Page 5 of Snow One Like You

The snow was falling heavily, but it was also whipping around in every direction. Choosing to heed Caleb’s warning…mostly, I decided to just pour the sand on the path over the porch rail, so I remained under the overhang.

“I won’t go beyond the porch,” I assured him as I picked up the bag. When I took a step back, I misjudged the placement of the salt and hit it with the side of my foot, sending me careening backward. My head cracked against one of the wood beams by the stairs, and when I shafted to the side, I slipped on the top step. I dropped the sack as I flew off the porch ass first, and my back hit the snow with a loud thud. “Fuck!” I grunted, the wind knocked out of me.

“Soren?” Caleb yelled. “What the fuck? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I—fuck, that hurt,” I grunted.

With the howling of the wind, he didn’t hear me and continued to yell, asking if I was okay or hurt.

After taking a few seconds to clear away the fog, I carefully climbed to my feet and hurried inside.

“I’m good,” I assured Caleb as soon as the door shut. “Just a bump on the head that made me see a few stars and probably a few bruises from landing on the hard snow.”

I stomped one foot to dislodge the snow, and pain shot through my skull. “Dammit,” I snarled, closing my eyes until the sting dissipated.

“How hard did you hit your head?”

“Not hard enough to worry about.”

“You could have a concussion, Soren,” Caleb insisted. “You need to have it checked.”

“Remember what I said about mothering?” I griped. “I’m fine. Nothing a little medicine and an ice pack won’t cure.”

“Are you sure?”

He sounded dubious, so I used a firmer tone when I replied, “Definitely.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “But I’m going to call every few hours to make sure.”

I rolled my eyes, then winced at the pain. “You do that,” I muttered. “Talk later.”

Three

CAMMIE

“Did that really just happen?” Wendy asked, her eyes wide with bewilderment.

“Husband?” Candice puzzled.

I glanced around the lobby as if something was there to answer our questions, but we were alone. “Don’t ask me,” I said with a shrug. “I’m wondering if we are even related…” Although the dark hair and ice-blue eyes, as well as our similar bone structure, made it hard to deny our shared DNA.

The girls giggled, and I couldn’t help laughing with them.

“I’ll check on the shuttle,” I offered, traipsing over to the check-in desk.

“Don’t bother,” Colin advised as he stalked back into the lobby and around the desk. “Gus is on his way back to the inn, but he won’t be taking any more trips. They just announced that they are closing the roads.”

“The road to the airport?”

Colin nodded but didn’t look up as he typed and frowned at the computer screen. “And the roads in and out of the resort. We’re all snowed in here until the blizzard passes.”

“Well,” I grumbled, “there went my plans for a warm Christmas on the beach. It’s probably karma for not spending the holiday with my family.”

Colin chuckled and glanced up at me. “Can your friends bunk with you in your cabin? We’re going to have our hands full trying to accommodate all the visitors who weren’t planning to stay and are now stuck here.”

“Sure,” I agreed. Turning, I faced the girls and jerked my thumb toward the entrance to the lodge. “Drop your bags by that door,” I told them, pointing at the room where they temporarily stored luggage for guests. “Let’s go eat and then I’ll grab some food from the kitchen. There isn’t much in the cabin since I was planning to be gone.”

“Sounds good,” Candice murmured. “We can talk about the trip and what we want to do now that our flight is canceled.”

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