Chapter 2 #2
“Damn fool woman.” I took my next box outside, ready to shout across the distance, but she was gone.
And the blankets with their golden warmth with her.
I slammed the door.
What the hell was I worried about her for anyway?
I stared down the hallway to my office which only incensed me more.
Ignoring the dark hallway, I crossed to the kitchen and rummaged through my fridge for a Diet Coke and a sleeve of Thin Mints from my freezer. Still too unsettled to deal with the kitchen, I wandered into my room as I plowed through the sleeve of sugar.
My bed was too big for the space. Being over six-foot-three, I needed a king-sized bed and the bedrooms in these older houses were made for much smaller people.
Between my California King mattress and the heavy wood frame, the bedside tables butted against the wall and the matching dresser took up the entire wall in front of the bed.
At least there was enough room to walk.
Barely.
I made the bed with navy sheets I found in one of the boxes and a gray plaid blanket in deference to the drafty windows.
Sweat and cold had worked its way into my bones. Hoping a shower would revive me, I was pleasantly surprised to find great water pressure. Being from California, water was a luxury. Being able to let the hot water steam up the shower and pummel my shoulders went a long way to improving my mood.
I dried off and reached into a box for a pair of sweatpants and found an old 49ers sweatshirt.
I crushed the logo into my fist. The memory of Christopher and me at that Super Bowl was like punch to the gut.
I took the box cutter to the heavy fabric and slashed it to ribbons, letting the pieces fall back into the box.
I dug in and found another sweatshirt from a baseball game, and still one more from the basketball playoffs, each of them full of memories with my best friend.
The one person I always thought would have my back.
With each rip of cloth, my rage only increased until the box was brimming with confetti of my past.
I kicked the box into the hallway, jamming my feet into my sneakers. I needed air. I pulled my parka off the hook near the door and yanked it on over my naked chest.
The cold snow only fueled the lion living in my chest.
The pain.
The betrayal.
The numbness cracked.
I skidded down the snow slick path to the beach below.
The fat flakes were still coming down, and I didn’t know the terrain. The pain in my ankle barely registered as I crashed into the icy sand.
My fingers screamed as the sand scraped at my skin and the cold snow instantly burned my skin.
I wasn’t sure how long I laid in the sand, my shoulder pulsing at the position and the freezing ice.
Who knew that sand turned into clumps of impossible ice?
I should remember that for my book.
A nose snuffled at my ear.
I shrugged it off, but the animal came back, nudging me.
“Go away. Just let me be.”
The nose punched at my head, then my numb fingers.
Then he nosed under the sand, to put my hand on its snout.
My eyes opened and the white and tan dog stared at me with big beseeching brown eyes.
His fur was warm, even in the still falling snow.
“What happened?”
I blinked up at the new voice.
The dog nudged me until I flopped onto my back. I squinted at the halo of blond above me.
“Hey, buddy.” Her voice was surprisingly husky. “Where did you come from? Is this your owner?”
“No,” I rasped.
“Not your dog?”
I wasn’t sure if I shook my head or not.
“Hmm. Okay, let’s get you out of the snow. Why are you half naked? Did you have an event?”
I frowned. “Event?”
“Yeah. Do I need to dial 911?” She patted her pockets.
“No. Just leave me.”
“That’s not very neighborly of me.”
Golden girl. Warm. Right now she was dotted in icy white over a purple parka with…was that pink fur? “Why would you care?”
“Because I am a good person.” She wrapped her hands around mine and tugged until I sat up.
The dog barreled into me and I hissed as his icy wet fur hit my chest.
“Why are you out here without a shirt on?”
Because I’m an ass.
Didn’t seem like the thing to say so I kept my mouth shut.
“C’mon.” She pulled again and the dog got up and went around to nudge me from the back.
“I’m too big.”
“Yeah, well, I happen to be very strong.”
I grunted as she yanked me up onto my hip. Okay, she was pretty strong for a little thing, but for fuck’s sake, she would end up in the snowy sand with me.
