But she was an adult and didn’t feel shame for what she and Mason had shared. She was allowed to…enjoy herself, to have sexual relations with a man, to feel pleasure, to feel like a woman again.
To be more than just a mother.
Though she could have done without her daughter popping in and interrupting them. Gabby had been so close. So close.
Looks like I’m going to have to have The Talk with Ana sooner than I expected.
As they drove on, the homes and cabins on the sides of the road became sparser, and the pine trees that dominated the region filled in the gaps. That was always one of the things Gabriela had loved about living up here—drive five or ten minutes in almost any direction, and you’d find yourself surrounded by nature.
They passed a sign declaring that they’d entered the Payette National Forest not long afterward. Gabriela’s gaze wandered a little more easily out here. She’d always loved the way the forest looked in the winter, with the ground blanketed in white and clumps of glistening snow clinging the boughs. When the sun hit the snow just right, it set all the ice crystals aglow like they were countless glittering diamonds. She’d never seen anything quite like winter in these mountains.
Mason turned onto a side road, and the truck jostled as it left the pavement and rolled onto packed snow. Ana grasped the two front seats and pulled herself forward to look out the front.
Shimmering white dust fell from branches overhead, melting as it hit the windshield. Snow crunched under the tires, as loud as it would’ve been had the truck been driving over loose gravel.
“So what are we doing out here?” Ana asked.
Gabby chuckled, though she was quite curious herself. “It’s a surpriiiiiiise.”
Her daughter rolled her eyes.
“We’ll stop soon,” Mason said, glancing at Gabriela and Ana for a moment. “Snow will be too deep if we go too much farther.”
Gabriela twisted to look out the back window. The narrow road they were driving on was flanked by trees on both sides, and they’d already driven far enough that the main road was out of sight.
“That’s it. We’re lost,” Ana announced.
“Not lost,” Mason corrected, another faint smirk lifting his lips, “but we could wind up stranded.”
Gabriela stared at him.
His brows rose, and he chuckled. “We’ll be fine. If the truck gets stuck, I can push it out.”
Now Ana was staring at him, too.
Shaking his head, he shifted on his seat, reached down, and tugged his phone out of his pocket. “Also have this.”
A minute or two later, the road opened into a small clearing.
“Hold on to something,” Mason said.
Gabriela arched a brow at him as she reached up for the oh shit handle on the doorframe. “Sit back, nena.”
As soon as Ana had leaned back, the engine rumbled, and the truck put on a burst of speed.
“Oh my God, what are you doing?” Gabriela breathed, tensing and slamming a hand onto the dashboard. She was almost certain that had all come out of her mouth as a single, prolonged word.
Of course, Ana was giggling in the back seat.
Mason turned the wheel, guiding the truck into a turn that whipped its back end around. Snow sprayed in the air all around the vehicle, and Gabriela could feel the tires sliding, and though that adult, maternal side of her said she should panic…she couldn’t deny the thrill.
She hadn’t done anything like this in years—not since she was a teenager, when everyone would mess around in the snow trying to drift around turns and make their pickups fishtail.
The truck came to a smooth stop, rocked very slightly on its shocks, and was still. It was now facing the road they’d just come down.
“Again, again!” Ana cheered.
Mason turned his face toward Gabriela, grinning. “You all right?”
Gabby’s heart was pounding, and her stomach still felt like it was down by her feet, but she grinned back at him. “Yeah.”
For an instant, his grin took on a wicked slant, and heat danced in his eyes. Then he turned his attention forward, shifted the truck into park, and killed the engine. “We’re here. Coat on, Ana.”
“Yay!” Ana threw off her seat belt and grabbed her coat, jamming her arms through the sleeves.
Gabriela unbuckled her own seatbelt and picked up her coat, which was bundled on the wide armrest between her and Mason.
“And what are we doing here?” she asked as she pulled her coat on.
Ana bounced on her seat. “Are we going to build snowmen?”
Mason tugged on his own coat and zipped it closed. “I guess if you show me how.”
She gaped at him. “You’ve never built a snowman? Mom, we gotta teach him.”
Gabriela chuckled. “I think we do. But we’ll do that at the house.”
“Awwww, but Mooooom.”
“How can we make a snowman without a carrot for a nose?”
“Okay, fine.” Ana placed her hands—now bundled in gloves—on the front seats and leaned forward again. “So, what are we really doing?”
“It’s Christmas in four days,” Mason said. “We need a tree, right?”
Ana’s face lit up. “We’re getting a tree?”
“Here?” Gabriela asked.
“Tree lots in town packed up already.” Mason shrugged. “Figured there are plenty of trees out here.”
“Don’t you need a permit to chop a tree down?”
Mason’s brow furrowed, and he tilted his head. “A permit? What do you mean?”
“You know, like a piece of paper from the government or whatever that says you have permission to cut down a tree. I’m pretty sure they sell Christmas tree permits from the forest service that have certain parameters for what you’re allowed to cut down and all that.”
The crease between his brows deepened, and his lips fell into a frown. He swept his gaze over their surroundings, over all the trees at the edges of the clearing, before looking back at her. “There are millions of trees here. Why do I need a piece of paper to say I can cut one down?”
Gabriela tilted her head. Mason was genuinely perplexed by this. It was no different than a fishing or hunting license, which most people who lived in this area had. How did he not know what a permit was?
“Because…it’s the…law?” she said, wondering if she was the crazy one.
“Is there someone who will come count the trees and notice one missing?”
She laughed. “No, but someone could see us.”
“Then we better not get caught!” Ana said, poking her head up between the adults.
Gabriela gaped at her. “I thought I taught you better than that, young lady.”
Ana shrugged. “It’s the rebel in me.”
That response stunned Gabriela into silence for a moment, but once that moment had passed, she couldn’t hold in her laughter. Mason and Ana joined her, filling the truck with laughter.
Mason ruffled Ana’s hair. “Better rein that rebel in after we steal this tree, kit, or we’ll both be in trouble.”
Gabriela, still grinning, shook her head as she met Mason’s eyes. “Come on. Let’s go commit grand theft conifer.”
They opened their doors, and Gabriela hopped down from the cab, boots sinking up to mid-shin in the snow. The cold nipped at her face. She shivered, already missing the warmth and coziness she’d enjoyed in the truck.