Chapter Twelve
“Day three of my vacation is off to a good start!” I smack Rom’s butt as we hike down from Frostwing Lookout. The snow gives a satisfying crunch beneath my boots. I love the cozy warmth of our cabin, but there’s something invigorating about a sunny winter day.
We had a productive morning on our phones and now have the rest of the day off. Winter Bliss is an apt name these days! I chatted with my two student workers for a good long while. Now that stores are opening after Christmas, they”re going shopping and will let me know what supplies they’re able to get. We can probably pay for two-day shipping on anything else we need.
I also called the park ranger station, but no one answered, so I left a voicemail for Chad, an ancient history ex-boyfriend. He usually leads search and rescue operations for park services and has lots of buddies that work for the city. I thought he might know something about when the road will be cleared.
Rom only checked his emails, but he doesn’t seem upset as we make our way down the hill.
“You have a meeting scheduled with the landlord?” I ask.
He nods. “In two days. I’ll take the call up here if I have to but—”
“If the roads clear, you should come down to Winter Bliss and stay with me.”
“I’d love that.” He smiles down at me. “As for your landlord, all signs point to a positive response based on the communication my lawyer and I received. If not, it’s war.”
“You sound much too happy about that!” I interlace our fingers. I regret not bringing gloves, but his hands do a much better job warming me up than gloves ever could.
“I want you to own that building, Noelle.” He looks down briefly, squeezing my hand, before focusing back on the path. “If you’d let me, I’d offer to negotiate a purchase from them and set you up with some real estate contacts to get a good deal on a mortgage you can afford.”
“Whoa. I can barely make rent. That’s something I’ve never even considered.”
“You’re not ready.” He looks back at me, and I can see it’s a statement not a question. “Yet. But one day you will be, and I want you to think about it now. To dream big, Noelle, whatever that is. Even if it’s not that old building.”
It’s you,I want to say. My biggest dream would be him living in Winter Bliss with me. He dreams about business, but I dream about people. And I want him. The crazy thought must be some intoxicating mix of happy hormones and the magic of the holidays talking. It’s only been a few days.
“I’ll think about it,” I say.
We just reconnected. He’s only passing through. Rom left before, and his family made something of themselves. Winter Bliss is in his rearview, and I need to remember that.
“I was serious about asking my friend to interface with your library’s catalog and generate a price sheet of valuable books on hand. She could run the numbers like that.” He snaps his fingers and a flame lights up. “Whoops. Sorry. I’m a little excited about it. But I know that one historical romance Old Ethel has alone is worth some cash.”
“Hmmm, that makes me think maybe I could do a raffle at the festival too, especially if I have a book that’s really valuable, you know?”
He looks down at me with raised eyebrows, like he knows I know the answer.
I smack his arm. “I’m not giving up Miss Mistletoe. No way! Never. It’s my precious.” I hiss at him until he’s laughing. “There are plenty others I can bear to part with, I promise. The plan has always been to downsize, even before you rented the place I planned to move into.”
“I wish I could say sorry, but I’m not.”
“I know, I know.” I wave. “Demons are good at making deals, and it’s your family business. I totally get it.”
“No, you don’t. I’m not sorry because it was good for business or because a deal is a deal and too bad for you. I’m not sorry because you shouldn’t have to move at all. The library is exactly where it’s meant to be.” After a few steps, he stops in his tracks. “Wait.”
“What?”
“What if I donate a Perkatory Pass? Donors can bid on a chance to win one free specialty drink per day for a whole year. That’d be worth . . .” His eyes dart around. “$1,800 give or take. A little less if people don’t go every day.” He scratches his chin. “I’ll throw in a baked good too and offer one free catering order of up to $600. That’s at least a $3,500 value. You could sell a lot of tickets for a raffle like that.”
I step back a couple paces. A $3,500 value donation? “That’s too much.”
“It’s not enough.” He shakes his head and sets his fists at his hips, looking distinguished and so put together it makes me want to scream. “Plus, I’m not completely altruistic. It’ll be good marketing for Winter Bliss’s newest coffee shop. You’d be doing me a favor, really.”
“Doing you a favor?” I pick up snow, form it into a ball, and hurl it at him.
He gasps in shock, but his face lights up in a way I haven’t seen since he was fourteen years old. “What was that for?”
“You need to stop throwing money at me.” I lob another snowball at him. “Or I’ll keep throwing these at you.” I grab another and smack him dead in the face before racing back to the cabin.
“You’re in for it now, missy,” his dark voice booms. My skin prickles with panic and excitement. I get pelted with a couple snowballs, but I think my roller skating really has done me wonders athletically because he hasn’t caught me—
Oof. I land face first in several feet of snow and scramble to turn around.
Right side up, he pins both my hands together with one of his big paws and dusts the snow off my face with the other. His palm is overwarm, probably using some of that fire magic demons make such good use of. Against the bright morning sky, he”s a dark god, and I’m struck a little senseless.
“I have another proposition for you,” he says.
Yes. My heart calls out, pulse pounding as my mind spins a very specific fantasy.
He plans to throw away his whole life and move to rural Idaho. He wants to be with me for real. He’s going to tell me he’ll stay.
“No more throwing money at me,” I tease, hoping against hope.
“A long-term partnership.” He smiles, and I smile back, my heart soaring. “Between Perkatory and the library.”
