“You know this.” Lee poked her in the arm with a can of baked beans. “Back in the spring when I would come to the café to bother you, you got to the point you’d bring my coffee and dessert before I even ordered.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “You’re right. I know this.”
“Don’t make it sound like you’ve committed some unforgivable sin. It’s just dessert.”
“It’s not that. It’s… I’ve been so tied up in my own head. You take your coffee black, and you want whatever cream pie we’re serving.” Her smile twisted. “Why does everything I say to you sound dirty all of a sudden?”
He didn’t want to laugh, but it was true. “Doesn’t bother me.”
They went through the entire crate, discussing their food preferences. Sharing stories about times they were little, like when Rachel decided malted milk chocolate balls were the only thing she wanted for supper.
She shook her head. “As much as I love chocolate, I can’t eat them to this day.”
“How many did you get down before you got sick?”
“More than my parents thought possible. Trust me, they taste much worse on the way up.” She sat at the table and was playing with the cans, her delicate fingers dancing over the metal surfaces even as she stared off into space, her dark hair pulled back into a tidy ponytail. “That was back when I remember there being a lot more laughter in our house.”
“Your parents don’t get along?”
Rachel hesitated. “I don’t know that it’s so much that. There always seems to be this tension now. I don’t remember that from when I was young.”
“It might have been there, but you weren’t aware.” Lee settled next to her. Daylight filtered in through the curtainless windows, finally brightening the room to the point he could extinguish the lantern. “When I was little, my parents were this impenetrable wall. I knew they loved me, and that was it. I only noticed when something interrupted their calm. Heck, I didn’t clue in they were real people until I got out of my teens.”
“I think we all do that with our parents,” Rachel said.
“They’re no longer infallible figures. They have flaws, make mistakes—” Lee shook his head. “My dad has been fighting health issues since the summer. He starts feeling better and then it sets in again and throws him for a loop. The doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong. My invulnerable father seems to have lost his superpowers.”
Rachel nodded slowly. “That’s another part of growing up. We’re more aware. We see what’s happening in their lives as well as our own.”
“I’m glad I’ve got them,” Lee confessed. “I know it’s a standing community joke about the Colemans all living in each other’s pockets, but while there are moments that closeness is a pain in the butt, it’s usually the biggest blessing in my life.”
“You never feel like you’re being overwhelmed?”
“I don’t know about that. The clan can be nosy as all get out, but at the root of it, they mean well. At least ninety-nine percent of the time.” He paused. He didn’t want her thinking everything was sunshine and roses. “It’s like anywhere. Some people you trust more than others. I’m fortunate that in my immediate family, none of them annoy the hell out of me, except when they’re trying to. You have met my brother Trevor, right?”
Rachel laughed. “He can be a bit of trouble. Yes, I know what you’re talking about. But he seems mostly harmless.”
That made Lee snicker. “Mostly harmless. Nice one. I’ll be sure to tell him that.”
Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”
“He thinks he’s God’s gift to women. It’s good to cut him down a notch or two.”
“You’re bad.” But she was smiling. “My family is different than yours. I have one sister who is ten years older than me. She’s been married forever and lives in California. We were never close, and when she got married she moved away so I rarely see her. I’ve always spent more time with friends than family.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Lee insisted. “If anything, the Coleman family is out of the norm these days. Most of us still live in the Rocky area, although one of my uncles did move away years ago. My dad and uncles rarely talk about him. And one uncle died—I think both those things happened about the same time.”
Family. He enjoyed having them, but what he had experienced was unique.
That fact was made even clearer as Rachel went on.
“My parents aren’t that annoying—I don’t want to give that impression, but I can tell something is up. Maybe some of it’s my imagination, but the last time I saw them, Mom was not pleased with me for rushing off and marrying Gary.” Rachel pulled a face. “Which makes sense considering how well that turned out.”
Heaviness began to descend on the room, and Lee shot to his feet, determined to give her something else to focus on. “Time to go exploring,” he announced.
Rachel shuddered, glancing toward the window. “Now?”
“It might get warmer this afternoon, but we have chores to do. They’ll keep us warm.”
Even though she wasn’t thrilled, she moved to get dressed. He was pleased to see she had full winter wear, including boots that stretched all the way to her knees. He pulled on his snow gear, smiling as Rachel purred happily.
“My gloves are toasty warm from hanging by the fire.”
She wiggled her fingers at him, and he laughed. “As long as you can keep doing that, you’ll be okay. Let’s get some fresh air.”
They marched outside, Lee pausing to brace her when she took a too-enthusiastic breath and ended up in a coughing fit. His lungs protested as well as the bitterly cold air blistered past his tongue.
“That’s wicked cold,” she said once she’d gotten back under control. She waded down the narrow path he’d stomped out earlier to the outhouse. She tilted her head back so the sun shone on her face as she inhaled more carefully. “The calm after the storm. Beautiful.”
Her dark hair stuck out from the edges of her hood, and even under her thick parka, her feminine form was all too clear. Then again, she could have been wearing a polar bear costume and he’d still be turned on, just knowing it was Rachel standing not ten feet from him.
