Page 61 of Snowed In on Valentine's Day

Friends!

Ineverwould’ve imagined sitting here playing a board game on a Friday night with my grumpy neighbor. By choice. Not because of a natural disaster or an electrical problem. Just because we wanted to.

I wasn’t even sure whose idea it had been. During a walk last week, we’d been talking about the board game, and then I ended up coming over to play it after dinner that night. And again a few nights later. And again.

I absently reached into our shared bowl of popcorn—low-salt and low-butter to make his doctor happy—and felt a jolt of electricity when my hand brushed his. I tried not to jerk my hand back because, well, I didn’t want him to think I hated him anymore.

Because I didn’t.

Not even close.

We were friends.

And I couldn’t stop staring at his hand I’d just touched so lightly. And his face that had lost some of its severity and rigidness over the past weeks. His biceps that had flexed when he’d worn a short-sleeve shirt last night during our game. And those ocean blue eyes …

Get it together, Hazel. He sees only you as a friend.

And that was fine.

Completelyfine.

But that pang I felt in my chest … that wasn’t fine.

Even if there was some chance of becoming more than friends, it would be so complicated. My feelings, his, our status as neighbors, our best friends being married to each other … all of it added up tocomplicated, and I didn’t want complicated.

When his brow furrowed, I gave him a shaky smile to reassure him I was fine. Just fine. His favorite word. “It’s your turn, Mr. Rulemaker.”

His lips quivered again, and I swore he was about to smile again, but thankfully I was saved from having to fight through all the feelingsthatevent would’ve aroused again. The doorbell had rung.

I looked at him in confusion. Who on earth could it be? From what I could tell, he rarely had visitors. Really only Terry, from what I’d seen. And I knew Terry was in St. Paul with Mari tonight—something about a possible buyer for the Christmas tree farm, but I hadn’t listened closely.

“I’ll get rid of them. Be right back,” he said, rising quickly.

Once he opened the door, a woman spoke with what sounded like an excited tone, though I couldn’t make out her words. My stomach churned as I wondered why a woman would show up unexpectedly on a weeknight. Or any night. It shouldn’t matter, I knew.

A minute or so later, he appeared in the doorway to the sitting room where I was still sitting in front of the fireplace with the game board.

His face was red, and he looked more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen him. “Hazel, I have a guest.” Even his voice sounded strange.

A tall, striking middle-aged woman walked in then, with blonde hair that looked a little too perfect and azure eyes that I assumed were colored contact lenses. Her eyebrows rose in surprise as she took me in and then looked back to Peter. “You have a guest, love. Care to introduce us?”

I scrambled to my feet, hastily wiping a popcorn kernel off my lap as I forced a smile.

Peter sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mother, this is Hazel. Hazel, apparently my mother has decided to visit without any notice.”

His mother’s smile faded as she looked from me to him. “I did try to reach you a few weeks ago. I’m fairly sure I left a voicemail. Don’t you remember?”

He looked at his mother with suspicion in his eyes. “I recall you promising you’d visit me in Chicagolast year.”

She blinked rapidly, and her lips quivered before she said softly, “Oh, you know how it is. Randall can’t get away very often because Jared needs him on the campaign. Of course, Randall’s only helping with strategy at this point, not going out on the campaign trail.” She beamed and then turned to me. “Randall is my husband, a retired Senator, and Jared is our son, who holds his Senate seat now.”

My gaze swung to Peter, who was barely containing his anger. “Oh, so Jared is your brother? I didn’t know you had any siblings.”

“Stepbrother,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest with a severe frown. “He’s the son of my mother’s second husband.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “We’re all family, that’s what matters.” She smiled at me.

“Ah,” I said softly. I hadn’t even known his parents were divorced. I knew next to nothing about his life before and outside of Shipsvold, for that matter. “Well, it’s nice to meet you …”

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