Snow Furries (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 4)

by Susan C. Daffron

  Jack laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’ll find out. Have a pine nut. I heated up the cones to get them to open, but it’s still sort of a process to get the pine nuts out.”

  Becca leaned over the table to count the small pile of seeds. “You have twenty-seven here. How long have you been at this?”

  “I don’t know. It’s been a while.”

  “I’ll eat slowly.”

  Later, there was pounding on the door and Becca shot up off the sofa, dropping her knitting on the floor. Frank started barking furiously and she looked over at Jack, who seemed equally startled by the noise. They both looked at the door, where Cliff’s outline was visible through the dirty panes of glass.

  Jack quieted Frank and opened the door. Cliff walked in and looked around the cabin. “You people sure aren’t neat, are you?”

  Becca said, “Housekeeping is more challenging with no water.” She pointed at the pot they’d been melting snow in, which sat on the wood stove. “That’s our water supply right there.”

  Cliff shook his head, causing his white beard to bob back and forth. He walked over to the table, depositing a brown grocery bag on it. “My wife packed up some food for you that doesn’t need refrigeration, so you don’t die before the plow gets out here.”

  Becca ran to the table and began rummaging through the contents of the bag. “Oh thank you, thank you! Thank your wife, too.” She pulled out a jar of tomato sauce and held it out, along with a bag of pasta. “Look, Jack, real pasta! Real tomato sauce. Be still my heart.”

  Jack nodded and turned to Cliff. “We really appreciate this. Do you know when the road will be plowed?”

  Becca bent down and showed Frank a can of dog food. “Look Frank, home-style prime cuts!” Frank wagged his tail, looking pleased at the prospect of a meatier meal.

  Cliff said, “Well, I slapped on my snowshoes and went over to Ron’s house down the road. His place is beyond that white pine that took out the phone and electric lines. I’m sick of not knowing what’s going on out there, and the wife was nagging me because the batteries are dead in our radio. I sure heard about that, lemme tell you. So I went down to Ron’s, had a coupla beers, and called the power company to see what’s what.”

  “Do they know when they’ll be able to get up here?” Jack gestured toward the wintery scene outside the windows. “Is anything plowed yet?”

  “Yeah, it’s the same as always,” Cliff said. “Everything’s just dandy in town. But power’s out all over the county. They’re saying it will be tomorrow before they get the phone and power back out here.”

  “But what about the road?” Becca asked.

  Cliff shrugged. “They say that the plows are getting closer, but it keeps snowing and they haven’t been able to keep up with it. Here we’ve got that damn tree across the road, so they bumped us down the plowing priority list. Until the electric guys come out and get rid of that tree, the plows aren’t touchin’ it.”

  Jack said, “Thank you for letting us know. I don’t know if the phone is turned on in this cabin, but when you get your phone back, could you try giving us a call?”

  Cliff shook his finger at Jack. “Well, the first thing I’m gonna do is call Joel and tell him you’ve been here. He’s got a right to know.”

  “I know,” Jack said. “I want to talk to him too. I’d like to ask him if he’d be willing to turn the electricity back on temporarily. Then I can come back and clean everything up for him and fix the window.”

  Cliff glanced down and patted his jeans pockets, looking annoyed. “Goddang it, I forgot to bring the number. The wife was throwing more stuff in that bag and I hadta get outta there before I couldn’t lift it. I’m gettin’ too old for this.”

  Becca made little noises of glee as she opened a box of crackers. She popped one in her mouth. “Ritz! I love these things.” She snuggled a small jar to her chest. “Peanut butter. Mmm.”

  Cliff said to Jack. “Well, I’d better go. You should calm down your wife before she eats everything and makes herself sick.”

  “She’s not my wife.” Jack said, “Thank you for the care package. Please thank your wife too. We were getting pretty hungry.”

  Becca waved at Cliff. “Mmmftt…me too!”

  Cliff left and Jack walked over to the table to survey the bounty. After pawing through the items, he looked over at Becca as she was stuffing another cracker into her mouth. “It’s nice to see you enjoying your food.”

