Page 6 of Love in the Storm

“Yeah. Let’s just get inside.”

They’d been inches from the door when they fell, and now they were both wet and frozen.

The woman rushed inside first, and Asa followed on her heels, slamming the door closed behind him. He held onto the knob for an extra second, hoping the dizziness would subside and he’d be able to stay on his feet.

“Are you okay?” the woman panted.

“My head is pounding, but what about you?”

She nodded. Her face was flushed, but her nose was rosy pink. “Fine. Just frozen.”

Asa looked around. The cabin was enormous. Surely, she didn’t live here alone. “You have a fireplace?”

She stood and brushed her hands over her hair, trying and failing to smooth the wildness. “It’s not my place. It’s a rental.”

That made more sense. “Are you a guest?”

“No, just the cleaning crew,” she said through chattering teeth.

Asa rubbed his hand over his face and remembered the blood.

She pointed to a barstool in the open kitchen and pulled a rag from a drawer. “I need to check you out. Sit right there.”

Easing onto the stool, he propped his head in his hands. Closing his eyes only made his shoulders sag with the weight.

The woman appeared at his side, and he slowly raised his head. She stepped right in and started brushing the rag over his face. “Where is your phone?”

“Phone?” He thought for a minute. “In the truck.”

She groaned and pressed the rag to his head. “Hold that there. I’ll be right back.”

“You can’t go back out there.”

She was already pulling on her gloves. “I have to. My phone isn’t working, and I need to call for help.”

He opened his mouth to tell her no one was coming to help, but she’d already disappeared. Impulsive woman. Didn’t she stop to think before running back outside?

He finished wiping his face with the rag and tossed it into the sink. He’d worry about the biohazard later. She’d rescued him, and he was probably going to have to rescue her.

Asa had just made it to the door when she burst into the room.

“Peas and carrots!” she shouted, bending at the hips and resting her hands on her knees.

“I can’t believe you went back out there.”

She straightened and shifted her hands to her hips. “Somebody had to. What are you doing up? I said I’d be right back.”

“Those are famous last words,” Asa said, fighting a grin. She’d really gone back up the hill in the snowstorm to get his phone.

“Not mine.” She pulled his phone out of her pocket and held it up. “Can I use your phone to call 911?”

Now she asks.His grin faded quickly. “You can, but you won’t get through. Emergency lines are going to be backed up with this storm.”

She pecked at his phone. “No reason not to try. I have no idea how to treat a head wound.”

“Wait.” He laid a hand over hers, stopping her from making the call.

“Why? You’re hurt.”

---