by Elia Winters
Scarlett snorted. Like she had anything resembling a normal life. “Easier said than done. I have no idea what things are going to look like when I get back.”
Silence. Scarlett kept replaying her conversation with Gaelen; she was at a crossroads, and the way she responded to that could either be like she’d always done—running away—or something totally different. She could interpret that any number of ways, but this lifestyle of eking out a meager existence from piecemeal data entry jobs and gigs was not going to sustain her forever. “What about you?” she asked, needing to not think about her own situation for a few minutes. “What’s on the docket for you when you get back?”
Megan shrugged. Her gaze had drifted to the window again, watching the snow that was now falling steadily. “I haven’t thought past this trip. Matt will be moving out, and I don’t know about anything else. I don’t have a job. I guess I have to get one.” She didn’t sound too pleased, and before Scarlett could suggest a different topic, added, “I don’t want to talk about after.”
“Okay.” Scarlett understood. This world of the car and the open road had become its own haven, a separate existence from reality. She was none too keen to return to reality, either. When Megan started digging around in her album of CDs for another selection, relief replaced her anxiety. They didn’t have to talk about what came after. They could live in the now.
After about three hours, though, the “now” had become a lot snowier. Scarlett looked back at the GPS, which had continued adjusting their time of arrival based on road conditions, the hours moving later and later in the day.
“How are you doing?” Megan asked, concern dotting her brows. “How are the roads?”
The roads were shit, but Scarlett didn’t want to worry her. “I just have to pay attention.” The car wanted to slide everywhere on the untreated slickness, especially now that they were rolling through the white mountains of New Hampshire. At this elevation, the snow was steady and heavy and terrifying. Scarlett just wanted to get through it.
“Do you want me to drive?” Megan’s frown indicated that she didn’t think it was a good idea, either.
Scarlett resisted the impulse to laugh. “No thanks. I’ve got it. Once we’re out of the mountains it should be better.”
It wasn’t. After another two hours, they had crossed over from New Hampshire into Vermont, crawling north on I-91, as driving had become downright treacherous. She’d long since turned off the music to concentrate better. She didn’t feel safer going more than thirty, and the entire highway was crawling along with the few people dumb enough not to have gotten off the roads already. People like them. The way she saw it, they had a few options. Megan could drive, and they would likely end up off the road in minutes. Scarlett hadn’t driven a lot in the snow, but Megan had never driven in the snow, and northern Vermont wasn’t the place she wanted to teach her. Another option was to press on, but Scarlett was probably going to have a nervous breakdown before they arrived, especially as the GPS kept moving their arrival time later and later.
The third option was to find some place to stay and wait for the storm to blow over.
“Megan, do you have cell service?”
Megan pulled out her phone. “For now. It’s been going in and out.”
“I think we should find a place to stop for the night.”
Megan’s shoulders relaxed. “Good. Me, too. You want me to look for something online?”
“Yeah. Maybe somewhere with some food.” Scarlett had been checking the exit signs and not seeing a lot.
The car fell silent again, and Megan’s attention stayed focused on her phone for what felt like a really long time. “Well?” Scarlett asked, after about ten minutes of silence.
“There’s a couple of options. There’s a Holiday Inn, an EconoLodge, and if we get off at exit 26, we’re not too far from a ski resort.”
At least a ski resort would be prepared to weather a snow storm. “Ski resort. Give them a call, will you?”
Megan made an irritated noise. “I just lost cell service.”
Shit. “Well, pull out those maps. Let’s see if we can get there analog-style.”
* * *
“What do you mean, no vacancy?” Scarlett leaned heavily on the reception desk at the ski resort lodge, looking at a very apologetic reception clerk who was frantically typing into his computer. “How can you possibly be sold out in this snowstorm?”
“I’m so sorry, miss. It’s a busy week anyway, with school vacation, and a lot of people booked when they heard about this storm.” He looked like he expected Scarlett to hit him, and the way she was leaning forward with her wild hair and the visible stress of a lot of snowstorm driving, Megan was pretty sure she understood the fear.
“It’s school vacation? Who has a vacation in February?” Megan hadn’t been in school for a while, but weren’t those spring breaks in March or April?
“Most schools in the Northeast, actually.” He continued typing on the keys as he spoke. “I’m reaching out to all the overflow lodges and inns in the area, and it looks like there’s a room available at one of them just a bit down the road from us. It’s less than a mile, and there’s even a shuttle bus from there to this lodge if you want to go skiing. Is that okay?” His eyes pleaded for them to say yes.
Scarlett was already nodding, but she glanced back to make sure Megan was in agreement. “That good by you?”
“How much is the rate?” Megan asked.
The amount he quoted wasn’t nearly as high as Megan expected. “What’s the catch?” Scarlett asked. “That’s not bad at all.”
The clerk shook his head, scanning his computer screen. “It’s their standard rate. I don’t know. The reviews online are good if you want to read them.”
Scarlett waved her hand. “After driving through that storm, I’d be willing to sleep in your lobby.”
“Technically, miss, that would be against the rules of our lodge—” he began, but Megan jumped in.
