Snowbound Hearts (12 page)

Audrey went to Stephen, put her arm around his waist, and leaned against him. “I never did thank you for stopping me from driving over the edge.” They stood arm in arm, watching George and Johnny pull the car back onto the road.

The guys took a few minutes and checked Audrey’s car for mechanical problems. Johnny stood up and dusted the snow from his jacket and pants. “Everything looks okay. We’ll follow you to the gas station to make sure you don’t have any problems.”

“All my stuff is back at the other cabin. Could someone drive me there in one of the trucks to get it?” Audrey asked.

“Sure, I’d be happy to,” Johnny said, heading toward his truck. “Come on and get in.” Stephen stepped into Johnny’s path and held out his hand. Johnny grinned and handed the keys to Stephen. “Here’s an idea. Stevie, why don’t you take my truck and drive her to get packed up instead?”

Stephen helped Audrey get in through the driver’s door. She slid over to the passenger side, getting as far from him as possible.

“Why didn’t you want Johnny to drive me?” she asked without looking at him.

“I don’t trust Johnny around a beautiful woman. Especially one I care so much about.”

“You’re not
my
—”She cut her statement short.

“I’m not your what?”

“Forget it. Thank you for driving me, Stephen.”

“Go ahead and say it, Audrey. I’m not your what? I’m not your husband. I’m not your boyfriend. I’m not your lover. I’m not your anything. That’s all true, but here’s something else that’s true.
You
could be
my
everything.” Stephen kept his gaze locked on the road, afraid that if he looked at her, he’d lose control of his emotions.

“There’s something I want to tell you. I think you already know how I feel, and it doesn’t change anything, but I need to say it. Stephen, I—oh, there’s the drive. You can barely see our footprints.”

As soon as Stephen parked the truck, Audrey jumped out. He followed her inside, and they gathered all of her things in relative silence. Stephen hesitantly climbed into the cab, racking his brain for any excuse to delay taking Audrey to her car. She hadn’t volunteered to finish telling him how she felt. He didn’t think it would make him feel any better, but he wanted to hear her say that she loved him. He stuck the key into the ignition but didn’t crank the engine. Sunlight streamed through a gap in the trees, making an uncomfortable glare on the windshield. He flipped the visor down and turned to face Audrey. “You started saying something earlier, but you didn’t finish.”

She shrugged and looked away. “Oh really? I don’t know what it could have been.”

“I think you were going to tell me how much you cared about me and that you wanted to date me. And that maybe we should get a place and live together. I think you were also going to say that we should start saving up for our honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls. I’m also pretty sure you were going to suggest that we start picking out names for our inevitable two point five kids.”

Audrey gazed out the window toward the cabin, keeping her face turned away from him. She started to speak but gasped instead. After a moment, she cleared her throat. “Wow, I was going to say all that?”

Stephen tugged her shoulder, trying to get her to face him, but she pulled away. “Yep, I’m pretty sure that’s what you wanted to say.”

“You know, if I was going to say all that stuff”—she paused to take a breath—”you’d think I would remember.”

“I think you do remember, you’re just afraid to admit it.”

“Well, Stephen, obviously you know me better than I know myself.”

“I just feel like we have the beginnings of something special here and it would be a damn shame to throw it all away for no good reason.”

“Yes, Stephen, it was special, magical even, but it was just a fantasy. It’s back to reality now.”

“All right, Audrey. I just wanted to lay it out one more time. I couldn’t walk away without being absolutely certain you know how I feel. For the record, I think going our separate ways is a huge mistake.”

“I know you do, Stephen. One day maybe you’ll see that I was right.”

***

Stephen handed his keys to his friend Terrance and asked him to drive his car. Stephen drove Audrey’s car to the general store to be certain that everything was working properly. When he shut off the engine and got out, she strolled around and met him at the driver’s door. Stephen stepped aside to allow her to get in. She looked him in the eyes for an instant, then quickly turned her gaze to the ground.

“Thank you for a very memorable time, Stephen. This was the best vacation I’ve ever had.” Audrey grasped his hand and shook it, then drove slowly away.

