Chapter Ten
Caitlin stood at the top of the hill, bundled up for a snowpocalypse, with her phone in one hand and the scavenger hunt rule sheet in the other. Taylor was to her left, dressed like an Everest adventurer, wearing a backpack over a navy blue parka, ski pants, and a dangerous looking pair of boots. Beau wandered nearby, sniffing the snow. To her right, Bethany and Uncle Rock argued about the contents of the backpack they had to share.
“Why the nickname Rock?” Caitlin asked.
“Because my muscles are as solid as a rock,” Rock answered, zipping the backpack.
Taylor shook his head. “Nah. It’s because his head is full of rocks.”
Rock threw his head back and laughed. “Attie’s been telling tales.”
Bethany grabbed the backpack from Rock, unzipped it, and thrust several bottles at her great uncle. “There’s not enough room for you to bring beer. We need useful supplies.”
“There’s nothing more useful than a good beer. You’re just not old enough to appreciate that wisdom, yet,” Rock replied with a smile.
“The bottles make the backpack too heavy.”
He shook his head, covered in a furry hat that came down over his ears like Elmer Fudd wore in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. “Not after I drink ’em. Besides, I said I’d carry the backpack.”
Bethany rolled her eyes.
“And.” Rock dug in his coat pocket, pulling out a plastic bag. “I brought gummy bears. Your favorite.”
“Fine. Bribes accepted,” she said, opening the pack so he could slide the beer inside. Then she shoved in a device of some kind made of metal poles before zipping it up.
According to the rule sheet, the scavenger hunt was in two parts: the first was a partner thing and the second part consisted of taking photos based on clues. Caitlin had no idea what to expect, but Taylor seemed confident they’d win. He always seemed confident. She liked that about him.
“I hope everyone left room for the survival kit,” Grams said. She walked down the row, giving each couple a sparkly gift bag with handles. “You’ll find some things you might need inside. One of the two garbage bags is for mistletoe. You know you have to fill it all the way to the top in order to score the point. The other bag is for garbage. Leave the area as clean as you found it. Bring those beer bottles back, Rock.”
“Will do. Empty!” he said.
“I put in a notepad and pencil in case you need it, but I know Bethany makes notes on her phone. There’s duct tape, a lighter, and some ChapStick, too.”
Taylor pulled a yellow plastic container with a blue lid out of his and Caitlin’s sparkly bag, and Beau sniffed it. “Play Doh?”
“It was buy one get one free at the dollar store,” Grams said. “Couldn’t pass it up. There’s also a color changing marker in there from the clearance bin.”
“I love color changing markers,” Bethany said.
“Okay.” Grams stepped to the side. “Now remember, it’s not about speed, it’s about creativity, but you don’t want to dilly-dally. Is everyone ready?”
Taylor, his parents, Bethany, and Rock all shouted and whooped. Beau barked and ran in a circle around Taylor and Caitlin.
“Listen up.” Grams held up her hands. “Your first task is pinned to the fence at the end of this field.” When it looked like Bethany was going to charge down the hill right then and there, Grams put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. “Hold on. I’m not done yet.” She waited a moment, clearly for dramatic effect, and Caitlin grinned. What a cool woman.
“There’s a hitch,” Grams said. “In order to get to that fence, you’ve got to get down this hill without using your feet.”
“What?” Bethany squealed. “How are we supposed to…” Her voice drifted off as Taylor pulled a huge black garbage bag out of the survival kit. Then she jumped up and down and made squeaking noises. “Trash bag sledding!”
Oh, crap. That didn’t sound good. Caitlin did Pilates and yoga, but she wasn’t a big fan of outdoor sports. She’d only been sledding once in her life, and it had been a total disaster. Add “trash bag” to “sledding” and it equaled doom.
By this time, both Taylor and Bethany were hard at work unrolling and working on the large, black plastic garbage bags. Taylor was using some scissors from a tool that looked like a glorified Swiss Army knife. Bethany was working hard to find the opening of her second bag after handing the first one to Rock, who was enjoying a beer. Taylor’s parents had wandered off hand-in-hand down a path toward what appeared to be a frozen-over pond.