He tore his gaze away to examine the sky, pointing toward the mountaintop rising above the trees to the west. “We have sunshine now, but those clouds are going to roll in on us, and fast. I bet we get a heavy snowfall again by this evening, maybe sooner.”
She glanced at her car. “Which is why we’re not trying to get out of here while the sun is shining?”
Lee cleared his throat. “No, we’re not taking your two-wheel-drive car down an icy mountain road that has widow-maker corners and two-hundred-foot drop-offs. Not when there’s a blizzard waiting to swoop down on us.”
Her eyes widened as he spoke. “Then I guess we better get those chores done that you mentioned.”
Lee handed her a shovel and a smile. “You know the trail to follow. Don’t bother going all the way to the ground, and only as wide as the shovel head is good enough.”
He waited until she’d slung the first load of snow out of the way, working the path to the outhouse before he picked up the axe. The pile of firewood inside needed to be replenished, and although he made light of it, from the look of the clouds, bad weather would arrive sooner than later.
There was no way they were getting off the mountain that day.
**
In spite of the cold, by the time she’d made it halfway to the outhouse, Rachel was toasty warm. The snow might be light and fluffy, but it grew amazingly heavy when she had a full load of it on the shovel. It took her three to four motions to clear a foot. Like partaking in some ancient kung-fu training, she alternated sides while lifting until both her arms felt like limp noodles.
Behind her Lee was demolishing the woodpile. Every time she paused, it was like having her own personal Survivorman show for entertainment. Even though the temperature was below freezing, he’d removed his winter coat, covered only
with a thick flannel jacket over his shirt. She couldn’t see his actual muscles, but it was obvious they were there. He moved in a steady rhythm, raising the axe overhead and swinging it down with breathtaking force, splitting thick chunks of wood into smaller and smaller pieces.
She finally made it to the door of the outhouse, admiring her handiwork as she headed back toward him. Although, her meager path through the snow seemed minor compared to the task he’d accomplished as she checked out the pile that had grown to an alarming size.
How much wood does he think we need?
Lee paused, dropping the axe head to the ground and leaning on the solid ash handle, a trickle of sweat rolling down the side of his face as he examined her trail, no other indication he’d been working like a dog. “Looks awesome,” he said.
“That’s what I said,” she teased, loving the way his eyes lit up. She pressed on. “What can I do next?”
For the next umpteen minutes, she carried wood from the door of the cabin to restock the supply by the stove. Lee remained outside in his boots, passing logs in two at time. She tried to hurry so she could open the door the instant he returned, and by the time they were done, she was warm through and through.
“Are you coming inside?” she asked.
Lee glanced at the sky before answering. “If you don’t mind pulling your stuff back on, why don’t you come for a walk? It may be the last chance before we have to hide inside.”
She slid back into her outdoor gear and joined him on the path. “It’s going to be a very short walk. The snow is up to my thighs,” she pointed out.
“We won’t go for too long, but look what I found.” Lee caught her by the hand and brought her past the woodpile to the back of the cabin. A thin layer of snow dusted the ground, the towering pine trees guarding the cabin wall.
Rachel spotted his surprise just as Lee gestured at the wall. “Snowshoes. Oh, that’s exciting.”
“Have you worn them before?” he asked.
“A couple times. They didn’t look like that.”
He brought down a pair, helping her balance as she placed her feet on the webbing. “These are old-fashioned beavertails. You won’t be able to walk very fast, but they’ll get the job done.”
He led her out from under the protective branches and onto the snow. Their feet still sank into the powder, but only an inch or so as Rachel stepped cautiously in the unfamiliar contraptions.
Lee guided her toward where she’d first seen him topping the hill the previous night. “I want to check the east terrain.”
Rachel felt like a waddling duck as she worked to avoid stepping with one snowshoe on the giant loop of the other.
Lee squeezed her hand. “Watch your feet for a couple steps to see how large you need to stride then after that, don’t look.”
“Don’t look. You want me to fall flat on my face.”
“If that’s the worst thing that happens, why not?” He let go of her fingers and moved ahead of her, creating a trail for her to follow. He glanced over his shoulder and offered her a grin. “If you fall down, you’ll get right back up.”
Rachel considered his words as she followed. In more than one way, that’s exactly what she was doing.
As they broke over the top of the north ridge to gaze down into the valley below, two things struck her.
One, they were in a pretty amazing place. The hill fell away so rapidly she could see for an extended distance. The hillside the cabin was on dropped to rolling foothills that were much lower and softer than the jagged peaks at their back. Beyond the foothills were the ranchlands and grain fields that stretched all the way to Manitoba, pristine and idyllic. Like a painting on the wall.
The other thought was exactly how isolated they were. “We really are in the middle of nowhere, aren’t we?”
“Right smack dab,” Lee agreed.
They stood in silence as their breath created a white fog around them, the clouds overhead moving fast enough to be time-lapse photography. The sky darkened as wisps of white gathered and thickened, turning to grey with blackness in their cores.