  She wiped the crumbs off her mouth. “The pine nuts were good, but I’ve decided the willowy look isn’t for me. How do you feel about peanut butter and crackers for lunch?”

  Jack grinned. “I feel really good about that.”

  The next day, Becca and Jack were sitting at the table eating again. Becca had spent much of the last twenty-four hours reveling in the joy of packaged food. Although Jack hadn’t whined about starvation like she had, the increase in the amount of food they had available had obviously improved his mood, as well. He was a surprisingly easy person to be around. She already knew he was incredibly self-sufficient, but over the last day or so, she’d discovered that he also didn’t need to be constantly entertained.

  Although Becca had enjoyed her whirlwind trips with Tony to fun places like Vail, she often came home exhausted. All the excursions, shows, talking, socializing, and drinking had been fun, but when she’d returned to her regular life, she found she needed some time to decompress. Becca used to think of it as ‘post-Tony personal time,’ and she’d always assumed it was because she just needed a little time alone. But in reality it may have been that she just needed time away from Tony. If she were really honest with herself, she knew that the persona she adopted when she had been around Tony was a bit of an act. And all that performance time was tiring.

  Given the lack of anything much to do in the cabin, it was impressive that Jack had been able to keep busy for so many days. At least Becca had her knitting. She had unraveled the scarf and rewrapped the yarn into a new ball. There was too much wool for a scarf anyway. This time, it was going to be an afghan.

  Jack took a bite of pasta and looked out the window. He stopped chewing and swallowed quickly. “It stopped snowing. Look, the sun is coming out. Over there, the sky is blue!”

  Becca turned to look. “Blue? After the world has looked like a black-and-white movie for days, a crystal clear blue sky is the most beautiful thing in the world.”

  “How about checking out the great Technicolor outdoors after we finish lunch?”

  She grinned widely. “You’re on.”

  Later, Becca bundled up in her extra socks and Tall-Guy boots and followed Frank and Jack outside. She lifted her face toward the sky and squinted at the brilliant sunlight, which was reflecting off the snow. The sun was streaming through the trees and crystalline snow seemed to shimmer everywhere. After the silence of the past few days, it seemed almost odd to hear the sounds of squirrels chattering and birds twittering. Becca laughed, “This is like Snow White with all the little forest animals having a party.”

  Jack looked back at her, “I think everyone is glad the snowstorm is over. We weren’t the only ones cooped up.”

  “The sun feels so good!” Becca flopped down on her back. “I need to make a snow angel right now.”

  Jack turned around and smiled down at her as she moved her arms and legs back and forth in the snow. “Feel better?” He waved at Frank, “You’re not helping, Frank. Come back over here.”

  “That was great.” She sat up and looked around her at the swirls in the snow. “But there’s a real issue with stepping on your angel and squishing the design with a big fat boot print.”

  “That’s how you can tell yours apart from a real one.” Jack gestured toward the sky. “A real angel would just fly off.”

  Becca got up and brushed the snow off her coat. “Oops, I didn’t think about that. You’re not religious or something, are you?”

  “Nope. Just seen a lot of birds. Many things are simpler if you can fly.”

>   Carefully stepping out of her angel, Becca stood in front of Frank and bent to pet his head. “So where are we going?”

  Jack pointed toward the road. “I thought we could go for a walk down the road and see what we can see.”

  Becca put her hands on her hips. “I can tell you what I’d like to see. I’d like to see a plow. Or a big repair truck from the electric company. And lots of burly men with really big chain saws.”

  The sound of a chain saw motor starting in the distance echoed through the trees. Her wish had come true! Becca locked her gaze with Jack’s, clenched her fists, and jumped up and down in the snow excitedly. “Just one burly guy with a chain saw would work too. We might finally get out of here!” She opened her arms wide and charged toward Jack, wrapping her arms around his huge jacket and shoving him backward in an exuberant hug.

