Chapter 17
Anna
In winter, the weather in the Rocky Mountains was unpredictable. Big storms were substituted with little storms from time to time, but it was as if nature was adamant about keeping us all inside. I wasn’t complaining. I had good company. The most recent storm had made its way to Steamboat Springs the night before, and I was still unable to make my way there.
I wasn’t complaining about that, either. Being stranded with Luke was perfect. We got along really well, anything and everything, and we were becoming very close.
Our time together was overshadowed by what my father had done. I was worried about Lizabeth. She was on my mind often, and I didn’t know if she was in any kind of danger. My dad had gone to her, assuming I would contact her, and he had been right. Lizabeth was my best friend. I hoped my dad hadn’t hurt her, but what scared me was that I didn’t put it beneath him. I couldn’t phone Lizabeth and find out if she was all right, either. Dillon was the only place with cell service, and with the frequent storms, we didn’t go as often as I would have liked.
I racked my brain trying to find out how I could reach her. I had thrown my burner phone out of the window so my father couldn’t track me. Luke had suggested it, and at the time I had been so panicked I hadn’t even thought about it twice. I knew it had been the right thing to do, but I had no communication with the outside world, now. Being isolated was only romantic when there wasn’t as much stress and panic involved.
After thinking about it, I remembered Travis. Travis was Lizabeth’s boyfriend. She was always with him, and I knew his number. I had used it to contact her a couple of times before. When we went into town again, I would try Travis’s number to contact Lizabeth.
I went to find Luke who was building up the fire again. In this cold it was important to keep it burning most of the time, and I had never realized how much hard work fire was. I had always thought it was simple—light the match and the rest happened by itself. I had been wrong. Luke had been teaching me basic survival skills and building a fire had been the first thing. Without a fire, we would have died in the Rocky Mountains.
“Are you ready to go to Dillon, soon?” I asked.
Luke nodded, pushing up from his knees.
“We can get ready to leave,” he said.
We drove to Dillon, and Luke parked in front of the stores. I told him he could walk into the shop while I searched for a pay phone. It took me a long time and a lot of asking around, but I finally found one. I pushed the buttons when I had placed my coins into the slot. I dialed Travis’s number. My heart beat in my throat. If I wasn’t able to reach Lizabeth through Travis’s phone, I had no idea what I would do.
Travis answered on the third ring.
“Travis, it’s me, Anna,” I said. “Is Lizabeth around?”
“Oh, it’s good to hear from you again, Anna,” he said with a charming smile. “Sure, she’s around. Let me call her for you.”
Lizabeth came to the phone a moment later, and I was relieved.
“I’m so sorry my dad was a problem,” I said to Lizabeth. “Did he hurt you?”
“Anna, don’t worry so much. Your dad would never hurt me.”
I wished I could agree with her but lately, I hadn’t been so sure anymore. “What happened?” I answered instead of retorting to her comments.
Lizabeth sighed. “He came to my place because he knows you and I speak all the time. It was a clever move on his part, you have to admit.”
“I don’t know if I’m willing to admit that,” I said. “It will just piss me off more.”
“You don’t have to be so tough,” she said. “Your dad was here to trace you through my phone, and he got a hit.”
“What do you mean? That’s impossible!”
“He managed to trace the calls back to Colorado—don’t ask me how he did it—and he knows my parents live in Steamboat Springs. It’s where he’s going to try, first. I don’t want you to go there, Anna. You will only get into trouble.”
“Okay, I won’t go. But I’ll be fine,” I said. But I thought about what Lizabeth was saying. I didn’t explain to her how complicated it was. I wouldn’t only get into trouble. I would be forced to marry a man I despised. I wouldn’t be able to have my own career, to live my life as a free woman. I would belong to someone, and that was way worse than “just getting into trouble.”
“Thank you for standing up for me and not giving up where I am,” I said to Lizabeth. My dad was intimidating, scary and not a lot of people would have told him something wasn’t any of his business. Lizabeth was just as strong. Maybe it was why my dad never really liked her.
“So, my advice is to stay put for a couple more days if you can.”
“I can do that,” I said. “Luke will be happy to have me. I kind of like staying here with him.”
“That’s great. But you have to tell me something. You have been holding out on me since the moment you arrived there, and I want to know what’s going on, now.”
