Abby never thought she would ever say a blindfold was comfortable. But it was. The silk rested comfortably over her eyes. Drake helped her out of the truck. She could have climbed out herself, but he seemed intent on using the maneuver to sneak another kiss.

"When are you going to let me remove the blindfold?" she asked, after catching her breath from his kiss.

"Soon, city girl." He whispered the endearment into her ear, nuzzling her neck before grasping her hand and leading her forward. "The ground is a bit uneven, but you should be okay."

"I'm not going to trip, am I?"

"If you do, I'll catch you."

They weren't in town. Or, if they were, they weren’t on Main Street. The ground beneath her feet was uneven and crunched with dirt and gravel. Maybe her thoughts about a renovated barn hadn't been that far off base.

His fingers tightened, telegraphing his excitement.

"Almost there." He pulled up short and released her hand. "Don't move."

The air held an earthy scent, full of loamy dirt, pine, and woodsmoke. A fire? The crackling of wood drifted to her ears.

Gravel crunched under Drake's boots, and another set of footsteps joined his. She lifted her hands to the blindfold, curious as to who else was there. But keeping the blindfold in place seemed important to Drake.

Low tones of a conversation drifted to her ears. Male voices. The deep rumble of Drake’s and another vaguely familiar one.

“Thanks," Drake said.

"No problem. Have fun."

Was that Bert?

Crickets chirped all around her, and the gentle calls of songbirds filled the air. A light gusting of the wind brought other scents to her nose, deeper pungent aromas of animals and the sizzling of…steak?

The roar of an engine sounded, the deep throaty rumble of a diesel truck. Tires crunched over gravel and faded.

Drake returned. "You doing okay?"

"You've got my attention," she said. "Was that Bert?"

He snickered. "Yeah, I asked him to get a few things set up."

The clatter of a generator sputtered and hummed. The only reason she had any familiarity with that sound was from summer camping trips. Her uncle always had a generator on hand, especially in the heat of the summer. While they roughed it on the land, their tents had been cooled by portable air conditioning units at night. There was roughing it and not roughing it.

"Please," she begged. "Can I take the blindfold off?" It was killing her wondering what Drake was up to.

Drake had a way of filling up space, even when she couldn't see him, his palpable presence tingled her skin and hitched her breath. He was in every inhale and beat of her heart, enveloping her in a world of what if and what may be.

He cupped her cheek. "God, you're beautiful." His fingers traced a path over her skin, skimming over her lips.

Compliments made her self-conscious, and she turned away. "Drake..."

The heat of his lips brushed over her mouth. "You're amazing." His fingers slid under the silk at her temples. "Keep your eyes closed. I'm going to remove the blindfold, but don't look just yet."

"Okay." She pressed her hands against the hard ridge of his abdomen, dropped them to her sides, and fiddled with the hem of her skirt. The overwhelming nearness of him had her knees weak and her legs unsteady.

The silk lifted.

Strong hands gripped her shoulders, and Drake spun her to face the other way.

"You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she said.

The tip of his nose pressed against the side of her neck. "Open your eyes, city girl."

Abby blinked to clear her vision, and she stumbled back against his chest. A fire-pit crackled with burning wood. Two wooden chairs stood before it. A generator hummed somewhere off to her left, black electrical wires snaking to a table placed on the far side of the fire where a projector flickered in the waning light of dusk. Strung between two massive oak trees, a white sheet stretched between the branches. Rope passed through corner grommets and looped around the branches, pulling the fabric taut. The lower corners were fixed in place, tied to two large rocks.

"A movie screen?"

A Star Wars movie trailer scrolled across the makeshift screen.

"I thought a night at the movies would be a treat. The drive-in isn’t open during the week."

"So, you made one?”

Her mouth watered with the aroma of whatever was cooking on that grill. She approached the fire-pit, leaving Drake where he was.

"What is this?"

"Well, my first thought was to cook steak. But it's a bit of a production."

Four skewers of meat had been propped over the fire. Drops of fat and other juices fell from the meat to spatter on the fire below.

She spun around. "I can't believe you did all of this."

"I'm full of surprises.”

"Well, this is one hell of a surprise." She pointed to the screen.

