Page 92 of A Cozy Christmas Blizzard
“I’m not leaving you and your father to deal with the horses. It’s bad enough that I dragged you this far.” Placing his foot in the stirrup, he reached for the saddle and remounted. “Come on, before this snow gets any worse.”
“But we can make it to the Wilkens place.”
“Not now.” He raised his eyes skyward and scowled. “It’s already getting dark.”
Grumbling, she repacked her saddlebags, tugged Sampson’s reins free of the tree trunk and lifted her body onto his back with the agile grace of a ballerina.
The house was in sight when Slade finally spoke again. “Once we get back, I need to contact Margaret. She’ll be waiting. I told her I’d call Christmas Eve.”
Shelly’s heart constricted at the mention of the other woman’s name. Until now, unless she’d asked about Margaret, Slade hadn’t volunteered any information about his fiancée. Now he had freely thrust her between them.
“She’s a good woman,” he said when Shelly stayed silent.
She didn’t know who he was trying to convince. “I didn’t think you’d love a woman who wasn’t.”
“I’ve known Margaret a lot of years.”
“Of course you have.” And he’d only knownhera few days. She understood what he was saying. It was almost as if he were apologizing because Margaret had prior claim to his loyalties and his heart. He didn’t need to. She’d accepted that from the beginning.
When they left the cover of the woods, she spoke, managing to keep her voice level and unemotional. “You’ll never get a cell signal way out here, not in this weather. You go in anduse the phone,” she said, surprised that her voice could remain so even. “I’ll take care of the horses so you can make your call in private, and I’ll call the Wilkenses when I’m done.”
“I won’t talk long.”
“Don’t cut the conversation short on my account.”
He wiped his forearm across his brow. The movement brought her attention to the confusion in his eyes. “I won’t.”
By then they were at the barn, where she dismounted slowly, lowering both booted feet to the ground. He did the same, but she avoided his gaze as she opened the barn door and led the horses through. The wind followed her inside the dimly lit building. The cold nipped at her heels.
With a heavy heart she lifted the saddle from Pokey’s back before she noticed Slade’s dark form blocking the doorway. Her hands tightened around the smooth leather. “Is there a problem?”
“No.”
After cross-tying Pokey in the aisle, Shelly turned back to Slade, only to find that he’d left.
Taking extra time with the horses, she put off entering the house as long as possible. Removing the gloves from her hands one finger at a time, she walked in the back door to discover Slade sitting in the living room staring blindly into the roaring fire. She walked quickly to the phone and called the Wilkenses. Connie was glad to hear from her and admitted that after a full day driving neighbors around in the snow, Ted was exhausted.
“I don’t know about you,” she called out cheerfully after hanging up the phone, “but I’m starved.” The tip of her tongue burned with questions that pride refused to let her ask. She was dying to know what Slade had said to Margaret, if anything, about his current circumstances. “How about popcorn with lots of melted butter?”
He joined her, a smile lurking at the edges of his full mouth. His eyes were laughing, revealing his thoughts. He really did have wonderful eyes, and for a moment Shelly couldn’t look away.
“I was thinking of something more like a triple-decker sandwich,” he admitted.
“You know what your problem is, Garner?” It was obvious he didn’t, so she took it upon herself to tell him. “No imagination.”
“Because I prefer something meatier than popcorn?”
She pretended not to hear him—easy to do with her head buried in the open refrigerator. Without comment she brought out a variety of fixings and placed them on the tabletop.
She peeled off a slice of deli ham, tore it in two and gave Slade half. “How about a compromise?”
He looked dubious, as if he were sure she was about to suggest a popcorn sandwich. “I don’t know...”
“How about if you bring in the tree while I fix us something to eat?”
“That’s an offer I can’t refuse.”
Singing softly as she worked, Shelly concocted a meal neither of them was likely to forget. Sandwiches piled high with three different kinds of meat, sliced dill pickles and juicy green olives. In addition, she set out Christmas cookies and thick slices of fudge that she found sitting around the kitchen.