I laughed. Lizabeth has always been a sucker for gossip, and she relished in relationships, whether her own or someone else’s. We talked a little bit about what it was like, about what life was like in the cabin with Luke.
“You really like this guy don’t you?” Lizabeth asked.
“What makes you say that?”
“It’s the way you talk about him. We’ve been friends for a very long time, Anna. Don’t think I don’t know you.”
I giggled. Lizabeth was right. She did know me.
“So,” Lizabeth said, “all you need now is to get over yourself and sleep with him.”
The topic of my virginity had come up often between Lizabeth and me. She had always been adamant that I had to just go ahead and do it, that holding back for the right guy was silly.
“I kind of did,” I said.
Lizabeth was quiet for a moment before she squealed. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe you did it. I hate that you weren’t able to tell me about it immediately.”
Lizabeth and I had always talked about everything the moment after it had happened, but I had enjoyed not having to share anything with anyone about this for a while. Somehow, it had made everything between Luke and me like a fairytale because no one else had been able to get involved. No one had been able to talk me into it or out of this, and I had been grateful that my first time had belonged completely to me.
“Can I ask you a question?” Lizabeth asked.
“Sure,” I said, nodding.
“Can you trust him?”
I thought about it. Could I trust Luke? Could I believe he was saying he was who he really was? I thought about how attentive Luke was, about how worried he was about me sometimes and how he took care of me. I didn’t get the feeling he was looking for anything. Least of all, my body.
I mentioned as much to Lizabeth, explaining to her what Luke was like outside of the bedroom, as well. When I was done, Lizabeth was quiet for a beat.
“If you think you can trust him, you should stay with him. It’s safer wherever you are than to sit at home and talk crap all day.”
“Wouldn’t you like that?” I laughed.
Lizabeth laughed, too. She proceeded to ask me a lot of questions about Luke, about his intentions and how admirable he was. Finally, when my money in the payphone was about to run out, Lizabeth offered her approval.
“Obviously, this situation isn’t nearly what I would wish for you. But if you’re with a guy that is as good for you as you are saying Luke is, I would urge you to stay with him until the danger is over. And let me know how things are going as often as you can. I can’t stand the silence.”
I promised I would speak to her as often as I could.
Finally, Lizabeth and I said our goodbyes and I hung up, relieved that she was unharmed. I didn’t know what I would have done if my father had hurt her to get to me, after all.
I went to find Luke and found him in another grocery store, looking at different herbs and spices. I explained to him what Lizabeth had said about the storm.
“In Steamboat at the moment. There’s no way we’re going to be able to get to Steamboat Springs. I’m going to have to spend a bit more time with you if you don’t mind.”
Luke put his arm around my neck and kissed my forehead.
“Of course, I don’t mind. You’re more than welcome at my place, anytime.”
He made me feel amazing. I liked that Luke felt as positive about my company as I felt about his. I wondered what he would say to his friends about me if he called them and spoke about what was happening between us.
“There’s one more thing,” I said. Luke looked at me, and I hesitated. “Lizabeth says my dad managed to track calls back to Colorado.”
I watched Luke’s expression as I told him the news. His face was carefully blank, but his eyes grew darker, spewing fire.
“If they come for you, make sure you’re safe,” Luke said. I had half expected him to be more graphic in his descriptions, to be more violent. He was surprisingly controlled, and I appreciated it.
“I don’t know if he’ll be able to find me. He knows where Lizabeth’s parents stay, now. If he tracked the calls to Colorado, she worried he might have tracked it all the way here.”
“Even if he did, he still doesn’t know where the cabin is because you never made calls from there. You couldn’t have.”
I nodded. Luke was right. As always, he was rational about it, and I felt lucky that Luke of all people had found me in the snow. My life had turned around since I’d met him.
Luke finished up, paying for the groceries he had collected before we walked together to the truck. We climbed in and Luke pulled onto the main road that headed back toward the cabin. We drove in amicable silence. Lizabeth had just told me my dad was coming to Colorado to find me. I should have been more panicked about it, but Luke had been so positive and so calm, I couldn’t help but feel the same way.
Everything would be okay as long as I was with Luke, and I intended on staying with Luke as long as I could.