“What are you doing?” Duke walked up to her, carrying a small shovel and a container of kitty litter.
“Look at you, Boy Scout. Prepared for anything.”
“It’s basic winter driving 101. Now get back into the truck. I got us into this mess, I’ll get us out.”
“Like I said, we’re partners now. So I’m going to help you whether you like it or not.” And to prove it, she started digging around the front tire with the ice scraper.
Somewhere behind her he sighed. “That will take forever. Just wait in the truck and stay warm.”
She stopped digging and turned to face him again. “Duke, you’re stuck with me. And I’m not gonna sit on my tuchus when I could be helping.”
He stilled and stared at her for a moment. And he must’ve believed her or come to some sort of conclusion, because he handed her the shovel. “Here. I’ll use the scraper.”
Together they dug out around the tires and spread kitty litter on the snow behind each one. The wind kept whipping her hair in her face, but she brushed it aside repeatedly and didn’t let that stop her.
After they cleared enough of a path, Zuri waited off to the side with the shovel in hand while Duke jumped back in the cab, shifted into reverse, and feathered the gas. He crept back onto the plowed road.
He retrieved the shovel and kitty litter container and stowed them in the back of the truck. As he shut the tailgate, he looked at her.
“Thanks for the help.” The tiniest bit of softness in his gaze caught her by surprise and sent her pulse skipping a beat.
Okay, that was weird.
But maybe this meant she’d at least earned his respect. And she had to admit, it was a nice change from the other men in her life, namely her big brothers. She’d heard all their jokes about being a useless hairstylist and makeup girl.
But Duke didn’t seem to write her off. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
Now they just had to find the missing car, and the wedding would be back on track.
CHAPTER 4
WEDNESDAY, 8:29 P.M.
Well, that was unexpected. Maybe Zuri wasn’t the pampered princess he took her for. Nichole wouldn’t even pick up an ice scraper, let alone try to use it to clear huge drifts of snow to help him free the truck. And after hours of searching for the Mustang, Zuri wasn’t asking to stop. He had even gotten strangely used to her chatter and humming as they’d searched Deep Haven.
And now she stood beside the truck, staring up at him with, well, impossibly huge blue eyes.
Pretty eyes, if he wanted to be honest.
A dark smudge on her cheek—probably from the tire—caught his gaze.
He stepped closer to her and pointed to her cheek—
“What are you doing?” She froze. Panic flashed in her eyes.
“You have some dirt from the tire on your cheek.”
“Oh.” She swiped at the last bit of the gray streak and stepped away. She used the sideview mirror on his truck to check her makeup. Quick as a flash, she was back in the truck cab, pulling something out of her purse.
Duke made his way back over to the driver’s side and got in. He watched her as she frantically dabbed some goop on the scar on her cheek.
“Why do you even bother?”
“Excuse me?”
“The makeup. I mean, you don’t need it.”
“How would you know? You haven’t seen me without it.” She flipped the visor mirror back up. Looked at him with a smile that felt…off. As if he’d offended her.
And he didn’t know why, but suddenly he wanted to, well…maybe fix it.
“Scars are…our history. You don’t have to cover it up.”
She swallowed hard as she looked at him. “You…you saw the scar?”
“Well, yeah. I’m a detective. I notice details. So you’ve been through some stuff. Scars mean you’re a survivor.”
She looked away. “That’s one way of looking at it,” she whispered.
The cab grew awkwardly silent.
Now he really had made it worse.
Great. See, this was what happened when he tried to be…nice.
But as he started the engine, she turned toward him and offered a cheeky grin. “So have I earned the right to a little Christmas music?”
“So that’s how it’s going to be.”
“Yep.” When he looked over at Zuri, she was already messing with his radio, scanning for a Christmas station, bouncing in her seat.
Okay, she was a little cute. In a pretty, Christmas sort of way.
If a guy liked that kind of thing.
He pulled out of the gravel pit.
Zuri found a station playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” and started singing.
He quirked an eyebrow as she belted out the chorus.
“What? I can’t help it. My brother Tony and I used to sing this one to wake everyone up on Christmas morning.”
“You have a lot of good Christmas memories with your family?”
“Yeah. We’re a loud bunch. But we have good times.”
She pulled out her phone and showed him the screen when he pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the deserted country road. With no one behind him, he put the truck in park and studied the picture.
There had to be over twenty-five people crowded into a small living room with a decorated Christmas tree in the background. Kids sat on laps of many of the adults, and teenagers leaned in toward the camera. One guy had a toddler sitting on his shoulders. And in the middle of it all, an older couple, both with snowy-white hair, sat on the couch kissing.
Duke searched the sea of faces for Zuri. “Where are you?”
“Who do you think took the picture?” She was probably going for a playful quip, but he didn’t miss the undertone of longing.
“So this is your family.”
“This is them. And it all started with the two lovebirds in the middle. That’s my nonna and Pop, my mom’s parents.” She went on to point out her parents, her six brothers, their significant others, and their children.
“How many nieces and nephews do you have?”
“Sixteen, with one more on the way.”
“And what is that guy holding up in the air? Is that a trophy?”
Zuri’s laughter filled the darkness of the cab. “Kind of. That’s the rotating fruitcake.”
“A fruitcake trophy?”
“It’s more of a joke. One of the neighbors gave Nonna this fruitcake, insisting it was so much better than her panettone.”
“Is it?”
“Not even close. Now we pass it off as a joke during our gift exchange.”
“How old is that cake?”
“It came over on the Mayflower.”
He pulled away, onto the highway, and found himself laughing.
Laughing. Huh. “Are you missing that this year? The gift exchange?”
“Oh. Yeah, but that’s okay. I want to be here for Vivie. She’s done so much for me. She helped me get my start in stage makeup. And as much as I love Christmas and our big loud family, my mom’s lasagna Christmas Eve dinner, and the candlelight services at home, I was ready for something different this year.”
Was it just him or did Zuri actually sound…lonely? How was that possible coming from such a big family? “I always wanted a big family growing up. Grandparents, siblings, cousins. The whole bunch. But it was just my mother and me. You’re lucky.” The admission left him feeling a little exposed, but also right. Especially when she smiled at him.