While they were in the cabin, he had known for certain that she wasn’t playing games with him, that she had good reason for things being the way they were, but now, that confidence was waning. He had held out hope until the last moment that somehow things would change. Even as he watched her drive away, he was still waiting for something to happen, for her to turn around and come back. She rounded the bend and disappeared from sight. He could still hear her car, but the sound was fading. He listened until it was gone. She wasn’t coming back. He knew that she was gone for good.

Stephen slogged over to his friends with his head hung down.

“Stevie, what the hell was that?” George asked.

“What?”

“She didn’t give you a good-bye kiss. Not even a peck on the cheek,” George said.

“What happened, Stevie?” Terrance asked. “She was your dream girl. Did you get her into bed? You had the opportunity of a lifetime, please tell me you didn’t blow it. Things like that just don’t happen in real life. You don’t get snowed in with your fantasy woman, but you did. Tell me that handshake was a put-on because she’s shy.”

“How many times have you gotten blasted and described your dream girl to us, Stevie?” George asked. “A thousand? There she was, man. I don’t know how, I don’t know why. But I’ve got to hear you say it, so did you get it or not?”

Stephen glanced back and forth between his friends, wishing they’d all shut up and leave him alone. “We didn’t have sex. You have to understand, she’s just not like that.”

“Tell me she’s a lesbian, Stevie, and then I’ll understand,” George said.

“She’s not a lesbian.”

“Is she married?” Terrance asked.

Stephen huffed loudly. “No, she’s not married. Are you guys finished interrogating me?”

“I left my thumbscrews at home,” George said. “I suppose we can finish questioning you later.”

Stephen sighed with relief. “So tell me what you guys think about her, pretty hot or what?”

“She looks like an Irish setter,” Johnny said.

Stephen grabbed Johnny by the collar and banged him into the truck he was standing beside. “Take it back, asshole!”

Johnny shoved him away. “Jeez, man, what’s gotten into you? That chick just shook your hand and drove off without looking back, and you’re acting like you’re in love with her.”

“Stevie, you just spent three days alone with her in a cabin and didn’t get laid. If you couldn’t make it happen in that amount of time, it ain’t gonna happen, so forget about her,” Terrance said.

“I like Irish setters, Stevie,” Johnny said and raised both eyebrows twice. “They have really long tongues, and they like to slobber all over you.” All his friends chuckled at Johnny’s remark.

“
Aw,
fuck off, all of you!” Stephen turned and stormed toward his car. He needed to get away from the guys before he took out any more of his frustrations on them.

“Sounds like somebody needs some”—George stuck his hand into a cooler in the back of the truck, pulled out a can, and held it up—”beer!”

Stephen stopped in his tracks, gazing at the icy can George was waving at him. “Okay, I’m drinking, and you’re driving,” Stephen said as he cracked open the beer. “Terrance, do you mind driving my car home so I can unwind?”

“No problem, Stevie. This thing needs a few scratches and dents anyway. Hey, Johnny, do you think I can catch a second in a front-wheel drive?”

Johnny laughed and shrugged. “There’s enough slick spots, I say go for it. We got a rope that we can pull it with if the transmission falls out.”

Stephen groaned loudly and climbed into the truck with George. He hadn’t mentioned all the time Audrey had spent in his arms. His friends wouldn’t understand, and that information would just invite more ridicule. The shower they had taken together would further serve to baffle the adolescent minds of his supposedly adult friends. Stephen didn’t understand it himself. Nothing about his time with Audrey made any sense to him, least of all her leaving without even discussing the possibility of seeing him again.

Stephen spent the rest of the winter in a mental fog, constantly pouring over everything he had said and done for those three days at the cabin, trying desperately to find some answers where there were no answers to be found. Spring thawed everything except the ice that encased his heart. It would remain frozen in perpetual winter. Only the warmth of one red-haired woman could ever melt it, and she was gone.

