Page 25 of Stuck With Mr. Frosty

“Lonely knows lonely.” She glances at me again. “I thought maybe you might like to be lonely with someone.”

I pause, considering that. “My mom died shortly after I was born. My father tried to raise me, but it felt like he blamed me for her death. He was angry all the time, and those few moments when he wasn’t, he was just sad. And then he died when I was ten.”

“How?”

I clear my throat. “He was out in the mountains. He used to like going camping in the winter. That winter we rented a cabin because I kept complaining about sleeping in tents. He went out because he wanted at least one night in a tent.”

“Seems odd to leave your kid alone like that.” Mia traces her fingers over my stomach again. “Why’d he do it?”

“He and Mom used to go camping by the lake. I guess he was missing her, and he thought that it would be the way to be close to her, but a storm rolled in. Snow came down like it hadn’t before. He didn’t come back in the morning, and I was snowed in. I found an emergency radio and called to the ranger station like he taught me to do.”

“I’m sorry.” She looks at me with tears shining in her eyes.

It’s the first time someone has said those words to me that I actually believe them. She looks at me like she’s feeling my pain. Like she would do anything she could to take it from me.

My fingers are still touching Mia. “They couldn’t get to him in time. Their rescue K9 was retired the week before, and they hadn’t been able to find any other dog yet. By the time they found Dad, he was gone.”

Mia slings her arm over my torso, holding me tight, kissing my collarbone. I hold onto her like she’s the only thing holding metogether right now because I think she might be. I don’t know what else to do.

And the longer I lay there with her, the more wrong I think I might’ve been.

She’s not the airheaded party girl who just came to the mountains for a good time.

She’s the only person I’ve been able to open up to in a long time. The one person in years who has made me feel like maybe being alone isn’t what’s meant for me.

The thought scares the hell out of me.

I wake up the next morning to Mia tracing her fingers over my collarbone, her lips tracing my pulse. I hold her a little tighter, wanting to bask in front of the fireplace with her for a few minutes longer, but the fire has long since gone out and the cabin is frosty.

“It stopped snowing,” Mia says as she gets up, testing the weight of her ankle while I get to my feet. “What do you think about going back to the resort where there are hot showers and warm cabins waiting?”

Without thinking about it, I pull her into me, my mouth capturing hers, savoring the taste of her on my lips. “Are you going to be okay walking?”

Honey’s tail thumps against my leg as she wriggles her way between us and leans into Mia. With a smile, Mia smooths herhand over Honey’s ears and shrugs. “I’m tired of cold showers, so I think I should be able to make it just fine.”

I laugh and reach for my clothing, pulling it on and heading off to get breakfast ready while she limps out of the room to go pack her things. I’m nervous about whether or not she’s actually going to be able to make it down the mountain, but we won’t know unless we try.

Mia shakes her head as I carry her up the stairs to the cabin we share with our roommates several hours later. “You really didn’t have to carry me the last two miles.”

Smiling, I set her down on her feet and place a kiss on the corner of her mouth. It feels strange to be so warm and intimate with someone else, but there’s something about hiking seven hours through the woods together and having nothing else to do that lets people get to know each other.

I take a deep breath. “You know they’re going to be in there waiting for us. Carter warned me about them over the radio before we set out.”

Mia pulls out her phone and shows me nearly a hundred missed messages from the group chat with Rosie and Ryder. “Believe me, I know.”

Honey barks at the door, looking between the two of us like she wants us to stop talking and open the door so she can go to bed. I take a deep breath, trying to get ready to face whatever’s to come, but I don’t know if I ever fully will be.

As I push open the door, we’re met with wolf whistles from Rosie and Ryder that send Mia scurrying into the cabin, shaking her head and laughing, trying to change the subject.

I follow her, not sure of anything that’s going on, and more than anything wanting to curl up in my own bed and sleep. It’s been a rough couple of nights sleeping on the couch and then the floor, but at least on the floor, I got to have Mia in my arms.

“What do we do now?” I whisper as I stand behind her, trying to tune out the millions of rapid-fire questions coming from Rosie and Ryder.

Mia looks over her shoulder at me, that warm smile easing some of the tight feeling in my stomach. “We go with the flow.”

CHAPTER 11

MIA

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