“They never participate,” Taylor said, obviously noticing she was watching them. “They just walk around and do mushy stuff.”
Mushy stuff. Caitlin’s heart pinched. She didn’t remember any interaction between her parents that didn’t involve raised voices or threats to fight for sole custody.
He handed her the bag he’d been working on. “Put it on like a shirt. Armholes are here.” He indicated two ovals cut on the sides. A larger hole for her head was cut through the bottom seam of the bag.
By the time she got the bag in place, Bethany and Rock were sliding down the hill on their bottoms with Beau bounding beside them, tail wagging in a circle like a propeller. Bethany wore hers like a sleeping bag over her feet and pulled up to her chest. She was sliding down easily, but not setting any speed records. Rock had wrapped his bag through his legs and had tied it on each side like a diaper. Beer in hand, he was whooping and hollering like he was having the time of his life as he slowly slid down the hill.
Taylor pulled his bag shirt over his head and grinned at her. “Ever see those videos of penguins belly-sliding on the ice?”
She nodded.
“Time to make like a penguin.” And without hesitation, he crouched on all fours, then shoved off on his belly, zipping down the hill like a rocket, taunting Bethany as he passed her.
Oh, hell, no. No way was she intentionally careening headfirst down a snowbank.
She jumped at the weight of a hand on her shoulder. “You never win if you don’t take chances,” Grams said.
“My last sledding experience was a disaster,” Caitlin replied. She’d only been eight, but she still remembered the bruise on her leg that lasted more than a week.
“Don’t rule something out based on a bad experience,” Grams said, squeezing her shoulder. “Instead, come at that new thing as if it has the power to prove the past wrong.”
Caitlin got the distinct feeling the woman wasn’t talking about sliding down the hill headfirst in a garbage bag.
“Come on, Caity!” Taylor yelled from the bottom.
“Do it,” Grams urged. “Close your eyes, take a breath, and trust him. Have some fun.”
Caitlin’s exhales formed white clouds as she weighed her options. When she thought about it, there really weren’t any options. She wanted to do this. And she did trust him, which was weird, but not as weird as wearing a garbage bag, probably.
Getting on all fours, Caitlin closed her eyes, took a breath, and launched herself down the snowy hill.
…
“Look at her go, Beau!” Taylor said as Caitlin alternated between squeals and laughter as she flew through the soft snow on her way down the hill toward them.
“Woof!” Beau’s tail wagged wildly as he twirled in a circle.
The hill leveled off significantly at the bottom, but Taylor still wanted to be sure she stopped before getting too near the brushy area in front of the fence, so as she neared, he got on his knees in her path. “Grab my hand,” he called.
With a look of determination, she reached out and he caught her hand, causing her to spin a one-eighty before coming to a stop.
“Oh, wow, that was fun,” she said, still belly-down in the snow. “I did it.”
“You sure did.” Over his shoulder, he noticed Bethany and Rock had already gotten their slip of paper off the fence and were on their knees in the snow, gathering it into mounds and working on something. Most likely the obligatory snowman Grams always included in the scavenger hunt. “You ready to get started?”
“Sure.” She was dressed in so many layers, she had trouble rolling over and even more difficulty sitting up. Taylor chuckled as he helped her struggle to her feet. She was adorable all bundled and puffy. After breakfast, he’d instructed her to dress in her warmest clothes, and she’d actually followed his order…maybe because he’d couched it as a suggestion.
In the Marines, he’d learned to keep his commands concise. Few words. Strong conviction. His platoon had obeyed him without question—some of the bravest badasses in the world. The leader mentality was a hard one to shake or modify because it had been so deeply engrained, and honestly, it was an asset in life. It wasn’t until she balked at his order this morning when his grandmother dropped by unexpectedly that he realized it was a serious issue with Caitlin. She’d told him at his apartment that she didn’t like being told what she could and couldn’t do, but it obviously went deeper than that. It was like she was fighting for her very freedom somehow.