  At the impact, Jack staggered a few steps back and ran into Frank, who bolted forward out of the way with a yelp. Jack lost his balance and fell backward into the snow with a giant whoosh. Becca landed on top of him, so they were nose-to-nose, snowflakes fluttering down around them.

  “Ow.” Jack kissed the end of Becca’s nose playfully. “Okay, you can get off me now. We should go back to the cabin and try to clean it up.” He squirmed, trying to push her off into the snow, but Becca didn’t let go.

  She didn’t want to let go. Gripping Jack’s jacket more tightly, she said. “That’s the future. I’m focusing on right now.” She looked into his blue eyes, bent her head, and pressed her lips to his. After all this time, she just had to know what it would feel like. And it was better than she ever could have imagined. Warm, soft, and utterly inviting. Becca closed her eyes, enjoying his response, slow at first, then increasing in intensity. As he enveloped her in his arms, Becca forgot about the snow, cold, and pretty much everything else.

  Suddenly Jack stopped and moved to sit up, pushing Becca away successfully this time. Frank peered down at them with curiosity. Shaking the snow off his hair, Jack said, “We really need to go.”

  Becca sat in the snow and watched as Jack stood up and brushed snow off himself. He reached his hand out to her to help her up. “Well, come on.”

  She grabbed his hand and he yanked her upright. Becca tried to meet his gaze, but he wouldn’t look at her. The expression on his face was difficult to read, but he did seem to be unreasonably irritated for a guy who had just kissed her like that. Her lips still tingled. It was remarkable that the snow hadn’t melted into a puddle around them.

  Turning away from her, he said, “Let’s go, Frank.” The snow swirled around the big dog as he galloped back toward the cabin.

  Becca took a deep breath and tried to will her pulse rate to drop back down to a reasonable rate. For a change, this time the racing of her heart had been a good thing. A very good thing. She sighed. Even unwashed and bundled up like an Eskimo, Jack sure knew how to make a girl swoon. That was some kiss. It had left her breathless and wanting more. Too bad it didn’t seem like the feelings were mutual. Because she really wanted to do that again. But maybe after she brushed her teeth. She wasn’t exactly looking or smelling her best right now either.

  After following Jack and Frank to the cabin and unbundling herself, Becca started gathering the various articles of garbage strewn around the room and throwing them into a big black trash bag Jack was hauling behind him. Frank was following after Jack, making sure nothing fell out of the bag. Becca grabbed the edge of the black plastic and chucked a Ritz cracker wrapper in. “Would you slow down? It’s not like we’re leaving this second.”

  Jack stopped and the harsh jangling noise of the telephone ringing reverberated through the small space. Becca jumped and pressed her hand to her chest. “Answer it, Jack! That thing almost gave me a heart attack.”

  Handing her the bag, he said, “Keep this away from Frank. He’s a pro dumpster diver.”

  Jack picked up the phone. “Hi Cliff. Thanks for calling and letting us know. I’m going to call a tow truck and see if they can pull out our rigs. Yeah, the food was great. Thanks again.”

  As he hung up the phone, Becca looked at him, clasping her hands together around the bag expectantly. “So the road is clear?”

  “They’re working on it. The plow is out there and we’ll probably hear it in a few minutes.” He walked over to the sofa, sat down, and pulled the phone book out from under the old olive green telephone.

  Becca waved toward the phone on the end table. “Utilities. What a concept. I feel so modern.”

  He looked up from the phone book. “I hope you didn’t hit anything when you spun out your car.”

  “I don’t think so. I didn’t feel anything. But that’s all kind of a blur.” She sat down next to him, holding the garbage bag closed, away from Frank’s large head. “It feels like a long time ago.”

  “Four days is a long time without a shower.”

  Becca stood up, suddenly self-conscious. “Thanks.” She looked down at the phone. “I need to call the H12. And Kat. I hope Mona is okay. My poor little dog probably thinks I dumped her there for good.” Handing the bag back to Jack, she said, “You are officially responsible for this again. I need to go find Kat’s number.”

  Jack took the bag from her as Frank wagged a tentative, hopeful wag. “It’s not happening, Frank.”

