“It’s okay. Evie, it’s just you and me in here. You can let your walls down a little bit.”

“To be honest, Storm, I’m not used to talking about my feelings. Michael and I really don’t do that, I guess. I don’t think he sees me as you put it, but I don’t think many people really see each other at all. We see what we want to see and we show what we want to show. That’s just life.”

“You’re right. And I’m like that, too. I don’t get all involved with people usually, but we’re in a unique situation here, ya know? Like the normal rules and shit don’t apply. I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable.”

“I know...”

He slips his hand into mine again. I feel like somehow handholding has become our thing. How odd is that?

“Evie, what happened earlier... with us... I gotta tell ya, that was like, incredible. It was just so fucking raw and real, so intimate, ya know? Sexless sex. It was like whoa.”

I am sure I am about as red as a lobster right now. I was not expecting him to bring this up, like ever. I want to push it as far away from my mind as possible.

“Storm, no. That was a betrayal. Don’t you get that? I don’t do shit like that and it makes me sick that I did.”

He makes a face like I slapped him. “Sick? I make you sick?”

“Not you, what I did.”

“Because you let yourself feel something and you went with it?”

“Yes! It’s wrong, Storm. It’s cheating. It’s disgusting.”

“It’s not disgusting, Evie. We both felt something and we let it happen. It felt pretty deep. Did you feel it, too?”

I felt a lot of things besides his huge cock rammed up against me. I remember how just having our hands touch sent all sorts of shivery tingles throughout my entire body. I remember feeling like my heart stopped when his lips brushed against my ear. I felt like a different person, someone I didn’t even know, when he told me to touch myself, and I actually did it. And I liked it.

I liked it a lot.

“Storm, I felt... something, but that’s because I’m scared... and I’ve never been close to another man before. I know you do different sexual things with your life, but I don’t, and I don’t want to. And I really don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

He grins and nods at me. “Okay. It’s cool.”

My mind traces back into the conversation a little bit. He called me cute. Beautiful, cute woman. I’ve been called cute my entire life. For once, I’d love to be called sexy. Or gorgeous. I’m five-three with long cherry brown hair, big blue eyes, not fat but not thin either. I’ll bet he dates tall blonde model types with big fake boobs. He’d never call someone like that cute.

“What are you thinking about now?”

“What kind of girls do you usually date? Or fuck? Whatever you call it in your little world?”

“Hmm.... I don’t know if I really have a type. But I guess mostly tall, sexy, big tits.”

“I figured.”

The snow is supposed to stop tonight or tomorrow. I can’t wait to get out of here, and take a nice hot shower, sleep in a nice warm bed, eat some real food and see Michael and Halo. Storm thinks a plow truck will come by tomorrow at some point, and he plans to chase after it when he hears it. I’m a little bit nervous about that. What if the plow doesn’t come? According to Storm, not many people even drive on this road. The plow guy could put off doing this road for a day or two.

“Storm? Is anyone looking for you?”

He pushes his hair out of his face and stares at me. “Why would someone be looking for me?”

“Because you’re missing? Duh.”

“I’m not missing, Evie. I’m hiding.”

I turn in the seat to face him. “Hiding? What do you mean?”

“I told you. I was coming up to my cabin to get away from everyone. They all know not to bother me. They know I won’t answer my phone. So no one knows I’m stranded in the snow.”

“What? Are you serious? We could die out here, Storm. What if the truck doesn’t come to plow?”

I burst into tears before I can stop myself. He scoots over and puts his arm around me, puts his hand on my head, guiding me to rest on his shoulder. “Shh... it’s gonna be okay. I promise. You’re just tired and a little stir crazy. I promise I’ll get us out of here. Don’t cry.” He pulls my head up and wipes my tears away with his thumbs. Holy damn, his eyes are green like a cat. “Evelyn, I know it’s hard but we have to keep our shit together, okay? I’ll get us out of here. Just trust me.” I nod, mesmerized by his eyes. I can barely hear him speaking.

“Your eyes are amazing.”

He laughs and hands me a tissue. “Well, thanks. Are you okay? Don’t be having a fucking meltdown on me, okay?”

I blow my nose a little and wipe at my eyes. “I’m sorry. I just want to go home.”

