Chapter 19 #2
He blinked at my hand. “Uh. No. Let’s go back inside.
You must be frozen. What were you thinking?
” He hauled me to my feet, which continued to slip over the ice and snow.
He grabbed me around the waist and held me up.
Oh. This was fun. I was beginning to really like how he manhandled me.
“Let’s go before too much snow gets inside. ”
“Right. Sorry.”
He hauled me into the cabin and kicked the door shut behind us.
“The fire is nice and flame-y,” I said as my teeth chattered. “It’s already so toasty warm. You did a superb job!”
It was a bit of an exaggeration—the fire hadn’t warmed the room much at all yet. Of course, it probably hadn’t helped that I’d opened the door to the blizzard—but Nelson seemed like the kind who would benefit from a bit of praise.
He disappeared into the bathroom without acknowledging what I’d said. I could hear him opening doors and drawers. A minute later, he came out with a fresh towel. “Here. You should dry off. It’ll be easier to warm up if you aren’t covered in melting snow.”
As I accepted the towel, a full body shiver rolled over me.
“Come on,” he said, guiding me gently toward the fire.
He really was the sweetest. I grinned up at him. This situation was coming together brilliantly.
And now that I was reasonably certain most of my makeup was gone, I was happy to join him in the tiny little living room/dining room/kitchen/bedroom. I let him steer me to the couch in front of the fireplace. The only couch. Which meant it must also be the bed.
I hid my smile behind the towel.
“Do you need your contact lenses to see? Should you take them out?”
“I wear them to hide my eye color.”
“That’s a good idea, but your eyes are looking a little bloodshot now. That’s why I asked about them.”
I bit my lip. “I don’t have my lens case with me. It was in my suitcase.”
“Do you want to leave them in?”
“Not really… but my eyes are, um, unusual.”
If anyone saw my irises, they’d know I was different. If I slept with the contacts in, though, my eyes would be even more bloodshot and dry by morning. I racked my brain for a few seconds to come up with some way to save them, but nothing came to mind.
“It’s only the two of us here,” Nelson said.
He was right. And, even in Willow Lake, it sounded like people already knew I was a unicorn. So I plucked the contacts out and flicked them into the flames to destroy the evidence. They shriveled in the heat before catching fire.
After it was done, I groaned. That really did feel better. I glanced around to find Nelson staring at me. I didn’t avert my eyes like I usually did when someone stared. I wanted him to see me. The real me.
When he glanced away without comment, I was a little disappointed. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like he’d be able to see much in the firelight anyway.
But people always remarked on the strange rainbow-like sheen of my irises. Always.
What did it mean that Nelson didn’t?
I pondered that as we settled on the couch and faced the fire. The moment had all the makings of a memorable scene in a romance movie. Without the romance, unfortunately. He was sitting at one end of the couch, and I was all the way over at the other end.
For a solid five minutes we didn’t speak. I’d heard people talk about how lovely it was to find someone you could be comfortable sitting in silence with. I wasn’t feeling it. But I also couldn’t figure out how to manifest what I wanted to happen.
Shouldn’t he want to cuddle so we could stay warm? Had every rom-com I’d ever watched steered me wrong?
“Did you want to get rid of the wig too?”
I patted the wig. “I forgot about that! My scalp must be frozen, because it was driving me crazy when we were at the hotel.”
I tugged at the edges, and it peeled away easily. Considering everything I’d put the thing through, from the sweaty helmet to the snow, it wasn’t surprising that the glue had abandoned its post. The wig cap and wig came away together, and I tossed them onto a small end table.
I scrubbed my nails over my suddenly itchy scalp. “This must be how women feel when they take off their bras, right? We had a cook once who said it was the best feeling in the world.”
Nelson swallowed noisily enough to draw my attention. He was staring at the fire as if it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. His cheeks were darker than I remembered. He must be getting overly warm from the fire.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“Uh… No. Nope.” He shook his head.
Odd, but okay. I scrubbed my scalp a little more.
“Holy celestial sugar cubes. My head is getting all tingly now. I feel so much better with the wig off.” Maybe Nelson just needed a little more praise to help him come out of his shell. “What an excellent idea.”
“Great,” he muttered.
Since he wasn’t looking in my direction, I inched a little closer to him.
I’d barely moved when he jumped off the couch and scooped up the fireplace poker. I froze. He wasn’t arming himself against me, was he?
He stared at the poker in his hand for a long moment, like he couldn’t remember what to do with it, before crouching in front of the fire. Phew. His actions had nothing to do with me. That was a relief.
He poked at the fire. Sparks erupted as the logs jostled against one another.
I hoped we had enough logs to get through this.
If not, we might have to raid some of the other cabins.
Or we could move to a different cabin each night and see which one we liked best. I’d always thought having a cabin by a lake sounded romantic.
In my dreams, my ideal house had always had a bit of a cabin-esque feel to it.
This would be a perfect opportunity to try a few and see if I needed to tweak my vision board.
I wouldn’t want to live in the wilderness all the time, though. I liked sitcoms too much to go without having access to a streaming service.
Nelson added two logs to the others before coming over to perch on the edge of the sofa. No one should be that tense. It wasn’t healthy. I wondered what I could do to get him to relax.
As I pondered that very important question, I scrubbed my fingers through my hair again. It did feel really good.
Hmm… maybe I could offer him a head massage.