Chapter Seven

Audrey sat at the kitchen table in her nightgown, sipping coffee. Sleep had avoided sticking around for long, like so many nights since she had gotten home from the cabin. A middle of the night ritual of waking up, believing that she was freezing, regardless of the temperature, had become a regular occurrence. Invariably, once she had convinced herself that she wasn’t cold, her thoughts would begin to race and getting back to sleep wouldn’t happen for hours.

Her father, Joseph, came strolling into the kitchen and got a glass of ice water. “Having trouble sleeping, honey?”

She just shrugged.

“You’ll never get back to sleep drinking that stuff,” he said, as he slipped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

“It’s decaf.”

Joseph picked up an old sketch pad that was lying on the table in front of her and flipped the cover back. “Have you taken up drawing again?”

“No, I was just looking at some of my old work.”

He pulled out a chair and sat beside her. “You were really talented, Audrey. I’m sorry you gave it up.”

“I lost my motivation to draw after I started dating Daniel. I suppose I had other things on my mind.”

Joseph folded a page back and gazed at the charcoal drawing. “I always loved this one of the log cabin. You should let me frame it. It would look great over the fireplace. I still think you should change the title to
The Blizzard
, instead of
Audrey and Stephen’s House.
I’d feel awkward explaining to everyone that Stephen was your childhood imaginary friend.”

Audrey sipped her coffee, staring off into space. “And that’s why I never let you frame it, Dad.”

“So what’s troubling you, baby?”

She raised her cup as if making a toast, then set it on the table. “I just felt like having coffee.”

Joseph huffed and shifted in his chair. “I have very good ears, Audrey. Don’t you think it’s time to talk about it?”

Audrey brought her hand to her forehead, covering her eyes. She thought she had been quiet during her emotional breakdowns. “Did you hear me crying?”

“Every night since you came home from the mountains. Your mother threatened me with bodily harm if I said anything to you. She said you needed time to sort things out.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been thinking about getting an apartment. If everything had gone according to plan, I’d already be gone.”

Joseph grasped her hand and tugged it away from her face, giving it a little squeeze. “I know it hurt finding out about Daniel’s infidelity right before your wedding, but one day you’ll figure out it was for the best. Your mother said he keeps calling for you. You’re not considering getting back with him, are you?”

Audrey shrugged. “I don’t know what to do.” She thumbed the wedding band she was wearing.

Joseph scowled, staring at her rings. “Cristina said she’d wring my neck if I asked, but why have you been wearing those?”

“Mom knows I’m tough. I won’t break down over a simple question. I don’t know why she’s so worried about me.”

“Because she’s your mother.”

“Daniel stopped by work to see me the other day because I wouldn’t take his calls. He apologized for everything, said he still loved me, and asked me to forgive him. He gave me the ring and said I should try it on, just to see how it felt. He wouldn’t take it back and asked me to wear it until I made a decision about
us
.”

“For the love of God, Audrey. He was unfaithful to you. Don’t you think that should make the decision for you?”

“We were together for a long time. Should I throw it all away for one mistake?”

“Obviously, you have serious doubts or you would have gotten back together by now.”

Audrey grasped the handle of her cup and gazed at the mostly depleted brown liquid inside without really seeing it. “I met someone, Dad.”

Joseph straightened up and grinned. “A man? Why haven’t you brought him home to let your mother and me meet him?”

“I haven’t seen him since I left the cabin.”

“Was he one of the guys who cleared the road so you could get home?”

She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip to delay answering as long as possible. “I didn’t tell you what happened. I tried to drive home in the snow and skidded off the road. There was another cabin right where I wrecked, so I knocked on the door, and there he was.”

“You were snowed in with a strange man after you found out about your cheating fiancé? I understand why you didn’t call me to come get you. I never did buy that story about you losing your phone. You avoided looking me in the eye when you told me that.”

“I really did lose my phone. I was outside talking to Daniel when he gave me the news. After I hung up, I flung it somewhere. I was crying so much I didn’t know where it went. The girls helped me search, but we couldn’t find it. We couldn’t hear it ringing, either. I guess it broke.”

“I would have come to get you if someone had let me know what was going on. You know that, don’t you?”