“We’ll get you home soon. I’m sure your family and Michael are missing you a lot. And your cat.”

I blink back the tears and shake my head at him. “I don’t have any family, Storm. Just Michael and Halo.”

“All right, baby. I get it.” He keeps his arm around me, and I rest my head on his shoulder again. I soon fall asleep listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

Chapter Four

I’m walking through the snow. Everything is so bright, it’s almost blinding. Up ahead on the trail, I can see Niko bouncing around in the snow. Every now and then, he stops, turns to look at me, comes back to lick my hand, then runs ahead of me again. Snow flurries are falling softly. I turn my face up and open my mouth to catch some on my tongue. Suddenly, a red cardinal flies by my head and lands on a tree branch just a few feet away from me. She is gorgeous, so scarlet red against the snow. As I’m admiring her, another red cardinal swoops in and perches next to her. A beautiful little couple, so bright and vivid.

“Evelyn... Wake up.” I’m being shook. I slowly open my eyes. I’m lying against Storm, still in the back of the truck.

“I was dreaming of red cardinals in the snow. And Niko was there,” I say groggily.

“Really? Was the tin man there, too?”

I sit up and scowl at him. “Very funny.”

“Okay, look. I’m gonna clean off the truck and a little path for you to pee, then we’re gonna eat some breakfast, and then we have to listen for the truck.”

“Did the snow stop?”

“I think so. When I went outside last night, it was pretty much done.”

“Thank God! I just want to get out of here.”

“You and me both, baby.”

While Storm is outside cleaning the truck off for the hundredth time, I pick up the wrappers from what we ate earlier and put them in the plastic bag we’ve been using for garbage. I have this thing for throwing stuff away immediately. I’m petrified of bugs. Even at home, I have to clean up dinner right away. It completely drives Michael insane because he’s a bit of a slob.

Ugh. I want to get home so bad. I wonder what my boss is going to say about me not making the meeting. Hopefully, he’ll have some compassion for me being stuck in a ditch with Sasquatch for an entire weekend eating granola bars and potato chips. I hope he doesn’t expect me to come into the office right away. I’m thinking I’m going to need a day or two at home to catch up on some real sleep. Hopefully, some sick days or personal days will cover that.

I can’t wait to call Amy and tell her about this excursion. She’ll want to hear a total play by play, and I know she’ll make fun of me because weird stuff is always happening to me and she thinks it’s hilarious.

The door opens and Storm comes in with a huge grin on his face. “The snow has finally stopped. Thank fuck! Now we have to listen carefully, okay? So keep your chatter down.”

“Excuse me? My chatter? What the hell does that mean?”

He makes a gesture with his thumb and forefinger like a yapping bird. “Like this you go.”

“Fuck you, Storm.”

He puts his hand down. “Evelyn, I’m kidding. I like your chatter. It’s cute.”

Again with the cute. I want to kick him in the face with my non-snow friendly shoes.

We wait. The windows of the truck are completely clear now and we can see outside. Of course, all we can see are trees and snow, but it’s nice to be able to actually see the outside world again. I wonder if my car is completely buried and if it will ever run right again. Now seems like a good time for me to approach the subject of a new car with Michael again. He shot that idea down last time, but I think now I’ll have a better chance.

“Do you think my car will run again?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have it towed out and taken to the garage in town. My buddy owns the place. He’ll take good care of it, and he’ll be honest about how screwed up it is.

“Well, I want a new car, so I was thinking maybe now that it’s been buried in snow, I can convince Michael to let me get one.”

“You’re chattering. And why do you need permission for a car exactly? I thought you were an adult with a job.”

“I’m not chattering. And I do have a job. But Michael makes all the financial decisions.”

“Are you shittin’ me? You’re not married. Do whatever the hell you want.”

“It doesn’t work that way when you live together, Storm. Couples share things and make decisions together.”

“You just said Michael makes the decisions. That doesn’t sound like ‘together’ to me. It sounds like you need his permission. And you’re chattering again.”

I cross my arms and pout at him. Damn him! He’s right. Why do I need Michael’s permission to get a new car?

We wait some more and I start to doze off until Storm shoves me awake again. “I think I heard a truck.”

“You think?”

“I’m going to walk up to the road. I’m going to leave Niko here with you.”