“Just please, can you have them reserve the room for us? We’ll be right there.”
Thank goodness it was only a half mile down the road from the resort, because even that half mile was treacherous. Megan could feel the car slipping, no matter how much Scarlett said the roads “weren’t that bad,” and she could tell from the way Scarlett sagged in relief that she was happy when they finally pulled into the parking lot. “This place is cute,” Megan observed, peering out at the little stand-alone lodge building. It was way too small for what she had expected, though. “Where’s the rest of it?”
“I think...there?” Scarlett pointed past the building at a bunch of A-frame stand-alone cabins. All of them had lights on in the windows except one. “I think those are the rooms.”
Megan frowned. “I always wanted to try camping, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Well, I’m not sleeping in the car. Let’s go.” Scarlett opened the door and stepped out into the driving snow without waiting for Megan.
After filling out some paperwork at the front desk and receiving an entire folder of instructions to go through, Megan followed Scarlett up the snow-covered path to the one non-illuminated A-frame cabin in the bunch. At least they were bigger than Megan had at first thought. They had looked like glorified tents, but now that she was standing next to one, they were definitely a good fifteen feet tall at the peak. Scarlett jimmied the frozen lock and then pushed into a little foyer for them to take off their snowy layers. They pulled off snow-covered shoes and jackets before finally getting inside and finding a light switch.
Megan leaned back against the closed front door and scanned the entire space. It wasn’t large, but it was completely open except for one door to their right that led to the bathroom. They were standing in a tiny eat-in kitchenette, and past that was a living room with a couch and armchair, both facing a woodstove that had a giant pile of wood stacke
d alongside in an iron rack along the wall. The entire back wall of the cabin was made up of huge, floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking a forest and then, past that, the ski mountain. Megan walked over to those windows in her stockinged feet, looking out at the snow glimmering in the dim light.
Except something was missing. “Where’s the bedroom?” Megan asked, turning, but Scarlett was already pointing to the staircase running along one wall up to a loft.
“Can we figure this out first?” Scarlett pointed to the woodstove. “I’m going to freeze to death.”
Megan started leafing through the paperwork from the front desk for the woodstove instructions. It was the second sheet in the packet, and she scanned it. “This doesn’t look that complicated.”
Scarlett held up her hands. “I’ll help if you want, but you and I both know that you’re way more mechanically inclined than I am.”
She wasn’t wrong. Megan knelt down at the front of the iron beast and began to follow the step-by-step instructions. Scarlett’s gaze stayed on her, resting like a physical touch on the side of her face, and Megan kept struggling not to lose her place as she lit some newspaper and tucked it between the logs like the instructions said. Within a few minutes, the woodstove was aflame, and she closed the door, making sure all the other levers matched the diagram.
“I’m impressed.” Scarlett folded her arms and nodded. “You look like you know what you’re doing.”
Megan held up the sheet of instructions. “It’s all written down here.”
“But still. You were always the more competent of the two of us. Building things, fixing things, getting through school, all of it.” Scarlett went over to the windows and looked out. She always said things like that, tossing out disparaging remarks about herself and then moving on like nothing happened. Megan hadn’t fully come up with a response before Scarlett added, “It’s really coming down out there. You think somebody will bring us a pizza?”
Megan laughed. “Probably not, but we could get delivery from the restaurant at the ski resort. The info pack says they’ll walk to any of the surrounding inns, and we’re on the list.”
Although Megan had been hoping to be in Quebec that night, eating ribs from the barbecue restaurant in front of a woodstove was a pretty good second choice. The snow was still falling heavily outside, with no signs of letting up, and Megan was perfectly happy to finish her meal in relative warmth and comfort while the storm continued outside. At least the Château Frontenac had been gracious with their changing the reservation again, and had told them that the snow had affected a lot of people’s arrival plans.
“It’s really something.” Scarlett returned to the window to look outside once their dinner dishes had been cleared away. “There has to be half a foot out there already.”
“You think it’s that much?”
“Got to be. That lump out there was a bench, I’m pretty sure.”
“Have you checked the weather yet?” Megan had been too preoccupied with food to do any internet sleuthing once they’d gotten settled, and now that she was curled up in the armchair, she didn’t want to get her phone across the room.
Scarlett pulled out her phone and settled into the couch. “Good thing this place has Wi-Fi, because there are zero bars of cell service.” She frowned at the screen, which reflected a blue glow back at her face. “Fuck.”
That wasn’t a good sign. “What?”
“Local weather has this continuing for two more days.”
Megan’s stomach dropped. “What do you mean, two more days?”
“I mean, two more days. It’s supposed to stop on Friday. They’re calling it a ten-year storm or something.” Scarlett flopped her head back onto the back of the couch. “What a nightmare.”
Megan was quickly doing math. “The wedding’s on Saturday. We can still make it, right? If the snow stops Friday?”
“I mean, yeah, if they dig us out in time.” Scarlett grimaced. “Do you even have a snow broom?”
She didn’t. “We can borrow someone’s.”
