Page 24 of A Not So Merry Ex-Mas

“I know the view is pretty from this window.” I nod my head in the direction of the window displaying the world blanketed in white. “But how bad is it from outside?”

When you need to corral wild thoughts running free in your head, the weather is always a safe bet.

“The big snowflakes falling are pretty beautiful,” Cole says, taking a sip of his coffee before scooping up more eggs. “But when the wind picks up, you get a preview of what we can expect later.”

I watch him put the forkful of eggs in his mouth and swallow hard before dragging my eyes away.

“What’s the forecast?” I take a sip of my coffee and then bite a piece of bacon.

Cole’s hand freezes halfway to his mouth before he clears his throat.

“Did you not look at the weather app?” A grin appears as he shakes his head.

“Do I ever look at the weather app?” I chuckle.

I glimpse sadness flicker across his eyes before the teasing twinkle returns. “I seem to recall that was something you did not do.”

If the air around us is any indication, this conversation just went from light to heavy. So much for asafeconversation. I’m not sure there is such a thing as a safe conversation with Cole.

“I still don’t.” Cole laughs out loud as I hold my coffee and shrug. “I can’t control the weather, so there’s no point in worrying about it. And if—”

“If anything bad is happening…” A softness fills his eyes, and my heart drops into my stomach. “Someone will tell you.”

“Still true today.” I nod and exhale, slowly squeezing my mug to distract me from the flutters attacking my heart. “Sooo…what is the forecast?”

“The current forecast, which keeps getting updated, says that we should expect up to forty-five mile per hour wind gusts and at least a foot of snow.”

“Didn’t you say we already have at least half a foot?” Weather is just way too unpredictable for me. It’s why I wasn’t drawn to meteorology. I like my science to give me more of a concrete answer. Meteorology feels like a guessing game.

I still can’t believe people get paid for “predictions.”

“Yup.” A smirk crosses his face. “But that’s why meteorology isn’t a science.”

“Come on!” I roll my eyes, and he laughs at me. “You must admit that meteorology doesn’t feel like arealscience.”

He throws his head back, resting his hand on his chest as his laughter rumbles through the cabin.

I glare at him and shake my head, but I can’t stop the grin working its way across my lips.

“You’re the science girl, not me.” The mischievous gleam in his eyes tells me all I need to know about his thoughts.

I quickly glance into my almost-empty cup to avoid getting lost in those memories. I push my chair back and head to the counter.

“Do you want the rest?” I ask, holding the carafe out after filling my cup. Thankfully, he was eating and not watching me.

“That would be great, thank you.” I pour the remainder of the coffee into his cup and then put the empty carafe on the now-cool heating plate before returning back to my seat.

We fall back into silence as we finish eating, and I do my best not to be so aware of his every movement. It’s much easier said than done since I’ve never been more aware of a person in my entire life than I am of Cole.

It made tutoring him extremely difficult in the beginning. How do you keep your mind focused on chemistry–ironic–when every nerve in your body is honed in on a single person?

You don’t, that’s how. Luckily, I could teach chemistry in my sleep.

A trumpet breaks the silence as Frank Sinatra’s version ofLet It Snowfills the room, and I hear Cole humming.

Although his humming settles something in me, I feel a light quiver in my stomach.

I push my chair back, grab my empty plate and start the clean-up. Cole grabs his and follows suit. I put out my hand.

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