Page 44 of Out of the Cold

“It’ll only take a minute to bring in more.”

He thought he was going to get an argument, but he could see the moment she realized he needed to do it.

“That would be great.”

***

Lucy made herself waitin the living room while Gabriel went in and out. After one trip, he’d filled the crate by the woodstove. Two trips later, he was making pyramids of logs she wouldn’t need to burn for days. But she recognized the nervous energy, and it was her fault he needed to burn it off.

She hadn’t planned on asking him that question, but she’d suddenly glimpsed the man he’d been. And it wasn’t the first time. It broke through in a kindness or an expression, the mention of cooking for others, and the way he sometimes relaxed and had easy conversation.

But she’d invited him to her home—however temporarily she could lay claim to it—and she needed to put him at ease. There were lots of board games on a shelf in one of the closets. She could pull out Scrabble, or maybe Trivial Pursuit? That was what her family always did on holidays. By evening, they were usually sleepy and had moved on to a movie.

A movie.

That was perfect. It required no talking or looking at each other.

Kneeling on the floor, she opened the cabinet under the TV and scanned the titles for something she wanted to see and a man like Gabriel might enjoy. It helped to know his favorite books. After agonizing for several minutes, she ended up withDoctor Strangelove, Double Indemnity, Alien,andCasino Royale.

Gabriel stacked a final armful of wood and then looked around like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

“I thought we could watch a movie,” she said.

A moment’s hesitation, and then he crouched beside her, the scents of cold mountain air, cut wood, and dried sage wafting off of him. The man was delicious and abrasive, sensitive and obnoxious, and, most of all, he was hurting.

The least she could do was give them both a break from the world.

He examined the movies she’d pulled out. “These are all great. Which one do you want to watch?”

“You pick. I haven’t seen any of them.”

“I vote for James Bond. If we want another one, we could watchAlien.”

“That one’s scary, right?”

“Yeah, but not the kind of scary that lasts after you watch it. Unless maybe you happen to be traveling in outer space.”

“Okay, then. Want to start James Bond now, and we can watch while we eat? There are a couple of snack tables in the closet.”

Her mother would be horrified at the idea of Thanksgiving dinner eaten in front of the TV, but it solved the problem of tense and awkward conversation. They were both trying to get through the day the best they could.

He looked relieved at the suggestion. “That’s perfect. The hens must be close to done now. I’ll put the other dishes in.”

He seemed to have full command of what to do with the food, so she left him to it and set the snack tables up in front of the sofa, which faced the TV. It wasn’t quite two o’clock, but the sky had clouded over, darkening the cabin. It would probably snow, but that made it cozier inside.

She stuck the movie in and sat back down, pulling the blanket over her lap. Gabriel took a seat, and she pressed play.

It was the perfect movie, meaningless and engrossing, and she slipped right into movie-watching mode. But the awareness of Gabriel, only a foot away, never left her. He was so big, sopresent, even when he said nothing. He wasn’t unlike Daniel Craig’s James Bond—big, broody, charismatic, physically capable, and gorgeous.

As far as she knew, he wasn’t a spy, but then she knew almost nothing about him.

He relaxed into the cushions, clearly enjoying the movie. His arms were huge, his thighs massive. She could crawl right on top of him and he’d barely feel it.

He glanced over and caught her looking.

They both went utterly still. His gaze heated and dropped to her mouth, lingered, then met her eyes again. She sensed rather than heard him release a long breath.

Was she even breathing?

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