Page 3 of Christmas on Ice
I formed my hands around my mouth and pressed them to the glass, mimicking his. “Yes!”
“What?! Can you open your window?!”
I shook my head, then realized he probably couldn’t see me. I cracked open my door and forced a smile at the hottest guy I’d ever met in real life. “I’m fine!” I shouted. Dang, the wind was loud. And cold. “Window is frozen shut! Dead battery, I think? Roadside assistance is on the way!”
He gently pushed the door shut and talked through the closed window, his warm breath steaming the cold glass. “I can give you a jump, then you can warm up in my truck till your heat gets going again.”
If I hadn’t already been shaking, I would have shivered at that remark. Trask had that effect on me, and I tried to ignore it. It was better that way. I’d been divorced officially for four months but out of love for years. I tried to avoid Trask as much as possible when he came into the restaurant because I felt zazzled even just in his presence. Not even my ex had ever set off butterflies that fought to break free from my body that way.
I sighed.
“Okay!” I shouted back at him, realizing he was waiting for an answer. I gave him a thumbs-up and twisted in my seat to watch him walk back to his truck, but the darkness and snow were so thick, I lost sight of him after a few feet. A few moments later, his truck was parked facing my car. I popped the hood and opened my door.
“I’ll flash my lights when it’s time for you to turn the key and rev your engine!!” he shouted.
“Okay!
I scrunched down to watch with fascination through the tiny opening at the bottom of the hood as he attached the jumper cables and jogged back to his truck. I hadn’t known until tonight that he was from South Carolina. I’dknown he was from the South, and sometimes I caught traces of a faint accent, a familiar dialect that hit me straight in the gut. The sound ofhome.
I’d been in Colorado for almost nine years. I’d come here for college while Sutton attended a state college back home. He’d joined the Air Force, and after we graduated, he received orders to report to the base in Colorado Springs. We’d hastily—and naively—gotten married so we could live together in base housing.What a mistake.Just as we realized how incompatible we were, we got pregnant with Ryleigh. It was around that time I discovered my high school “sweetheart” had never been faithful to me.
All the while, I was working on my master’s and doctorate degrees in earth sciences. At this point, I had about another year left on the latter, but if I hustled, I could finish in the spring and walk in May. Once I had it, I’d go back home to play in the marshy Lowcountry muck and raise Ryleigh among family.
He flashed the lights, and I pressed the brake pedal to the floor.Here we go.I turned the key and revved the gas, praying as the engine stalled and then roared to life.
After a few minutes, he got out again and appeared at my window. “Passenger door is unlocked. Go on in and warm up!”
He didn’t have to tell me twice.
I was out of my car and in his truck in record time. When my frozen backside settled in the seat, I was surprised and moved to learn he’d already set the automatic seat heater to warm up for me.
When I saw him coming, I lifted my scarf to cover my face as Trask opened his driver’s side door and climbed up. Even after all the winters in Colorado, the force of the cold chilled me to the bone. I wondered how long it took hockey players to not feel it. Or did they?
I lowered my scarf. “Thanks, Trask.” Reaching into the pocket of my coat, I felt for my phone. “Do you think it’s good to go? This happened the other day in the restaurant parking lot, and it was fine after a jump. It seemed okay today.”
“It might be your alternator. I had to replace the one on my old truck last year.”
“Gosh, I hope not.” The last thing I wanted to spend my meager savings on was car repairs.
“Let’s wait a few minutes and see.” He pulled off his gloves and hat and shook out his hair, which was longer in the front and fell over his right eye. He shook his head, flicking his hair to the side.
I wanted to touch it, brush the snowflakes out of his hair—
Instead, I swallowed and pulled up the app for roadside assistance. “The app says they’re still about an hour out.”
“If it quits, I can take you home,” he said. I met his gaze and couldn’t pull away.
Or speak.
He cleared his throat. “So … Where in South Carolina are you from?”
“Summerville. Right outside—”
“Charleston,” he drawled with a grin, and I felt myself returning his smile. “That’s where I’m from. Right on the South Battery.”
“Oh wow. Those homes are beautiful.” I’d spent many a day strolling along the Battery, imagining the people who lived in the old homes and wondering what their stories were. It was my favorite area of the city. I’d known he was from Charleston, but a lot of people say they’re from the nearest city when they move away from there. To grow up right in the heart of the city must have been amazing.
He shrugged. “Ours has been in the family forever and needs some work. It’s expensive to maintain, and with my mom’s cancer treatment bills, we’ve had to put off some of the updates that need to be done.”
