Chapter Two

 

 

Cora took in a deep breath the moment she stepped off the plane. She hated flying. No, she despised it. She’d only been on a plane twice before, but this flight was the worst. It was bad enough getting to the gate at the last moment before boarding. Add to it the horrible turbulence and the blizzard they could barely fly through, and Cora was a bundle of nerves.

As soon as she walked through the tunnel that led to the airport, she made a beeline for the restroom. The Aspen/Pitkin County Airport thrummed with activity. She heard people mention that her plane was the last one in until the blizzard cleared, and that many flights had been cancelled going out as well. It would be a real mess to sort through.

All Cora was hoping for at this point was that the cabin wasn’t too far away, and that she could hire a taxi or rent a car to get her there before it became impossible to travel. She did not want to be stuck at the airport for the weekend.

Once she left the restroom, she located a sign telling her where to pick up her luggage and then headed for the counter to find some transportation. The smell of snow filled the area as the main revolving doors continued to bring in fresh, cold air.

For the tenth time that day, she wished she hadn’t come. She patted the back pocket of her jeans where the ticket stub from her flight resided. Maybe it was silly, but the stub reminded her of how much Grandpa Jackson wanted her to be here today, and that’s what had given her the courage she needed every step of the way.

Just thinking about him made her bottom lip quiver a little. She pulled it in between her teeth and steadied her emotions as she waited in the long line of people needing transportation. Her reason for being here alone was enough to make her cry over the loss of the only man who’d truly been a grandfather to her. There were enough difficult emotions involved seeing as how she was going to have to deal with Grey. The last thing she needed was for him to see her face all red and blotchy from crying.

No, Cora needed to hold it together. She had no idea what this weekend had in store and was determined to keep her reactions in check. She rolled her shoulders back and confidently awaited her turn. When she finally reached the counter, the grave look on the man’s face there did little to offer encouragement.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m trying to get to this cabin…” She pulled out the information Maria had sent her and handed it to the man. “Is there a shuttle or anything like that?”

“I’m afraid not, miss. We’ve had to call them all in with this storm.”

“Do you have cars for rent? Anything?” Cora’s stomach sank. See, she should’ve gone with her gut and stayed home. As it was, she was going to be stuck at the airport and still not be part of this family reunion thing. At least at home, she’d be enjoying the seventy-degree weather and watching re-runs on TV.

The man gave her a map of the area, circled the cabin she was supposed to be staying in, and then gave her a map of the airport as well. “If you’ll go here,” he told her and circled that area, “you can speak to someone who’s trying to find everyone here some kind of accommodation while we ride out this storm. With any luck, it won’t be as bad as they’ve been predicting.”

“Great. Thank you.” It was impossible to keep the disappointment from her voice. She walked away from the counter, her carry-on bag over one shoulder, one hand on her rolling suitcase, and the other holding the map. A voice spoke from behind her that jolted her heart into overtime.

“Did I hear you need a ride?”

She knew that voice as well as she knew her own: Grey.

She turned slowly to find him watching her with curiosity. He was standing near the window, his luggage at his feet. He’d changed some, and yet everything about him was familiar from his strong jaw to the breadth of his shoulders.

She realized she was holding her breath. She’d known this moment was coming but hadn’t expected it to be quite so soon.

“Um…yeah. Apparently, they’re all out of, well, everything.” That was smooth.

The corners of his mouth lifted into a little smile. “So I heard. The rest of the family got here yesterday. When they heard about the storm, Flynn came down here and reserved a truck for me with four-wheel-drive and snow tires just in case.” He held up a set of keys. “Turns out it’s a good thing he did.”

“You’re not joking.” Flynn always had been quite the planner, to the point of being overly controlling. In fact, he and Grey both did a lot of primitive camping and things like that together before they started growing apart. Grey often spoke about being prepared for any eventuality whenever possible. It was no surprise that Flynn had thought things through ahead of time, too.