  Becca called down from the loft. “How come he didn’t just eat everything off the counters and every other flat surface? He’s certainly big enough to jump up and get it. There’s trash and dirty dishes everywhere.”

  “Frank knows better. He had a learning experience about taking things he’s not supposed to off counters.”

  At last, Becca found the number in her bag. She collected her possessions and stripped the sheets off the bed, folding them in a pile.

  She came down from the loft and stood in front of Jack, clutching the pile of sheets to her chest. “So what should I do about all these clothes and the sheets? Personally, I’d like to burn them at this point. Should we leave them here?”

  “I can wash everything at my place.” Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. “Cliff still didn’t give me Mr. Tall Guy’s number. After we finally get out of here, I’ll come back out here tomorrow, stop by Cliff’s, get the number, and sort everything out with the tall guy.”

  Becca ran through the to-do list for her appraisal in her head and groaned. “I have to get home. I have so much to do.”

  Jack glanced at her. “I’m calling the towing company now.”

  “What day is it?”

  “Saturday.”

  “I mean the date.”

  “November twenty-fifth, I think.”

  “I have to get this appraisal done by December first. Next week, I have so much work to do. I still haven’t even seen the house! Or the comparables. I don’t know how I’m going to get this done. Pat is going to kill me.”

  He gave her a quick assessing look. “Please don’t think about that now, okay? Let’s just focus on getting out of here first.”

  Becca looked down at the pile of sheets she was holding. Going back to real life meant meeting her deadlines. She couldn’t melt down again. “Okay,” she said softly.

  After making the necessary phone calls and cleaning up as much as they could, Jack and Becca sat at the table. Becca’s knitting needles clacked together as she worked on the afghan. She looked up at Jack. “I can’t believe we have to wait so long.”

  “The tow trucks have been busy. We aren’t the only ones who slid off roads.”

  “I know, but still. At least the people at the H12 were nice. I’m glad they didn’t auction off my stuff. I brought some shoes that I really like.” She looked down at the baggy sweatpants she was wearing. “It will be nice to wear clothes that fit again.”

  Jack got up and went over to the wood stove. “I’m letting this go out now.”

  “I hope they show up soon.” Becca laid her knitting in her lap. “I just want to go home.”

  “Me too.”

  A few hours later, B
ecca was curled up in a blanket, dozing on the couch, when something shoved against her shoulder. She opened her eyes and Jack was bending over her. “Get your stuff. They’re finally here.”

  Becca hurriedly gathered her things and bundled up in her coat and the huge boots. She looped her handbag and her knitting bag over her shoulder and they went outside. Frank leaped ahead of them through the snow, thrilled to be outside cavorting again.

  She followed Jack down the driveway toward the road. Turning her head, she looked back at the snow-covered log cabin. Thanks for saving us, little house. It was hard to believe, but she was actually going to miss the place.

  The tow truck laboriously dragged Becca’s car up out of the ditch as they watched. It was interesting to witness all the cables and motors in action. Becca looked up at the waning sunlight and turned to Jack. “It’s getting late. I know we went over this, but can you tell me again where the kennel is? I’m really worried that I couldn’t get in touch with Kat. I left six messages on her answering machine. I hope Mona is okay. I hope she’s okay too. Maybe something happened there.”

  “We’re on Misty Meadow. At the bottom of the hill, you go left on Aspen. Then you take the first right onto Hemlock. Then take that down to the big red barn and you’ll see the turn for Cedar Glen. I’m not sure where the kennel is exactly, but that road should be familiar, right?”

  Becca’s eyes widened. “Maybe. That’s a lot of tree streets.”

  “Do you want me to follow you?”

  “Would you?”

  “I suppose I can do that. I’ve waited this long. My shower can wait for a little while longer, I guess.”

  “That would be great.” She stepped forward and at the alarmed look on his face stopped before she got any closer. “Thank you.”

  Jack turned and surveyed the automotive proceedings. “I’m going to go find out how long it will take to get my truck out.”