Page 47 of Snow Going Back

Kate stared at him, surprised. Thatwasa turn-up for the books. Or was it? She hadn’t actually asked him, after all. In fact, if she was being brutally honest with herself, she’d really just assumed that because it fitted best with the picture she’d wanted to create of him.

‘I spent a week up there, trying to come to terms with it all,’ Sam continued. ‘Then I drove back to get cleaned up the day before her funeral.’

‘Oh my God,’ Kate groaned as the penny dropped. ‘And before you could get home, you ended up crashing into that tree and meeting me.’ She covered her eyes with her hand, his reactions suddenly making a lot more sense.

‘Yeah,’ Sam confirmed. ‘Which doesn’t excuse my behaviour at all. I just wasn’t dealing very well, and thenthere you were.’ He grimaced.

‘There I was,’ she repeated quietly. ‘Wait, did you say the funeral was the next day?’ She frowned.

‘Yeah.’ He scratched the back of his neck. ‘Jenna organised it all. She just wanted it to be a good day, and after the day before, I just…’ He struggled to finish his sentence and made a sound of reluctance.

‘You thought I’d be better locked up injailthan roaming the house where you were holding the wake,’ she finished. She pursed her lips. ‘I can’t pretend I agree with that, but at least it was for a better cause than adate. Why did you tell me it was adate?’

Sam laughed. ‘I didn’t – you just assumed. You asked me if I’d left you in there so I could drink wine with a woman, and technically I had. So I saidyes. You were a crazy stranger. I didn’t feel like sharing something that personal with you.’

Kate shook her head. ‘Well, your methods of dealing with things are terrible, but I guess you aren’t as awful as I thought you were,’ she admitted. ‘Which means I’m going to have to rethinkallmy evil plans.’ She exaggeratedly rolled her eyes. He laughed again, and she smiled, thinking back over all their interactions. ‘OK, I have more questions.’

‘Go on,’ he said warily.

‘That police officer who arrested you – what did you do to him to make him hate you so much?’ she asked.

‘I was born,’ he answered with an awkward laugh. ‘When I moved here, he gave me a hard time. Found out the last home I’d been in had been in a trailer park and told everyone I was trash. Which wasn’t fun. Not least because the people in that trailer had been really kind to me. They were good people. So I stood up to him, and the more I did, the worse it got. That’s when I met Mike and Jerry. They had my back, and things started to change.’

Kate frowned in disgust. ‘What a douchebag! That must have been so hard, with everything else you were dealing with.’

‘Ah, life’s full of people like him,’ Sam said, brushing it off. ‘I got my own back, anyway. Couple years later I became popular with the girls and dated the head cheerleader for a while. I was her first love, as she still tells everyone when she’s had a few margaritas.’

Kate grinned. ‘Pleasetell me she’s Healy’s wife.’

‘She’s Healy’s wife,’ Sam confirmed.

‘Ha!’ Kate slapped her hand on the back of the couch and laughed. ‘That’s amazing! Oh, he must hate youso much.’

‘He does.’ Sam grinned. ‘OK,myturn.’ He eyed her for a few moments. ‘I don’tgetyou,’ he said eventually.

‘That’s not a question,’ she told him.

‘OK. So you’re clearlyverysmart, and you’re passionate when you’re fighting for something you care about. But then it’s like you…’ He put down his drink and tried to condense a ball of air between his hands. ‘I don’t know, like you try tocontainit in a neat little box.’

Kate frowned, feeling defensive. ‘I like to beorganisedandprepared. But there’s nothing wrong with that.’

Sam nodded. ‘OK. So what makes you tick? What makes you feel alive?’

Kate faltered, stumped, and realised no one had asked her that question in a really long time. She tried to pinpoint the last thing that had made her feel something genuinely positive, but neitherthe snownorjetting off the runway on a planeactually answered Sam’s questions.

The silence stretched on too long, and Sam cleared his throat.

‘Sorry, that was a big one to throw outta the blue. It’s not always easy to put that kind of thing into words, I know.’ He offered her the out so politely that it only made her feel even more embarrassed that she couldn’t answer.

She touched her ring, looking down at it with a touch of guilt. She should have said that Lance made her feel alive. Or that what made her tick right now was the wedding.

‘When’s the big day?’ Sam asked, gesturing towards her hand.

‘Oh, um, New Year’s Eve,’ she replied, forcing a smile.

‘Oh, it’s close!’ Sam exclaimed. His gaze lingered on the ring. ‘That’s an impressive rock, by the way.’

‘Yes, it’s…’ Kate bit the inside of her cheek. ‘It’s something.’ She looked back up to see Sam staring back with a frown, and quickly smiled.

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