I hissed as I rolled onto my knees to push myself upright.
She gasped. “Oh, your hands.” She shoved her hands into her pockets and came back with pink mittens with chicks on them. “Here.”
“I am not—” I cut myself off as she slid the wool over my hand. They barely fit, but were oversized enough to get over my fingers. The instant difference from elements to wool made my pain receptors fire.
“Other one,” she said.
I shook my head but held up my hand, and this mitten was purple with a mouse on it.
Who was this woman?
Then she jammed her shoulder under my arm. “Up we go. What’s your name?”
I just grunted and focused on getting my feet under me. Then I crashed when my ankle didn’t cooperate.
“Oof.” She lost her balance and her face crashed into my neck and the scent of snow and honey filled my head.
Did honey have a scent?
Warm.
Golden.
Like the blanket she’d been wrapped in.
I shook my head, trying to make space between us. “I’m good.”
“Really? Seem pretty wobbly to me.” She jammed her shoulder under my arm and her hand splayed across my bare chest. The warmth of her seeped into my skin, burning against the cold.
Then there was a nose at the back of my thigh, pushing me forward.
“Hey buddy,” she said kindly to the dog. “Did you find your owner? Good boy.”
“Not mine,” I mumbled.
“Oh.” She frowned up at me. “I’ve never seen him before.”
Her eyes were green as the evergreens that rimmed the lake with the longest and darkest lashes I’d ever seen. At least real lashes anyway. I was pretty sure they were actually real. I never understood the fake lashes thing.
God, I was delirious.
When her hand slid lower to push me upright, I decided not that delirious. Another inch and she’d be in my sweats.
She didn’t seem to notice.
“Can you walk?”
“Of course, I can walk.”
“So, you just live to be rude?”
I huffed out a breath. “I’m vertical. You can go.”
She stepped back and I immediately listed to the side, my bum ankle unable to hold my weight. She arched a full brow at me. “Not so much.” She tucked herself against me again, this time her arm sliding under my coat to wrap around my waist. “Just accept the help, Porkie.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Porkie the porcupine.”
I frowned down at her. “You’re very peculiar.”
“I’m aware.” She grinned up at me, her mouth wide and lush. “I’m good with it. Now, let’s get you inside before you lose a finger.”
Giving up on getting away from this woman, I draped an arm around her shoulders for balance. “Not likely with these ridiculous gloves.”
“They’re warm aren’t they?”
I sighed. “It’s wool.”
She snorted. “You are a Susie Sunshine aren’t you?”
I didn’t have an answer for that one and kept my damn mouth shut before she gave me another name.
The trip up the beach to the path felt eternal. My sneakers kept sliding on the icy sand and she caught me every time. The dog circled around us, whining when we didn’t move fast enough to suit him.
I was pretty sure it was a him.
He was all white save for the patches around one eye and the opposite ear. His tail, a feather duster with a coil at the end, kept wagging. The minute he got close to us, it tucked between his legs.
Both of them, oddities.
Just like this whole damn day.
“You’re quite tan. Not from around here?”
I looked down at her, then to my chest with its matted hair full of grime and sand. “How could you tell?”
“Well, the sneakers in the winter were a clue. The sparkly new parka was another. Pretty sure your zipper still has the plastic protector over it. Chest was also a clue. It’s very nice, but it’s a bit cold for exhibitionism.”
Speechless, again. I just stared.
“Tall, dark, and mute? Okay, then. Well, I’m Phoebe.”
“Dutch,” I muttered.
“Pleased to meet you, Dutch. I knew the Hendersons. Great house. Killer view.”
I grunted at the pain in my ankle radiated up my thigh. “Can we just get up to my house?”
“You got it, Porkie.”
“Can you not call me that?”
“Now that I know you hate it, nope.” She gave me that sunny smile as her fingers sunk into my side to keep me upright.
Damn, perplexing woman.