I say goodbye to Emilia, then they’re off.
“I can take you home if you need me to,” Eli says when he comes over to say goodbye.
“I already told her brother I have it.” Gavin stands between us, waiting for me. “You have your daughter, and she looks tired.”
“Hungry,” he mumbles.
I smile at the little girl who I’m pretty sure has her dad wrapped around her finger. She was fine when he wasn’t touching her hair, but the minute he did, she’d whine, and he would stop.
“Yeah, you go, Eli. Thank you. It’s a short trip for Gavin and I need to clean up and turn off the lights.”
Eli looks at Gavin and back at me. “We should get together and catch up some time?”
Oh god, this is awkward.
“Sure,” I say, not wanting to embarrass him in front of Gavin or his daughter, but hoping he forgets to pursue his idea.
Gavin growls, but Eli must not hear him because he smiles and picks up his daughter, then leaves. Once it’s only Gavin and me in the room, we pick up chairs and put them away, then I turn off the lights.
When we’re in the hallway, Gavin smiles and swings his keys around his finger. “Where to?”
“Home,” I say.
But I’m not prepared for what happens next.
“Let me grab the truck and pull it up here,” I tell Posey when we step outside the school and rain is pelting down past the overhang.
“I think I’m going to get wet either way unless you have an umbrella. Let’s just run for it.”
Posey sets off before I comprehend what she means. She doesn’t use her hands to shield one drop of rain. I run after her and unlock the doors. Mine is the only car in the lot, besides the custodian who has to lock up the school behind us.
“It’s cold,” she says, but there’s a light, fun tone to her voice.
I can’t lie, my mind travels to every movie with a kiss in the rain. If Posey was mine and I didn’t have to go to my side of the truck but to hers instead, I’d press her against the wet metal and take her in my arms. I yearn to know what our bodies would feel like together, the rain falling in sheets between our faces as I kiss her like I could never get enough.
Sadly, she opens the passenger door and slides in before I can even decide whether it’s worth the risk to try out my scenario. So I go to the driver’s side, get in, and turn the ignition, blasting the heat. The windows fog over, and we both catch our breath in what feels like a little cocoon.
“I should’ve waited for you to pull the truck up,” she says, her teeth chattering.
I reach in the back seat for my jacket. The weather up here is so much more unpredictable than in LA. “Here.”
She doesn’t fight me, just puts her arms in, and the fabric drowns her body.
God, I love seeing her in my clothes.
“Thanks.” She puts her hands in front of the heat registers. “We should probably get going.”
I nod. Right.
We both put on our seat belts, and I ease out of the parking lot, trying to dodge as many big puddles as I can. Thank goodness I don’t have a sports car.
Most of our conversation consists of complaining about being cold and wet, so I turn all the heating vents in her direction.
“No, you need some too.” She moves the one closer to me back my way and a blast of hot air dries out my eyes.
“I’m fine. Where do you want to go? Your house, I assume? Unless my house is a possibility…”
She playfully rolls her eyes. “My house please.”
“Sure.”
The high school was built farther out of town so there was room to expand in the event the town had an influx of people moving here. I learned that at the board meeting, when they discussed building the new elementary school out here as well. But it leaves all the residents winding down one road to get back to downtown.
Halfway back to town, the rain slows and my windshield wipers only have to be on low for me to see clearly. With the defrost on high, it drowns out my music.
“Oh my god!” Posey says at the moment I notice what’s in front of us.
A big pile of trees, mud, and debris has slid down the hill next to the road and blocks both lanes of traffic into town. I park the Bronco and climb out. The rain has all but disappeared now, but Mother Nature already did her damage.
“Get back in the truck!” Posey screams out of her window. “You don’t know that more of that hillside isn’t going to give way.”
“I have to see if anyone is in trouble. Someone could be hurt.”
She sighs and exits the truck.
“Get back in the truck,” I tell her, but she continues walking toward me.
Of course she does. If I told her to come outside, she’d probably stay in the truck.
I tilt my head in every direction, inspecting the area for a car that might’ve gotten trapped, but the minute I step on a log, it sinks, and I jump back.
“Gavin!” Posey screams.
I laugh, more from being uncomfortable with mud on my clothes than anything else. I’ve never seen or had anything to do with a mudslide before.
Posey clings to my arm. “Let’s go. We have to get out of here.” She looks to the left, where the land rises.
We jog back to the truck, and I stare at the pile again. “You don’t think this truck can get over that, do you?”
“Listen to the Alaskan girl, California boy. This truck, although nice, cannot get over that. Plus, it’s dangerous to be here. For a guy who wanted me to stay in the truck, you’re willing to put my life at risk to drive over a pile of trees?” Her eyebrows rise to her hairline.
“You know what this means then?”
She inhales. “Yes. We’re not going home tonight.”
I do a U-turn, and we go back the way we came, past the sign for Greywall and Lake Starlight. Unfortunately, the hotels and motels in Sunrise Bay are on the other side of the mudslide, which leaves us picking between the two other towns. Greywall isn’t very touristy, so I drive toward Lake Starlight.
“Can you call Glacier Pointe Resort?” I ask.
“We’re not staying there. Do you know how much it costs?”
“I’ll pay,” I tell her, trying to look out for any other mudslides that might happen.
“You’re not paying for me. I’m not some woman who needs you to take care of her.”
I blow out a breath and stop at a stop sign. “What do you suggest then?”
“It’s so typical that you’d have to go to the biggest, most expensive place.”
“Typical?” I tilt my head and look at her. “What are you implying?”
She taps on her phone, no doubt looking for anywhere else to spend the night. “Famous. Rich. Always wants all the amenities. We’re going to sleep, not do a spa night.”
I laugh and press on the gas. Her back falls into the seat of the truck. “And here I was really hoping for a massage and a soak. If I wanted a mud bath, I could’ve just done that back there.”
She doesn’t say anything.
“You are aware that you don’t know that much about me, right?”
She turns in my direction. Finally, a reaction. “It wasn’t an insult. It just shows how different we are.”