Page 53 of His One True Wish

Cam looked at me with her familiar, all-knowing brown eyes. “Yeah, I like her, too. Don’t get attached, girl. She isn’t staying.”

Billie opened the door and poked her head outside. “Looking better?”

“A bit,” I said. Cam bounded up the steps to Billie. She jumped up, knocking her snowy paws into Billie’s middle.

“Down, Cam,” I said.

“She’s okay. She’s just excited,” Billie said. Scratching Cam’s head, she looked up at me. “Do you think we could try getting into town. I’d really like to call my mom.”

“That car isn’t getting out,” I said, looking at the drift. It was over four feet deep at this point. “We’d spend all day digging.”

Billie bit her lip and surveyed the yard. “Okay, but what if we walked into town? We could snowshoe?”

“Snowshoe,” I repeated.

“Yes.” Her face lit up. “We have old snowshoes in the barn. There is a path by the river. Mom, Gran, and I used to like to walk it, even in the snow. We could basically walk straight into town.”

I nodded and looked at the falling snow. “If the river is high, we’ll need to turn around. The path is steep, and we do not want to tumble into that water.”

“Deal,” she said, clapping her hands. “Do we bring Cam?”

“Nah, too cold. I’ll leave her here.”

Cam looked up from the snow. She’d buried her nose searching for something. She sneezed as if in agreement.

About an hour later,Billie and I walked out the back door of the cabin to put on old wooden snowshoes I retrieved from the barn. Billie expressed no interest in going to the barn this time. The snowshoes had leather straps and were the size of old wooden tennis rackets. I gave Cam a rawhide bone to distract her and made sure the fire was stoked to keep her warm.

Billie wore her bright purple coat and borrowed a pair of my woolsocks. We pulled them all the way up to her knees. Once outside, we strapped on the snowshoes and headed around the side of the cabin. Snow crunched underfoot.

We crossed the fields, Billie’s pink cheeks shining. She tugged on her hat, the ends of her dark hair sticking out and hitting her shoulders. Snowflakes collected in her curls. I resisted the urge to tuck her hair under her hat. I had a feeling she might deck me if I tried.

“Quiet’s nice,” I said as we approached the woods.

“It’s gorgeous.” Billie grinned, her smile stretching from ear-to-ear.

“You’re pretty proud of yourself,” I said.

“Hell, yes,” she said. “Ever since I arrived, I’ve felt like I don’t know a thing about surviving in the Colorado winter. But I’m telling you, I know how to manage myself out here. Contrary to what you’ve observed … ”

“What?” I said, my tone playful. “I never thought you didn’t.”

“Bullshit,” she said, giving me a sideways glance.

“Okay, maybe I did wonder how you survived the drive here.”

“I knew it,” she said, grinning. “You are such a know-it-all asshole, but I suppose you know that already, too.”

“Sure as shit do,” I said.

We crossed the field, step after step. A line of deer tracks crossed the snow. I was doubly glad we hadn’t brought Cam. She was liable to chase after anything with four legs out here. We passed the trees where the family of raccoons lived. Luckily, those tricky fuckers were nowhere in sight.

“Once we get to town, I’ll ask Mason if he can help dig out the truck, or maybe his boys, if they are home,” she said.

“You mean the twins, Alfie and Ethan.”

“You know them?”

“Yea,” I said, laughing. “I have lived here for half a year.”

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