The temperature seemed to plummet between one breath and the next.
Lee caught her hand in his. “Come on. We need to get inside.”
By the time they’d walked the ten minutes it took to get back to the cabin, the wind had returned, fluttering the collar of her jacket and sending icicles down the back of her neck.
They hurried inside and hung up their things, arranging them around the stove. The wind howled in protest, rattling the shingles on the roof, but inside it was so warm Rachel had to move her chair to the far side of the table.
“Since the storm is back, we’ll have to entertain ourselves some other way for the rest of the afternoon.”
Even as she spoke, she realized what her words would do to him. Rachel glanced up, knowing in an instant she wasn’t wrong.
That flash in his eyes—it was clear how honest he’d been. This wasn’t about him pretending to want her. He really did, and that helped soothe a few of the jagged edges Gary had left by cheating. If she’d been enough, he wouldn’t have strayed, right? But Lee’s expression clearly told her Gary was the problem, not her.
She was grateful for the reassurance, but they needed something to focus on other than the sexual tension between them. “Cards? Since that’s the only game I can find.”
“Sure, and when we get bored of me beating you, I’ll tell your fortune.”
He took a sip of his drink before she could see whether he was smiling or not. “So, you’re a fortuneteller along with your many other talents?”
“Of course. It’s the only way to survive in a large family. Knowing what people will do next let’s me anticipate.”
“Just means you’re good at observing. You can’t really tell the future.” She stole his drink off the table, making a face at the bitter liquid—coffee without cream or sugar. “So, Mr. Fortuneteller, tell me whether the newest Coleman is a boy or a girl.”
Lee leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. His biceps bulged against the cotton of his long-sleeved T-shirt. “That? That’s simple. Gabe and Allison had a boy.”
She laughed. “How do you know?”
Gabe leaned forward and grabbed the cards, shuffling them as he spoke. “Because this is their first, and them having a boy is a subtle dig at Blake.”
“Blake? He’s a cousin, right?”
“Yeah, oldest of the Six Pack Colemans. He and Jaxi had three girls before they got a son, so it stands to reason everyone else in the clan will have a boy first, just because fate wants to play a joke on Blake.”
“You’re mean.” Rachel shook her head. “Blake doesn’t seem the type to care if he had boys or girls.”
“Hell, no. He loves those girls like crazy, but it’s still one of those things we’ll tease him about. Because that’s what you do with family—torment them every chance you get.”
He was still shuffling the cards. “Then go for it. Tell my fortune.” She leaned her elbows on the table and looked at him intently. “I’ll ask you a question and you use your super fortunetelling skills to give me an answer.”
“Deal,” Lee said. “What’s your question?”
“When will the next earthquake hit?”
A laugh burst free. “We live in Alberta.”
“It could happen.”
“And that’s not very personal,” he complained.
She raised her brows. “That’s a very personal question. When an earthquake hits this area, everyone will be shaken, including me, so I want to know. Oh, fortuneteller Lee Moonshine Coleman, what do you see in my future?”
He offered the deck. “Cut them for me.”
He laid the cards in a circle in front of her. Six of them, face up. She was giggling softly by this point because his expression had gone completely serious as he examined the layout before them.
Rachel snickered. “I can hardly wait to hear you bullshit your way out of this one.”
Lee offered her a wink. “Remember, you asked for this.”
He tapped a finger on each of the six cards as if he were thinking intently.
“Maybe your fortunetelling hat needs extra batteries?” she teased as he hesitated.
“No, that’s not it at all.” He shook his head, concern rising on his face. “It’s just…I’m trying to think of the easiest way to break this to you.”
Rachel leaned forward and looked at the cards, curious to see what he was up to. “You’re good, but I don’t know how you’re going to pull off a fortuneteller reading from a set of cards with a total poker value of zero.”
He adjusted the cards into a line, calling out their face value. “Two of spades, four of hearts, six of diamonds, eight of clubs—you don’t see the pattern?” He went on before she could answer. “Well, of course not. You’re not a mystical sees-all and knows-all fortuneteller. Not like me.”
Rachel laughed.
His lips twitched before he pulled back into his perfectly somber role.
“Your fortune contains not only a skip sequence of two, four, etc., but the cards hold the perfect ranking of spades through clubs. What this tells me is your earthquake will build and build until—”
He pointed to the two remaining cards, which happened to be the queen of hearts and the jack of spades. “Until this happens.”
She stared for a moment before shaking her head. “Nope. I’m not getting it.”
“You will.” Lee rose to his feet and hauled her out of chair. Rachel shrieked in surprise, laughing as he tossed her toward the bed and she bounced on the mattress.
In an instant he had her pinned under him, the sleeping bag below her back cool this far from the stove.
“Well, this is a surprise,” Rachel said, satisfaction in her tone. “What does this have to do with an earthquake?”
Lee played with her hair, his gaze dancing over her face. “The next earthquake will occur in less than half an hour.”
Whoops. “Lee?”
He kissed her question away. Lingering over her lips until she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, the cold forgotten because of the heat of his body.
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