"You said you were a Star Wars and Trekkie fan. I've got all of them loaded up and ready to play."

"All of them?"

"Yup,” he said.

"What kind of movies do you like? I don't want you watching something you hate."

"Oh, those are good."

"But not great,” she said.

"Well, great is relative. I mean, great would be the Terminator or Resident Evil."

She shivered. "Oh, I'm not a zombie fan."

"Not a zombie fan or afraid of horror movies?”

"Both, I suppose."

The sun had dipped below the rim of the valley walls. Dusk ushered in the coming of night, and as the light faded, the sky blossomed with the fire of one of the most remarkable sunsets she'd ever seen. They would have to wait until it got a little darker before they could see the picture on the screen.

Abby breathed in the crisp night air. "What happens if I get cold?"

The corner of his mouth turned up. "We snuggle."

Snuggling sounded like fun.

The long lowing of a cow broke the silence. She turned toward the setting sun and looked upon a grouping of cattle who'd wandered up to a fence-line some distance away.

"Gotta love this place,” she said.

"Why's that?"

"Open sky. Rolling hills. And cattle. This place is full of them."

"But it's not full of people. I guarantee we're the only humans within fifty acres."

"Do you have something against people?"

There was no sign of a tent. Other than the fire, the chairs, the generator, and screen, it didn't look as if he intended to spend the night. And that's when she realized all the snow from the blizzard was missing.

Green grass waved in the evening breeze.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"The snow. What happened to it?"

He shook his head. "It melted."

"That fast?"

"It was barely a dusting."

A dusting? The snow had been several inches thick, but then, there hadn't been much snow on the highway when she'd driven her uncle home from the hospital either. And she didn't remember any snow. This town had to be one of the strangest places in the world.

Drake took the seat closest to the fire. He turned the spit holding the skewers of meat.

"Dinner will be done in a few." He fished around in a bag next to the chair and brought out a bottle of wine. "You said you liked wine? Bert promises this is a good Merlot."

This man had thought of everything.

Paper plates, plastic wine glasses, and a roll of paper towels completed their tableware. They sat together, watching the sunset, and feasted on steak, grilled onions, tomatoes, and peppers. She would have to remember to thank Bert, but for now, all she could think of was how much she loved this place.

The symphony of crickets and birds, the long lowing of the distant cows, even the whispering of the wind in the trees, lulled her into a state of deep relaxation.

Drake poured her wine, took a sip, and screwed his face up with distaste. She laughed at his expression and giggled when he stomped back to the truck to get his flask of whiskey.

They finished their meal, trading conversation with ease. He asked about the moose and her accident, warning her to be careful on the roads. She thanked him for helping her and avoided mentioning the wolves. While he had done what was necessary, it still bothered her that the wolves had been killed.

“How often do you have blizzards like that?”

“Blizzard? That was just a little snow.” He poked at a log on the fire. “I don’t even think we got a foot.”

“If that wasn’t a blizzard, then what does one look like?”

“I think you’re going to be in for a shock once winter hits. We need to put together an emergency kit for you. You’ll want to keep it in your car year-round. You should never trust our weather, and we can have snow in the higher elevations year-round.”

She didn’t believe him about the other night not being a blizzard. It had sure seemed like a lot of snow. “That sounds like a plan.”

“You need to be ready for anything. Flares would be a good thing, too. People need to be able to see you if that ever happens again.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting snow. I spent my summers here until the last couple years of high school. It never snowed.”

“Ah,” he said with a knowing wink. “That explains it.”

“What’s that?”

“Why you were layered up in all those clothes. That’s probably what saved your life.”

She emptied her wine and leaned back with a sigh. “You tell me what to put in this emergency kit, and I’ll get it done. I never want to go through that again.”

Firelight flickered over his face. The sun had set. Dusk had given way to the depth of night.

He lifted a remote. “Now, what will it be? Star Wars marathon or Star Trek?”

“Surprise me.”

She leaned back, content and happy for the first time in years. The opening lines of ‘In a galaxy far far away’ scrolled across the screen.

Drake stroked the back of her hand. “I’m glad we met, city girl.”