“You’re welcome to ride out there with me if you’d like.” He glanced out the window at the swirling snow. “We’d better get going, though. The guy gave me the truck but cautioned against driving in this. I’m thinking the sooner we leave the better.”

Ride in a truck, just her and Grey? Cora wished she had another choice. But she couldn’t hide from Grey this weekend, and she certainly didn’t want to sleep at the airport. Besides, speaking to him for the first time where the rest of the family wasn’t watching was probably better, anyway. She’d rip that stinking bandage right off and be done with it.

Her decision made, she took a steadying breath and squared her shoulders. “That would be great, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Come on, the lot is this way.”

They fought their way through the crowds of people until they came to the door leading to the parking lot outside.

Grey put his heavy coat on and Cora followed suit. He turned to look at her then, and his green eyes—a color that had always made her think of a meadow just after a heavy rainfall—focused on her. “Here let me take your suitcase. Just follow me.” Without waiting for her to respond, he picked hers up like it weighed nothing. Although that was Grey—always the gentleman.

Now that they were walking next to each other, Cora was reminded of just how much taller he was. She’d always felt tiny in comparison. His sandy brown hair, with subtle red highlights that probably still shone in the sun, looked much the same. Maybe cropped a little closer than he used to keep it.

He was still just as handsome as ever. That realization made Cora’s heart stutter.

The attraction between them—the spark—had never gone away. At least not for her. It was more like everything else that had been wrong with their relationship had overpowered it.

It didn’t matter, though. He could be remarried by now.

She glanced at his left hand. No wedding band. Then he probably had a steady girlfriend, or a fiancée. A whole lot could happen in five years.

Snow began to cover their jackets the moment they stepped outside. The snowflakes alone were shockingly cold as they hit Cora’s skin. It was the howling wind, however, that really drove the freezing temperatures home.

It wasn’t hard to find the rental truck since most of the lot was empty. Grey hit the clicker on the keys to unlock it, opened the passenger door for Cora, and then stowed their luggage in the back seat. “I’ll be right there. I just want to get my pocket knife and boot knife out of my bag. They don’t do me much good in there.”

Once he found what he was looking for, he put the pocket knife where it belonged and then slipped the larger knife into his boot. Cora brushed the snow off her pants and jacket onto the floorboard as Grey got behind the wheel.

“Wow, that’s a lot of snow.” He leaned forward a little so he could look at the sky through the windshield.

Her eyes widened. “Do you think we should go back into the airport?”

“Do you want to weather the storm out there?”

He knew she disliked everything that had to do with flying, including airports. Usually people say they like lift off. Or landings. Or at least the beauty of the view far below. Yeah, not Cora. There was nothing positive enough about the flight to outweigh the fact she was floating thousands of miles above the ground in a tin can crowded with way too many people.

“Nope.”

“Me, neither.” Grey started the engine, turned the windshield wipers and heater on full. “You still have that map the guy at the counter gave you?”

“Sure.” Cora pulled it out of her bag. “I thought you’d been here a lot before.”

“A lot is three or four times, and it’s been years.” He took the map from her and studied it a moment before handing it back. He glanced at her and then slowly made his way through the parking lot to the road. Or rather, what was a road before all the snow had buried it. “In the interest of full disclosure, this isn’t going to be easy.”

“Are you saying there’s a chance we may not get to the cabin?”

He tapped the map and another cabin that was between them and the one the man had circled. “I’m saying we’ll get to a cabin, I’m just hoping we can make it far enough to get to the right one.” He flashed her a grin she knew full well meant he was ready for a challenge.

“Is this the point where I start praying fervently for our safety?”

“That certainly never hurts.”

Fantastic.

She said a silent prayer that they’d get to their destination in one piece. Only then did she realize she’d been clenching the edge of the map hard enough to crumple the edges. “I wonder what Grandpa Jackson would say if he saw us now. He’d probably either feel bad he dragged us all out into this or find it highly amusing.”

Grey kept his eyes on the road in front of him. “As long as everyone was still safe, he’d probably consider this a grand adventure.” He paused. “I take it you don’t feel the same way.”