“Huh?” I flash cold like the ground below me and wiggle out from under him, sitting up then quickly moving to stand. I need space to clear my head. That went the completely opposite direction from my delusional thoughts. I dust myself off. “What do you mean?”
Rom has his phone out and is taking notes, glancing up at me with a hopeful smile that kind of kills me. “So even after the festival and you sell some used books, you’ll probably still have a lot of inventory, right? Low-priced books but also valuable older stock you can sell to make some cash. What if my coffee shop sells them for you? A partnership where 100% of the profits go back to the library. Perkatory doesn’t need a cut. This is just a slight tweak to our business model since our other coffee shops already run free lending libraries. I”d actually feel a little guilty setting up a free lending library right next to your real library.”
That would be . . . really cool, actually. Books and coffee go together as naturally as me and Rom. I shake the thought from my head. Gah. Such a hopeless romantic. This demon is too good to be true. “Let me guess. I’d be doing you a favor?”
“Your words, not mine.” He holds out his hands.
“You seriously give away free books in all your coffee shops?” I’ve seen the little lending libraries people set up in their front yards and a couple places that have a bookshelf or two and have always loved the idea. It’s pure chaotic goodness. “Doesn’t seem very good for business.”
“My parents agree with you.” He nods with that same cute boyish smile, fidgeting with his hair and pulling it over his right shoulder. “We even have secret rooms hidden behind certain bookcases, if people know how to open them.”
I gasp in delight, my fingers covering my lips. “No! Just like in that book we read—”
“—when we were kids,” we say together, and he chuckles. “Ha! Yeah, I guess it was my way to keep the wonder and magic of the Winter Bliss library with me. I want everyone to have the chance to read a book no matter what. Just pick one up and go. My time hiding away in your library as a kid changed my life, Noelle. Everyone should have the freedom to read.”
My throat feels funny, constricted with emotion. I’m bursting with pride for him and all he’s accomplished as well as pride for my uncle and myself. Our small-town library meant something to him. It means something to everyone in Winter Bliss every day. Even if he can’t live here with me, the work I do is important.
“You like the idea? Selling your books there?” He seems nervous. “I’ll have my lawyer draft up a contract, plain language, nothing funny, and you don’t even have to talk to me about it. Make your decision on your own ti—”
“Yes! Of course.” I rush forward and hug him. “It’s smart, just like you. You’ve got all the business smarts.”
“You’ve got all the heart.” He cups my face with one hand while the other lays across my chest. “The more important of the two.”
My heart kicks into overdrive. We would work so well together, personally and professionally. In every possible way. Does he feel it too? Why does someone so perfect for me have to live so far away?
“When we get off this mountain, you can help me pick out some bookshelves for Perkatory and figure out the branding.”
“Yes!” I know how busy I can get, but for his last few days here, I’m going to slow down and make time to spend them with him. I’ll be home at a reasonable hour, no matter how frantic I get setting up for the festival, especially if we can keep having adult sleepovers at my apartment.
“We have to think of a name for it,” he says.
“Second Chance Stories,” I say, waggling my eyebrows. “Get it? Purgatory. Old books that need a new life.”
“I like it.” He leans down and kisses me. “Every story deserves a second chance.”
Just like us.
“Day four,” I whisper, leaning over Rom in bed, tracing the angled shape of his eyebrows, then down one of my favorite of his branching scars. I just love to touch him. The sunlight is blue-tinged, barely breaking over the snowy mountain top, but my mind is already in overdrive. It’s not four days of vacation I’m thinking about now; it’s the seven days I have left until Rom leaves. It feels more real now with each passing day. He’s going to leave. The hours are slipping through my fingers like sand.
He ran into someone else on a hike for firewood yesterday, another human woman who got snowed in at a cabin nearby. I really want to check my messages. I”ve been playing phone tag with Chad. His last voicemail confirmed that there are a few of us stranded up here, but he said he can”t get search and rescue approved if no one is in immediate danger. The problem is, apparently, we all have shelter, water, electricity, and food. So, no rescue. But he also said he wanted me to call him back. He has another solution in the works, but he didn’t say what or when, and I couldn”t get through. It’s only a handful of days until the New Year’s Eve festival, my last big chance for the fundraiser to save the library.
I need to get back to Winter Bliss.
“You’re worried, goddess.” Rom tucks some of my messy morning hair behind my ear and guides my mouth to his for a quick peck before patting my ass. “Let’s take a hike. Make some calls. We’ve got some things to take care of to get your head clear again, huh?”
I nod, heart warming at his continual use of we, even though I know the word has a timer on it. Seven days and counting down. “If the roads clear today, you’ll come to town and stay with me?”
“Of course. I’m sure the cell service is better down there for my call tomorrow.”
And I have the fundraiser. My volunteers can focus on getting supplies while I organize the used books for sale and start selling raffle tickets.
If Rom and I can get off this mountain soon, a couple days is plenty. The number that really haunts me is seven. I only have seven days left with the demon who can sense what I need before I do, the man who takes care of me so well, it inspires me to take better care of myself. I don’t know what I’ll do without him when he leaves, but I know he’ll leave me better off in so many ways.
Old Noelle would kick herself for falling so hard and so fast for someone from out of town. But I can’t. Every moment with him has been a treasure. I’ve never been more grateful I got snowed in on the top of Mount Winter Bliss. These last few days have been worth it and then some. All I can focus on right now is every day, every moment, we have left.
I give him my sunniest smile and nod. “Let’s take a hike.”