Page 65 of Love and Other Chances
I check Townsend’s social media and see that they’ve canceled classes for the day as well, which means I won’t have any of my meetings on campus.
Give me an hour to eat and get dressed, and then I’m in! But I don’t have a sled
Brooks sends a photo of himself with two sleds in the checkout line of the store.
BROOKS
Got it covered.
What are you doing out driving already?! Be careful!!
BROOKS
The apartment parking lot was dicey, but the main roads were fairly cleared. Ish. I promise I drove slowly
See you soon!
I head out to the kitchen to make some breakfast, grateful for the scent of fresh coffee in the air. Gina is sitting at the table eating eggs and toast.
“Classes are canceled today,” she says around a bite of toast.
“I know—Brooks texted me this morning that it was a snow day. It’s so pretty outside!” I respond, my voice surprisingly chipper for Morning Teegan.
“Only Brooks could make you sound so human prior to your first cup of coffee,” Gina teases.
I shrug and smile. “Can’t even deny that. He’s going to pick me up in an hour to go sledding.”
“Aw, that’s fun!” Gina says. “You should go to that church on the hill. Well, if his car can manage to get up the street. Not as many people sled there. For sure only college students, not the little kids.”
“Ooo, good thought.” I hum as I pour peppermint mocha creamer into my coffee.
Gina laughs. “You are one smitten kitten.” I shrug, offering no denial, which only makes Gina laugh more. “I’m going to go over to one of the dorms for a movie marathon with a group of girls, so I’ll probably be out until this evening.”
Since Gina is awake, I blast music from my phone while I get ready for the day. After food and caffeine, I get dressed in the warmest clothes I have. I don’t own snow pants, so jeans layered over leggings will have to do. I’m grateful that I bought a good pair of snow boots last year for walking around campus in the winter.
Even though we’ll be outside sledding, I still apply light makeup. I dig a winter hat out of my closet but can’t find any gloves for the life of me. I’ll have to clean up the tornado of a mess I’ve created in my room tonight because Brooks should be here any minute now.
Right on cue, the doorbell rings. I rush to open the door, swallowing a gulp at the sight of Brooks. The longer strands of his hair are poking out from his beanie, and his cheeks are flushed from the cold air. His grin resembles a five-year-old on Christmas morning. “Ready?” he asks eagerly.
“Almost! Come inside while I put on my boots and coat,” I say, closing the door behind him. He comes in and holds up a grocery bag. “I picked up some waterproof winter gloves. I didn’t know if you had any, and you’ll need them for phase two.”
I quirk an eyebrow at him while I zip up a boot. “Phase two?”
“You’ll see,” he replies, eyes glimmering.
“I might need them now because I seem to have misplaced my gloves,” I say. Hetsksbut hands the gloves over to me.
Brooks helps me slip my arms into my thermal winter coat, and then I follow him outside. The sidewalk and driveway around our cars have been shoveled off already. “How long have you been here?” I ask.
“I didn’t need an hour of time before picking you up, but I didn’t want to rush your getting-ready process. So I came over and shoveled while I waited,” he replies, opening the passenger door for me.
“Okay, I don’t know what you had planned, but there’s a big hill behind a church in town that not as many people go to. If your car can make it up the steep street, that might be a good place to try,” I suggest.
“That’s exactly what one of my colleagues recommended,” Brooks replies. He tilts the map on his phone toward me. “Is this it?”
“Yep! Let’s try it!”
Brooks drives slowly to our destination. Some streets have been cleared well, while others are still covered with snow. When we reach the street that leads up to the church on the hill, it’s easy to see it falls into the “hasn’t been cleared yet” category.