“Sure.” Scarlett’s expression indicated she didn’t think that was likely. “At least we won’t starve. We’ve got snacks, and the cabinets are stocked with some dry goods. Plus we’ve got the restaurant.”
It wasn’t ideal, but being snowed in anywhere wasn’t ideal. Megan tried to think on the bright side. “It’s not a bad spot to be stuck.”
“No, I guess you’re right.” Scarlett looked around them. “Close quarters, though.”
The idea of being stuck in this small cabin with Scarlett for a few days didn’t inspire frustration as much as it inspired a bunch of other emotions. They’d fooled around together, and it was fun. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to do it again, right?
Before she could suggest anything, though, Scarlett got abruptly to her feet. “I’m gonna take a shower. Let me know if this place has any board games or anything to do when I get out.”
With Scarlett in the shower, Megan took time to fully explore the small cabin. She’d peeked up into the loft earlier, but now she climbed the stairs all the way and checked out the one bed. Of course it would be only one bed, with their luck. Maybe she could sleep on the couch. Or maybe Scarlett would volunteer. The cabin was warm, at least, so they wouldn’t get cold...
Megan swallowed. She definitely wouldn’t get cold in bed with Scarlett.
Fuck, what was she even doing? She shouldn’t get mixed up with Scarlett, not when she couldn’t be sure that her feelings for Scarlett were purely platonic. What if she got too attached? She didn’t want her heart broken like Scarlett’s apparently always was.
Megan went back downstairs, treading carefully on the smooth wooden steps, her heart beating far too quickly. The bookcase did have a few old board games and a puzzle, but those weren’t going to keep her distracted from what she actually wanted.
What did she actually want?
Megan pulled her candle out of its bag and held it, examining the way the intricate carvings shone through the tall glass jar in which it was set. All those carvings had meaning. She hadn’t lit it yet. She’d been planning to wait until she got home, but she wanted direction and clarity, right? She wanted answers. While stuck here in this cabin for the next few days, she might as well take advantage of all the resources available to her.
When Scarlett emerged from the shower a little while later, Megan was sitting on the couch with the candle on the coffee table in front of her, the orange wax just beginning to gather around the edges of the flame. Scarlett wore a pair of pajama pants and an oversized sweatshirt, and she was towel-drying her wet hair. “Is that your candle?”
“Yeah.” Megan looked back down at it. Suddenly, she wasn’t ready to be in the same room as Scarlett again yet. “Can you watch it? I’m gonna take a shower. Don’t blow it out.”
“You don’t have to, like, sit with it or anything?”
Megan smiled. “No. It just needs to burn. I lit it, and that’s enough, apparently.”
“Right.” Scarlett’s attention was rapt on the flickering flame, and Megan could look at that intent expression on her face forever.
She gathered up her clothes and quickly went into the bathroom before she did something stupid.
Chapter Fourteen
Scarlett was going to do something stupid. She and Megan were here together in this tiny cabin for at least a couple of days, and there wasn’t going to be much to do, and so there wasn’t a good reason not to sleep together.
Well. Actually. There were several good reasons not to sleep together. While Megan was finishing up in the shower, Scarlett made the list to herself. One: Megan didn’t actually want a relationship with Scarlett. Megan might be used to emotionless sex, but Scarlett wasn’t emotionless about anything. One of them was going to get their heart broken, and it was probably Scarlett. After all, they’d gone from a seven-year fight
to whatever fragile friendship rekindling in a week, and continuing to have sex would ruin it. She should make that item two. She amended the list in her head. Two: continued sex could ruin their fragile friendship. Three: they still had several days to go in this cabin, plus their time in Quebec, plus the entire drive back to Florida, and sleeping together was going to set a precedent that would surely muddy the waters between them. Four...there had to be an item four, right? Scarlett couldn’t think of one, but the top three were really strong. She should listen to those.
Her body, though, wanted to do something stupid. That desire rekindled when she climbed up to the loft and saw the one bed they were going to have to share. It wasn’t a large, spacious king bed where each of them could have her own space and not have to touch. This was barely a queen, probably more like a double, and Megan was going to be so close to her that all that soft, sweet-smelling skin would be inches away.
She should sleep on the sofa.
Scarlett went back downstairs and stretched out on that sofa, facing those big windows, trying to get comfortable. The couch was lumpy. They hadn’t exactly put the nicest features in this building. Frowning, she shifted onto her side, and a spring poked right into her hip. No, that wouldn’t do. Maybe she could put a blanket underneath her for softness? When she tried, it muffled the springs a bit, but she couldn’t imagine sleeping here.
The better solution was to share that bed with Megan, and keep her damn hands to herself.
Megan came out of the bathroom in some fuzzy socks and a nightshirt that grazed her knees. Had she always been this cute, or was this another case of Scarlett’s hormones getting the better of her? She’d attributed their one-night dalliance in New York to experimentation and a platonic educational experience, but there was nothing platonic about the surge of hormones running through her body. Megan wasn’t even wearing anything sexy. Something about her wet hair and her innocent vulnerability juxtaposed with the sex toy maven Scarlett had witnessed made all of Scarlett’s buttons go off.