He tromped to the fence and retrieved a slip of paper from a nail. It only contained two items.
Selfie with snowman: “Frosty in Paradise.” Natural materials only.
Full bag of kissing greens.
Easy enough, Taylor thought as he handed the paper to Caitlin.
Beau wandered over to where Rock and Bethany had constructed a huge base for their snowman and promptly lifted his leg, which resulted in a high-pitched shriek from Bethany.
“Maybe we should find another place to work,” Caitlin suggested. The corners of her mouth twitched as she fought back a laugh while Bethany ranted loudly about “yellow snow” and “art sabotage.”
Rock was rolling a ball around, picking up size for the second layer. The thing was going to be six feet tall if they put a third layer on.
“So, what do you make of the theme?” Taylor asked. “Frosty in paradise.”
“Me?” It was as if she hadn’t expected him to ask her opinion, which made something deep in his chest pinch. “Well, um…”
Caitlin glanced over at the competition as the head rolled off of Bethany’s and Uncle Rock’s snow giant. Beau chased it a few feet and bit a chunk out of it.
“Maybe a ‘heaven as paradise’ approach?” she suggested. “We could lie down and make a simple snow angel and bypass all that crazy work.”
It was crazy all right. Bethany shooed Beau away from the snowman head while Uncle Rock laughed and polished off a beer.
Caitlin’s snow angel suggestion was clever and efficient. He was beginning to really like this woman’s mind. “It has to be a traditional snowman. I learned that the hard way one year when I drew one in the snow instead.”
“Okay, well, how about a beach paradise?” she asked. “I’ve no idea how to pull that off, though, since we can’t use beach towels or sunglasses.” Her brow furrowed beneath her knit cap and hood. “What about you? What was the first thing that came to mind when you saw the theme Frosty in paradise?” she asked.
“A snowman in bed.” Taylor said, blurting out the truth. Ever since seeing Caitlin all warm and rumpled in the bed, he’d been playing the memory over and over in his brain.
She arched an eyebrow.
“A bed is paradise, depending on who’s in it.”
Eyes locked on his, she blushed, then turned to look at Bethany and Rock, who were busy at work. Rock was repairing the chunk Beau had taken out of the head while Bethany stuck layers of pine limbs out of the snowman’s shoulders to represent wings. “Looks like Frosty in Heaven idea is taken,” Caitlin said.
“I liked your idea about a beach paradise,” he said, wishing they were on a beach right now so that she was wearing a bikini, rather than a spacesuit covered with a garbage bag.
“Really?” She beamed. “We can use my idea?”
He’d always been pretty good at figuring out what made people tick or shutdown. It was one reason why he’d been an effective leader in the Marines. Reading Caitlin was getting a little easier, the more he knew her, and some little pieces were beginning to come together. It was a jump, but not a big one, to deduce that someone, probably her parents and/or the ex that Jane had mentioned, ordered her around and discounted her input, which was probably why she didn’t date. She’d been burned bad. “Yeah. It’s a great idea,” he said. “Any thoughts on how to pull it off?”
“Well.” She shrugged. “We could make a hula girl?” She’d actually winced as if expecting him to laugh or shoot her idea down. Yeah, she’d clearly been dealing with assholes.
“Brilliant. A hula girl is a great idea and we’d definitely get points for being creative.”
Her grin grew wider, then she walked to the base of a tree and picked up a couple of cones, turning them over in her gloved hands, examining them from all angles. “I’ll start making it, but I need some things. Could you go collect some stuff?” she asked setting the cones next to the backpack and pulling the pad and pencil out of Gram’s sparkly survival kit. “I have a plan.”
Now this was more like it. Damn, she was pretty. And clever. The more time he spent with her, the more interesting she became. He had a plan, too. To get her out of those zillion layers of clothes and really get to know her. Sadly, it was a plan he’d never put into action. Limits.
Taking the paper from her, he struck out to collect the items on her list and collect his runaway thoughts as well.