Chapter 31
Jake
The temperature difference outside the greenhouse is brutal and Scarlett pulls her coat closer to her as a result of the wind picking up.
Just as I was about to suggest we go warm up inside with a cup of hot chocolate Cami comes from the garage holding one plastic sled and dragging my old wooden toboggan behind her.
I look over to Scarlett, expecting hesitation or a protest that maybe just Cami should go but she doesn’t.
Her eyes light up at the idea of sledding and it turns out I’m the only one dreading it.
Scarlett grabs the rope to the toboggan and with a bounce in her step walks side by side with Cami over to the hill on her property.
They both take a detour to stop and check in on the chicks before finally making their ascent.
I follow behind, unsure whether or not I like them putting their heads together and whispering.
Although, everytime Scarlett puts her head back and lets out a laugh, I find myself grinning.
Her joy is infectious. I want to bottle it up and keep it somehow just so that I can hear that laugh when I’m sad and she isn’t around.
My chest tightens at the reminder that this is all temporary.
We’re living in a short lived snow globe right now where sometime–potentially soon–Scarlett will go back home, and I’ll get back to my daily routines.
Which now that I think about it, are pretty pathetic.
Usually, I love my routines. They’re simple, straight to the point, necessary, and they keep the days moving quickly.
But these almost two days with Scarlett have made me want time to slow down.
For the first time, I don’t want to go back to my routines.
I don’t want to have to bribe and fight Henrietta into the stanchion every morning.
I want to marvel at the way Scarlett simply sweet talks Henrietta into position.
I don’t want to walk through the greenhouse alone every day, talking to the plants like a crazy person.
By the time I’ve started completely spiraling about this power outage being over soon we reach the top of the hill. I put my hands on my hips and try to pretend I’m not breathing heavily. Scarlett practically jumps up and down, ready to race down the hill until Cami looks at her.
“So, the toboggan is really made for more than one person. The steering gets a little tricky when it’s just one person.
” The look on her face when she finishes is one of remorse, as if she feels like she should have told Scarlett that before she handed her the toboggan and we trekked up this mountainside.
Scarlett turns to me and I hate how her expression has changed from carefree to nervous.
I look back at Cami who mouths the words shoot your shot.
And I have no idea what she’s talking about.
Her eyes are wide as if she’s panicked about this situation which makes me panic.
“Uh, yeah,” I mutter. “It is better to have two people, more weight makes it easier to steer?” I look at Cami, the end of what should have been a sentence coming out like a question. When I look back at Scarlett her face no longer looks as nervous.
“So you’ll go down with me then?” she asks.
Now I’m the one that’s nervous. “Yeah, of course,” I say.
Scarlett jumps for joy again and before I know it she’s positioning the toboggan and plops down on it, keeping her body towards the front of the toboggan.
Which makes sense since she’s smaller and lighter than me.
I catch Cami looking at me and nudging her head as if to say, go sit on the sled.
I position myself behind Scarlett’s small frame and feel like a giant on this wooden relic from my childhood.
For a second I think I should protest, tell them both that this is a mistake, but then I feel the way Scarlett scoots back just a touch.
Her body, though covered in warm layers, is flush against mine and it makes my breath hitch with how perfectly she fits.
I’ve always been a big guy, well over six feet with a wide wingspan.
It made me unstoppable on a basketball court but awkward in most other aspects of life.
When I took over the farm I naturally built on more muscle in my upper body, making my frame appear even bigger.
I’m not saying that it’s stopped women from wanting to be with me, but it hasn’t made me feel any less awkward about it.
Right now, with Scarlett sitting in front of me though, it doesn’t feel so bad.
Sure, she’s small, not much over five feet but she fits with me like I could wrap my arms around her and shield her from everything and somehow, that feels right.
Scarlett looks back at me over her left shoulder and the glimmer in her eyes is unmistakable. “Ready?” She asks.
I nod and lift my feet off the ground, starting our descent down the hill. In front of me, Scarlett lets out little whoops and screams as we hit bumps or pick up speed and before too long we’re down at the bottom of the hill.
“That was amazing,” she exclaims. “Want to go again?” Her excitement is contagious and even though my legs burn with the effort, we go up and down the hill several more times. Cami flies up and down, the youth of her legs making her quicker up the hill than both me and Scarlett.
I find myself both wanting and not wanting this to end.
The joy that is radiating off of Scarlett is something I haven’t felt in a long time and I want to grab it with my hands and hold onto it and this moment forever.
At the same time, the maybe tenth time I’ve walked up this hill is making things ache in my body that I didn’t know could ache.
Even though Scarlett has slowed down too, her energy hasn’t. She’s loving this.
Against my better judgment I go up the hill one more time, promising myself that I’ll convince the girls to go inside for some soup when we reach the bottom.
“Hey, let’s try making another path down this way,” Cami suggests as she points to the right side of the hill.
We’ve worn down a pretty good path already, which has made us pick up speed each time we’ve gone down.
Knowing I want this to be our last run, I agree to a new path and bargain that we’ll be done after this time.
She sets up her sled while Scarlett and I have our rhythm of mounting the toboggan on the left side of her.
Cami counts us down as if it’s a race, “Three, two, one, GO!” I lift my feet and we’re off.
With no path marked out in front of us the toboggan skies start off slowly down the hill.
Cami, with her plastic sled sitting on top of the snow that had been facing the sun all this time, flies down, practically levitating on top of the snow.
I begin to yell out, “no fair,” when the toboggan hits an unseen object and stops dead.
Scarlett and I however, do not stop. Our bodies fly forward, a perfect example of the laws of inertia, with Scarlett landing with a thud just outside of my reach in the snow.
I scramble to my hands and knees, knees that ache from the contact in the snow after hours of abusing them to climb this fucking hill in the first place, and crawl over to her.
Cami stands several feet ahead, the smile vanishing from her face as she realizes why we haven’t made it to the bottom yet.
“Scarlett,” my voice is hoarse as I cry out her name and lay my hand gently on her back.
She’s face down in the snow, not moving.
I try to think back about any sort of knowledge of what to do next.
Do I move her? Should I not move her? How should I support her neck if I do move her?
I whisper her name again and her body begins to tremble in front of me.
At first I assume it’s sobs causing her back to fall and rise so quickly but as she rolls herself over onto her back, I hear her sounds become clearer.
She’s laughing. I crawl another foot closer to where my body is nearly on top of hers.
I analyze her slowly, taking in whether or not it looks like she may have an injury that hasn’t registered due to adrenaline.
“That…was…so much fun.” She says between breaths as her laughing becomes almost maniacal. “But, I think I’m done now.” She rubs her shoulder that had hit the ground the hardest and I stare into her eyes. They twinkle, the blue in them reflecting the Colorado sky and I get lost in them.
Once again, I find myself longing to press my lips against hers, just as I did last night.
The pull to see how those blush pink lips feel against mine makes me inch closer until I hear Cami yell down from the bottom, “is she OK?” I sit back, giving Scarlett space again as I throw a thumbs up in Cami’s direction.
That’s twice now that I’ve almost kissed the neighbor and twice now that Cami has stopped it.
Is that a sign that I really shouldn’t be trying to kiss my new neighbor?
Scarlett sits up quickly, turning to Cami to tell her she’s alright, and then moving slowly to rise to her feet.
“Hang on there cowgirl,” I say. “You might want to take things slow and make sure nothing’s broken before you move too much.”
“I’m fine,” she protests. “I’m not as old as you, remember?” She winks and while I probably should be offended, my mouth quirks up into a grin.
“Alright then, let’s just get you some lunch,” I say.