through the rapidly accumulating snow dunes, and Molly’s fingers stung as newfound warmth thawed her frozen extremities.
“Take off your shoes,” Caleb said.
Molly pulled her attention away from the wall of windows at the back of the living room overlooking a stretch of forest blanketed in white to find Caleb sitting on the small wooden bench just inside the front door, untying his sneakers.
“They’re soaked through, Molly. We need to get out of these wet clothes. Take off your shoes before your feet freeze.”
“Right, of course.”
She sat down next to him and untied her shoes, ignoring the way her thigh brushed against his.
That wasn’t a helpful thing to notice in a time like this, not when there was this weird tension between them since she’d scolded him back at the school, and especially not when Caleb’s eyes seemed to be locked on her feet.
Her bright green socks featured a shirtless Santa, suspenders framing his six-pack abs.
They’d been a Christmas gift from Jo last year and, when she’d put them on that morning, they’d made her giggle.
Now, she couldn’t peel them off her wet feet fast enough.
“I knew you couldn’t be a grinch. No one who hates Christmas would own those socks,” Caleb teased lightly, as though he was testing if it was still okay to.
“I never said I hate Christmas.” Molly stomped over to the fireplace, wet socks balled in her hands. Mary had mentioned the fireplace was gas. If she could just find the ‘on’ switch, they could warm up faster, but there didn’t seem to be any buttons hidden in the stonework.
Suddenly, the fire roared to life and Molly spun around to find Caleb aiming a remote at the fireplace. “So is it just depictions of Jesus’ birth you take issue with or—”
“They were inflatable lobsters! What exactly is Christ-like about inflatable crustaceans?”
Caleb laughed, his Adam’s apple bobbing above his clerical collar. “Nothing at all,” he conceded. “Nothing Christ-like about horny Santa socks, either.”
Molly threw the wadded up wet socks at him, smiling. “I don’t know. Jesus was a carpenter. I bet that man had abs for days.”
He blinked. “Did you just…objectify the Lord?” She told herself the heat overtaking her face was because of her proximity to the fireplace. Caleb shook his head and tossed the socks back at her. “Never mind. Don’t answer that.”
She should let it drop, but as she followed him up the staircase to the bedrooms where Mary had promised they’d find dry bathrobes and slippers, she couldn’t help but needle him. “Is it my preference for secular Christmas iconography that bothers you, or is it the idea Santa can be sexy?”
“Santa can be whatever you want. Santa’s not real.”
Molly gasped in mock shock. “How can you say he’s not real when we have at least twenty of his outfits in the back of your car?”
Something flashed behind Caleb’s eyes and his darkened gaze flitted over her form, the same heated look he’d given her back at the school when she’d held up the Santa dress.
If she’d blinked, she might have missed the way his throat bobbed on his upward sweep of her body, a ruddy color spreading over his cheekbones.
He threw open the closet door at her side, and pulled out two white terrycloth robes, his expression clearing as he carefully removed them from their hangers.
“I’ll change in the other room.” He handed her a robe before disappearing back into the hallway, pulling the bedroom door closed behind him and leaving Molly with a hot, staticky feeling prickling along the path his eyes had taken.
Molly stripped off her shirt and shimmied out of her jeans, the lower half of which were completely soaked from their trek through the snow.
Thankfully, her bra and panties were dry and the robe was soft and warm against her skin.
She shot off a quick text to Jo to let her know she wouldn’t be making it back to their shared apartment that night.
Jo: You’re snowed in?? Please tell me there’s only one bed.
Molly: There are plenty of beds. I think this place has something like six bedrooms.
Jo: Well, that’s disappointing.
Molly rolled her eyes.
Molly: It’s just one night. Once the storm clears, we’ll be back on the road in the morning.
Jo: You have to tell me what Father West looks like with his shirt off. I bet he’s got one of those muscle V’s pointing to his dick.
Molly: I will not be seeing Caleb with his shirt off. How would that even happen?
Jo: I don’t know. Spill a drink on him. Get creative. Horny former Catholic school girls everywhere are counting on you!
Molly: Good night, Jo. I’ll text you when we get on the road tomorrow.
Jo: Have fun being snowed in with the hot priest. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
Molly: There’s nothing you wouldn’t do.
Jo: Exactly *wink emoji*