Chapter 24
Scarlett
Andee: Are you ready for snowpocalypse?
Me: Yeah, totally. I downloaded some books on my kindle yesterday.
Mia: As much as I support that, do you also have enough food and water?
Me: Yes mom, I went to the store yesterday. I grabbed milk, eggs, a case of water, and cookies. All the essentials.
Lydia: What about power, do you guys lose power pretty easily down there?
Me: I love you guys and I appreciate the concern but I’m not some old lady out in the boonies who can’t take care of herself. I doubt we’ll lose power for very long and even if we do, my kindle battery is charged. Winky face emoji.
Kenzie: ha ha. We’re serious though. They’re saying it could be really bad and you’re in a new place. We’re worried about you.
Me: I have lived in Colorado my entire life. I will be fine. Promise.
Lydia: All due respect but you’ve lived in Denver your whole life. You know damn well the little mountain towns get more snow than we see here in the metro area.
I take a deep breath and try not to roll my eyes.
Even though I know my friends can’t see me roll my eyes, I know that they mean well.
They’re more nervous than I am. And despite what Lydia says, Denver has gotten a good snow or two over the years and we always make it through.
I’ll make it through this one too. Just like I always do.
Me: I’ll keep you guys posted I promise.
I close my phone and finish adding an extra heat lamp to the chicken coop.
They’re all nice and cozy. It might actually be warmer in their coop than it is in my house.
Which is fine. My plan for the weekend is to just bundle up under blankets, eat cheese and crackers and read good books.
Since quitting my job I’ve been on a roll with reading books.
More books than I’ve read since my college years.
And I am loving it more now than I did then.
After I’m certain the chickens are set, I make my way back to my cottage pulling my beanie down farther on my head.
The temperature has taken a serious nosedive since this morning.
Inside the cottage I set the heater up a few degrees to warm it up a more than usual as I set out to make some dinner.
Earlier in the day I made a fresh loaf of sourdough bread and it made me want some chicken and wild rice soup.
While the rice boils in the broth I take a peek out the window and see the snowflakes begin to fall.
I grab my phone and head outside. The sun is setting behind the mountain range and the sky has turned the most beautiful shade of lavender mixed in with the clouds.
With the sun going down the wind has calmed.
There’s no movement outside other than the fluffy snowflakes falling from the sky.
Even the chicks are quiet as they prepare to nap through the storm.
The stillness in the air washes over me with a peace I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced.
I came outside to film the snow falling before I lost all natural light.
Now that I’m out here, I don’t want to share this moment in my life.
I want to be selfish and keep this beauty all to myself.
I stare straight up and let the snowflakes wash down over me for another few minutes before the cold pushes me back inside.
The smell of the soup reminds me how hungry I am.
I pour myself a healthy bowl with a few slices of bread and sit near the sliding glass door to watch the snow fall in the path of the porch light outside.
These are the moments that I looked forward to when I planned on moving down here.
Slower moments. Moments that just remind you what life is really about.
Hours later, with my stomach full, the heater on, blankets in a pile on top of me in bed I settle in with a new romantasy book.
The silence of the house feels louder tonight for some reason.
Again, I wonder if now might be a good time to get a dog or a cat.
Something else to inhabit the house with me.
Make the bed warmer. Speaking of the bed being warmer, there’s only one bed at the inn and I have a feeling the enemies are just about to become lovers.
“I’ll just take the floor, you can take the bed,” he whispered, his eyes never leaving the sole bed in the dark and dreary room. The bed stuck out like a beacon, tension palpable in the room.
“Don’t be silly,” I said. “It’s plenty big enough for both of us to share. Just don’t think I’ll be your little spoon.”
“Ha! She’s totally going to be his little spoon, just watch,” I say to no one at all.
We get comfortable on our separate sides of the bed and my nerves spike when I feel him adjust his position.
I haven’t slept with someone else in the bed since I was a teenager and my sister and I had to share a very small bed.
There’s something about the human urge to feel another’s warmth.
I can’t stand the man next to me but for some reason I long to feel his strong body wrapped around mine.
When we get to Vangallen I need to find someone to give me a release or else the rest of this journey is going to be painful.
“Or, you could just bang the big strong fae male that’s in your bed,” I say out loud with a goofy grin on my face. I turn the page on my kindle and boom, there it is. The moment we’ve all been waiting for ladies and gentlemen.
Involuntarily, my body began to shiver under the threadbare quilt. The wind blew outside and it cut through the poorly constructed stone walls. “At this point we could have just hunkered down in the forest and been just as protected from the elements,” I said through clattering teeth.
“Quit your whining,” Mason said as he scooted his body closer.
“Stay on your side,” I began to protest.
“Either we share body heat or you don’t make it until the sun rises little princess.”
I kick my feet under and burrow down deeper under the covers. The wind picks up outside and I insert myself into Princess Genevieve’s place. Apparently there’s nothing like a snow storm in a small cottage to make your loneliness so obvious.
My apartment building in Denver always had noises, even if most of them didn’t come from inside my apartment.
Mrs. Brown next door played her music at the highest volume her stereo would go because she was in her nineties and couldn’t hear anything.
That would infuriate Mr. Carter downstairs and he would, in classic sitcom fashion, poke a broom handle on the ceiling to try and get her to stop.
I can’t believe after several years of trying and failing, he never stopped.
My other next door neighbor was a playboy and he liked to bring home very vocal, very loud women almost every night.
When I first moved in he tried to hit on me.
I wasn’t interested for multiple reasons but I couldn’t have been more thankful I had said no then when I heard his escapades that very night.
Just as the fae male and the human princess are about to get it on, the lamp beside the bed flickers on, off, on, and then finally off again.
I reach over, flipping the switch a few times with no result.
Begrudgingly, I tumble out of the warmth of my blankets to the hallway closet to retrieve a new bulb.
Using the light of my kindle I somehow manage to make it into the hallway without stubbing my toe.
After flipping the hallway light on and getting no relief from the darkness, I mutter, “oh no.” Standing still in the hallway I notice the lack of sound coming from the home.
No humming from the refrigerator. No low vibration from the furnace forcing beautifully warm air into the little cottage.
As if the house wasn’t quiet enough already. The power is out.