She shrugged, although she wasn’t sure he saw her. “I’m not sure I’d go that far.”

“Well, Grandpa would’ve appreciated your sacrifice.”

Cora’s gaze snapped to his face, reacting instantly to his words. Was he being sarcastic? She’d do anything for Grandpa Jackson, and Grey knew it. If he insinuated anything different, she’d let him know just how wrong he was.

But there was nothing in his expression to suggest he was upset or making fun of her.

She forced herself to relax a little. “I loved Grandpa Jackson. If he wanted me to be here, I couldn’t say no.” Tears pricked the back of her eyelids, and she blinked them away. Grey was the last person she wanted to cry in front of. They’d been there, done that.

She hadn’t seen Grandpa Jackson much after she and Grey got divorced. She’d spoken to him over the phone here and there, but it wasn’t the same. That was something she’d always regret. While she may talk big about how she should’ve stayed home, the truth was, nothing would’ve kept her away from Aspen this weekend.

She wondered what Grey thought about her being here. Was he glad she’d done what his grandfather asked? Or had he hoped she’d decline so he wouldn’t have to see her again?

The tires of the truck hit a pothole beneath the layer of snow, and the vehicle pulled hard to the right. Grey gripped the steering wheel with both hands as he maneuvered through a blanket of white. Cora stared out the window, trying to find something to tell her where they might be. The only thing she could really make out were trees, and they all looked alike.

“Please tell me you’re having better luck following our route than I am,” she said quietly.

At first, she didn’t think he’d heard her at all. Several minutes later, he released a loud hiss of air as the truck tires hit something and the vehicle jerked to a stop. “This is only getting worse.”

The snowfall? Or visibility? It didn’t matter, because he was right on either count.

He reached for the map again and studied it. “I think we’re probably about here.” He pointed to a spot not far from the first cabin he’d joked about earlier. But there was nothing on his face to indicate he was teasing now. “At this point, I think we should get to that cabin and reevaluate the situation there.”

Grey tried to get the truck to go forward, but the tires only spun in the snow. When he put it in reverse, the same thing happened. Cora groaned, but he maintained his cool as he pulled the hood of his coat on over his head and got out of the truck.

It felt like he was gone forever before he returned with a serious look on his face. “I’m going to cut down some pine branches and see if I can use them to get us some traction out of the hole back here.” He closed the door and opened the back door of the truck. After going through his suitcase for a moment, he retrieved gloves and a hat.

Cora released her seatbelt and reached for the door handle. “I’ll help.”

“Did you bring gloves?”

“To Aspen in the middle of winter?” Okay, that came out harsher than she’d intended. “Yes, I brought gloves.”

She leaned through the space between the two front seats and opened the zippered front of her rolling suitcase. It only took a moment to locate her gloves and hat. She pulled them on, welcoming the added warmth.

Without another word, they went to work. Grey used his knife to cut down pine branches that he handed to Cora. Once they had enough, he put them in place and then motioned for her to get back into the truck.

Cora crossed her gloved fingers as he started the engine. It took several attempts, but he managed to get the truck out of the hole and moving forward again. “Woot! That was close.”

“Yeah, too close.”

Instead of the triumphant expression she expected to see on his face, his jaw was clenched as he focused on driving. A half hour later, a cabin appeared through the white blanket of snow falling in front of them.

There were no other cars visible and the windows were dark.

Cora expected Grey to continue on. Instead, he pulled in close to the cabin and turned the engine off.

“What are we doing?”

“We’re going to have to wait out the storm here. We can find our way to the main cabin once the snow stops falling. Until then, visibility is so bad, we’re going to get stuck again if we try to press on. And the next time, we may not get back out.” He fixed her with a serious look. “It’s our best option.”

The idea of being stuck anywhere with Grey didn’t appeal to her at all. But being stuck with him in a cabin sounded a whole lot better than the cab of the pickup truck. She grabbed her small bag and slung it over one shoulder. “Let’s see if anyone’s home.”