Snowbound Hearts (15 page)

“That’s why I chose your name, it has to be. Do you know what this means? You’re
my
Stephen after all.”

He shook his head and shrugged at her nonsensical statement. “What?”

Audrey grasped her rings and slipped them from her finger. She held them in her palm, gazing at them for a moment, then set them on the table. “I’m not married, Stephen.”

Stephen flopped hard against the backrest and clasped his hands to his temples. “Holy shit!” The few patrons in the café all glared in his direction. Stephen grinned apologetically and gave them a little wave. He gazed at the wedding set on the table, letting the news she had just given him sink in. Joseph’s words came back to him.
Audrey has a tendency to leave out key details.
“Audrey, couldn’t you have told me earlier?”

“You drove off without giving me a chance.” Her eyes emphasized the hurt conveyed in her voice.

“Sorry. I was having a tough time holding it together.”

“I know I haven’t made things easy for you. I needed time to work out my issues. Do you remember our last day together at the cabin?”

Images of Audrey standing naked in the shower, coated with soap bubbles and water, flashed through his mind. The way her slippery skin had felt as she rubbed her body against him and all her voluptuous, curvy parts sliding through his soapy hands were memories that would last forever. “That’s not the kind of day one forgets.”

“That would have been my wedding day. The trip to the cabin with my friends was supposed to be my last getaway as a single. My fiancé called to tell me he’d been seeing another woman behind my back. That’s why I sent my friends home. I couldn’t stand them trying to cheer me up when I felt like dying. One day later I knocked on your door, and I went from having the worst time of my life to the best. I couldn’t think straight.”

Stephen closed his eyes for a moment. All the time he had spent aching to see her, he could have been with her instead of alone in misery. “What was that talk about meeting your soul mate and following your head or your heart?”

“That was all about you. I couldn’t believe that you were real and I had found you. I was afraid that if we had sex, I would wake up and realize I had made a mistake, just like with my ex. I told you I wasn’t a cheater. All I’ve been able to think about these last months is how much I miss you.”

“You missed me, but you didn’t bother looking me up? You must not have missed me too much.”

Audrey pulled her phone from her purse. She tapped the screen and turned it around for him to see. Stephen’s contact info was on the display. “I tried to call you a hundred times, but I knew I had hurt you, and I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me.” Audrey put her elbows on the table, her forehead in her hands, and looked down so he couldn’t see her eyes. “This will make me sound like a stalker. I probably shouldn’t even tell you, but I came to your house one night. I parked in your driveway and just sat there, too afraid to get out and knock on your door. I kept hoping you would look out the window and see the car. I thought maybe you would come out and invite me in.”

Stephen glanced out the window, across the parking lot. “That was you? I woke up and looked out at four a.m. and”—he pointed to her blue Ford Focus—”a car like that was backing out of my drive. I thought it was someone turning around.”

“Yeah, that was me. I sat there until I fell asleep. I woke up at four and went home.”

“That’s not the car you had during the blizzard.”

“I got it painted a different color. It was banged up where I ran it off the road.”

“That’s why I didn’t know it was you.” He sighed heavily. “Audrey, if you had just come and knocked on the door, I’m sure my girlfriend would have let you sleep on the sofa.”

She raised her head and gazed, wide-eyed, at him. “Oh, oh my God. I never even considered that you might have a girlfriend. I feel like such an
idiot
.” Audrey stood, but Stephen grabbed her hands before she could turn away.

He looked up and shot her a goofy grin. “Hey, I’ve got a naked picture of her. Want to see?”

“Jackass,” she said.

He grabbed his wallet, pulled out his faded picture of a Holstein, and held it up beside his face. “We make a cute couple, don’t we?”

Audrey snickered as a tear rolled down her cheek. “Okay, you got me. That was really cruel.”

He raised an eyebrow. “More cruel than forcing me make a snow angel, naked?”

She nodded vigorously as she brushed away her tears. “Yes. So—
do
you have a girlfriend?”

“I haven’t dated anyone since this hot little redhead I met in a snowstorm walked out of my life.”

“Stephen, I want you to know, the first moment I looked into your eyes, I knew you were the one for me.”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah, Audrey, I thought you were the one, too, right up until you shook my hand and drove away. I kept standing there, thinking you’d turn around and come back to tell me that you had made a mistake, but you didn’t.”

“Oh my God, I did go back. I pulled over and waited a few minutes so I could stop crying. By the time I got back you were gone. I didn’t know which way you guys went at the four-way. I picked a direction, but I didn’t catch you.”

“What made you turn around?”

“I saw the devastated look on your face when I shook your hand, and I knew I was making a mistake by leaving. You just kept standing there like an abandoned puppy watching me drive away. I’ve spent these last months crying myself to sleep every night, thinking about you.”

“Yeah, Audrey, I’ve spent these last months trying to forget about you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head to one side. “So, how’s that working out?”

He sighed heavily and shook his head. “Not too well at all. Oh, I bought it.”

Audrey furrowed her brow gazing inquisitively at him. “Bought what? The cabin, you bought the cabin?”

“After what happened between us there, I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else having it.”

She leaned across the table toward him and lowered her voice. “That could be our house, if you still have feelings for me.”

Stephen propped his elbows on the table and put his head into his hands. “Audrey, you have to understand, you knocked a really big dent in my heart.”

“It wasn’t intentional. I swear I never wanted to hurt you. I haven’t dated, either. I couldn’t even think about another man.” She reached over, put her fingers under his chin, and tipped his face up. “I love you, Stephen. I swear to God I love you. I’ve never loved anyone else.”

The three words he had most wanted to hear her say were no longer even necessary. The sincerity shining through those big brown eyes told him more than her words ever could. “I love you, too, Audrey, from the first second I saw you.”

She took a small scratch pad from her purse, wrote down her number, and tucked it into his hand. “On the way back from your fishing trip, call me, and we’ll get together for dinner, if you want.”

He shrugged and shook his head. “I didn’t bring clothes nice enough for a date.”

“We don’t have to go anywhere special. I just want to be with you.” Audrey began writing on the pad. “I suppose we should get going because I have to go to the supermarket. Let’s see, I need whipped cream, bananas, cherries...”

Stephen sat up straight and grasped the edge of the table. “What are you going to do with all that?”

“I know a secret way to prepare a banana split, a really nasty banana split”—Audrey gazed seductively at him and leaned closer—”and you’re going to eat it for dessert.”

He swallowed hard to clear the lump that had formed in his throat and whipped out his cell phone. “I”—his voice cracked as he began to speak, so he cleared his throat and started over—”I need to call George to tell him I won’t be able to make our fishing trip. How about we go to the supermarket together?”

Stephen tossed a couple bucks on the table, grabbed Audrey’s hand, and tugged her to her feet. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him like a lover. It was far too hot a kiss for a public café. Fortunately, the place was nearly empty, and the people who were there didn’t take notice of them. He gazed into her eyes for a moment, took her hand, and strolled with her to the door.

“Miss,
miss
,” a woman called.

Audrey turned to see who it was.

The waitress was standing at their table, waving at her. “You forgot your rings.”

“I know.” Audrey grinned and walked out the door with Stephen.

Stephen stood holding her left hand, caressing her bare ring finger. “Do you remember our deal?”

Audrey nodded. “I’m yours forever.”

He took her into his arms and whispered, “I hear Niagara Falls is nice this time of year.”

Biography

Benjamin Kelly is science fiction fanatic who can’t resist a good love story and a happily ever after ending.

www.benjaminkelly.net

Email: [email protected]