Page 20 of Snowed In on Valentine's Day

Straightening my shoulders, I stood as tall as I could, which wasn’t very tall. “I’ll stay right here, thank you very much.”

His face remained impassive, but I thought his eyelid twitched, or it might have been a trick of the shadows.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll figure out how the fireplace works. Don’t need electricity for that, right?” I hadn’t ever used the fireplace because my body tended to run warm. But a contractor had informed me when I moved in that the fireplace was in working order.

“You don’t know how to use the fireplace?” He looked genuinely confused. “And you’re going to figure it out in the dark? Do you have wood to burn?”

“Uh,yeah.” No, I didn’t, but there was no way he’d find out. “Of course.”

His eyes narrowed. After a long moment, his face returned to the expressionless mask I was used to now. “You’re completely unreasonable. But I won’t force you.” He looked down at the lantern in his hand and then back at me before holding it out to me. “I’ll go. Here, take the light.”

My eyes widened as I searched his face, which looked resigned. “You want me to—oh, no, I couldn’t.”

“I have a generator, Hazel. I don’t need this.”

“But the walk back to the house—”

“I’ll be fine. You, however, will not.”

I gasped. “You’re so rude. Has anyone ever told you that?”

He merely blinked. “Yes.”

I opened my mouth to speak but wasn’t sure what to say. “Oh. Well. You are.”

He nodded as though this wasn’t news. “Take the lantern.”

With my lips tight, I shook my head. “No.”

“Stubborn—”

“Just go, Peter.”

He stared at me for a long time, his cool blue eyes revealing nothing while his tight jaw suggested he was frustrated. Maybe even irritated. Finally, he carefully set the lantern down and walked out the door.

Chapter 7

My mouth gaping, I watched him through the open screen door swung wide open by the whipping wind. It took a moment to find words. “Hey, take this lantern—” But the words died on the wind, and he was already off on the makeshift path between our houses.

Gripping the door, I pulled it shut as hard as I could, slammed the wood door closed, and then set the offending light source on the floor just inside. My feet were wet again from the drenched rug, so I stepped a few feet away onto the carpet runner leading to the living room.

With a deep sigh, I crossed my arms over my chest as a shiver worked its way through my entire body. It was cold in here, I realized as the heat of indignation slowly faded. The temperature was dropping, and having that entire exchange with the front door open was probably the culprit.

I wasnotgoing to use the jerk’s lantern.

Kneeling down, I looked for the off switch on his fancy LED light. But just before turning it off, I paused with my finger hovering over the button.

Did I really want to be plunged into darkness again—as an act of defiance? Maybe … I could just use it quickly to dosome basic necessities: finding my own flashlights and some dry clothes, at the very least.

It’s not like he’d everknowI used his lantern. And who cares if he did? Not me.

With that decision made, I grabbed the lantern off the floor and padded to my bedroom at the end of the hall, determined to find my warmest clothes and maybe some spare blankets.

Once dressed in heavy layers, with an armload of heavy blankets, I decided to use the restroom, which still worked, thank goodness. I brushed my hair too and wiped off the smudged mascara, in case another visitor stopped by. Not Peter—because I didn’t care what he thought of me. At all.

Before I left the room though, a memory crept in. One cold night before Christmas, Terry had regaled us with stories of living on his tree farm, which had included more than one story of electrical failures in the winter. When Mari had pragmatically asked him about water damage from burst pipes, he’d said something about leaving faucets on to prevent them from freezing. Was it worth trying? I might have remembered wrong. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to let them drip just a bit.

I turned on the left dial for hot but then switched it off when I realized the heater wouldn’t be working now. I’d let the cold side run. Or should I do both? I let out an agitated breath as I deliberated, finally turning on both before going to the kitchen to switch on those faucets as well. This was either the smartest or the stupidest thing I’d do today, probably.

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