Page 63 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“It’s too cold. Besides, we don’t need a lot, since I’m getting us out of here as soon as possible,” he said, like that was an argument for me staying put. “Everything will be better in Willow Lake.”

“Perfect.” I grabbed my shoes from in front of the fire. “Then it won’t take us long.”

“That isn’t?—”

I shoved my feet into the shoes. The soles and the sides were a little stiff, but the shoes were wonderfully toasty. Note to self: My dream house now had to include a fireplace in the mudroom. I wiggled my toes happily and moaned.

“Fuck’s sake,” Nelson complained as he swiped his hand down his face. He looked a bit flushed. I hoped he wasn’t getting sick.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He stomped toward the door. “If you’re coming with me, let’s go. Wrap a blanket around yourself for extrawarmth. And remember, we need to move quickly. We don’t want to get frostbite on top of everything else.”

Who knew a shadow would be so temperamental?

I would have thought shadows would be steady and calm, but nope. Rather than point that out, I pulled on the jacket I’d borrowed from Nelson yesterday. Then the scarf he’d given me. I hated being cold, not that Nelson needed to know that. If I told him that, he’d just try to get me to stay here again. But being cold was how I’d ended up plastered to Nelson last night, which had been awesome.

Not that we were talking about last night, apparently.

Then, because Nelson had awesome ideas, I flung one of the patchwork quilts around my shoulders. I shimmied a little. The quilt wasn’t quite as swoosh-able as my cloak, but it was close enough to set off little bubbles of joy in my chest.

Nelson yanked on his own jacket before jerking open the door.

Cold air blasted us as we stumbled into the great wilderness like intrepid explorers. The snow that’d built up along the door while we’d been sleeping cascaded inside like a mini avalanche. Neither Nelson nor I stopped to sweep it back outside. We’d get more snow inside when we returned anyway.

I closed the door behind us and stared out at the snow. Everything looked so clean and pure and pretty. I hadn’t realized how serene the world would become after a blizzard.

We were sheltered from the wind by the trees. But far above us, the tops of the trees swayed, dislodging small batches of accumulated snow. The fluffy-looking clumps skipped from branch to branch as they tumbled gracelessly to the earth.

I lifted my face to the falling snow, catching a couple of snowflakes on my tongue, but most of them landed on my face. They melted as soon as they hit my skin, chilling my cheeks,reminding me we were in the equivalent of a survival show, not a winter rom-com.

How boring. I sighed. I turned to commiserate with Nelson about the situation, but he wasn’t there. While I’d been marveling at the snow, he’d already made it to the next cabin. Oops. I hurried after him.

I tried following Nelson’s footprints, but they were filling in as quickly as he’d made them. My shoes weren’t high enough to keep the cold snow from biting my ankles, but I wasn’t going to complain. I refused to give Nelson any reason to send me back to our cabin. We were a team, which might even be better than his being my sidekick.

His bossiness was just how he showed he cared, right?

Based on what little I knew of him, I doubted he cuddled with his usual business associates in front of a blazing fire. At least that’s how I chose to think of last night. And tonight, who knew what might happen?

A giggle popped out, and iridescent bubbles erupted through the air. Nelson grunted in response to my laughter but didn’t look back.

Was it weird that I found his grumpiness sweet? It made me want to hug him and call him my cute little grumpmeister.

The first cabin had nothing in it, absolutely nothing, not even an old wooden chair. So we didn’t stay. By the time Nelson opened the door to the next building, a thick dusting of snowflakes coated my blanket and head. I brushed my hand over my frozen curls to knock away some of the snow as I stepped inside.

This one was larger than the place we’d been holed up in last night. A separate bedroom was visible from the door. I waited for Nelson to suggest we move into this cabin, but instead, he just moved toward the bank of kitchen cabinets to the right of the entrance.

“They have some cans in here,” Nelson said as he rummaged through the cupboards. “Soup. Vegetables. And there are some glass jars that appear to have pasta and rice in them.”

“Eureka!” I rubbed my hands together as I shimmied. I danced in a little circle, flapping my makeshift blanket-cape. As I laughed, bubbles of happiness filled the air around me.

Nelson turned to stare at me. His forehead was all furrowed again. Sheesh, he frowned a lot. I wanted to rub my thumb over the crease between his eyebrows. Oh! Or chase it away with a kiss. That could be fun.

But wait… Why was he frowning? Finding food was a good thing, wasn’t it? Did he not understand what I said?

“Eureka means?—”

“I know what it means.” His cheeks were pink, probably from the cold.