“I did grow up in Minnesota.” Except, despite her words, it felt like she walked like a duck as they ventured into the forest that surrounded the parking lot. Romeo led them onto a trail, the snow crunching beneath her. A stillness settled around her the farther they walked. Towering evergreens decorated with snow shivered now and again in the wind, shaking off snow like powder.
He reached a narrow trail, uncut by footsteps, turned and reached out his hand.
“Where—”
“Shh.”
She took his hand and he led her through a passageway until they emerged under a canopy of frosted, heavy branches that made a sort of archway. Here the snow was deep, heavy, and sparkling with the late afternoon sun.
She stepped under the canopy and stared out.
“Don’t go any farther—the cliff drops off in about five feet.” He still had ahold of her hand though.
No worries. She couldn’t move with the beauty of it. The land had risen, and from here, the forest fell and spread out, then stopped again at another cliff, this one broken by a frozen river, the falls miraculously suspended in ice. The sun glinted off them, turning the ice to gold as it dropped into the gorge below.
In the distance, the lake spread out in frothy, icy glory as waves hit the shoreline, frozen chunks floating in the water.
The brutal magnificence took her breath away. “It’s so glorious.”
“I know. Makes you feel a little small.”
It made her feel quiet. Still. “The town looks so peaceful.” She pointed to the hamlet, smoke rising from the houses. “So safe.”
He laughed. “Oh, hardly. I spent a summer here, and the entire town nearly caught fire!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The pizza place burned to the ground. And they recently started a Crisis Response Team for all the accidents. Everything, even Deep Haven, has an element of danger to it. Nowhere is totally safe, Stella.”
She turned to him. He stood close, his green eyes in hers.
“No one,” he added.
You just believed in someone who didn’t deserve it.
Maybe it wasn’t about being afraid but picking the right person to trust.
She stepped closer to him, searched his face. “Maybe it’s safe enough.”
He took a breath. “This is probably a bad idea.”
Then he lowered his head and kissed her. Soft at first, almost a question.
Yes. She wrapped her hands into his jacket lapels. His arm went around her, and he pulled her closer, deepened his kiss.
He tasted like hot cocoa, smelled like the forest, and she turned to sea smoke under his touch.
This was nothing like Harry, who’d made her feel a little tawdry and even naive when he kissed her, pushing her too fast.
No, Romeo was gentle, sure, safe, but exciting, and when he lifted his head and met her eyes, for the first time in months—maybe her entire life—she felt…
Well, the way she’d felt when she played her first solo cello concerto.
Alive.
“It’s getting dark,” Romeo said softly. But his gaze suggested he wanted to linger.
Instead, he took her hand and led her back through the forest—it was getting darker, the shadows longer, the way difficult to follow. And snow had started to tumble from the sky.
But in his steps, her hand in his, she knew exactly where she was going.
Or rather, staying.
CHAPTER 7
THURSDAY, 8:00 P.M.
“You’re real cute, Owen. No, I haven’t burned down anything yet.”
“I was kidding, take a breath there, cuz,” Owen said on the other end of Romeo’s speaker phone.
Romeo gave a thin laugh as he tossed another log into the stove of his A-frame. The wind howled outside as the storm pressed in. Good thing he’d returned to the lodge before the snow thickened, although he’d nearly taken out a guest—not, not just a guest, but Stella’s mother—on his drive into the parking lot. Of course, she’d been walking in the darkness, head down, as if angry. And then there was that terrible moment when his headlights had illuminated her, his brakes hadn’t gripped the icy driveway…and if it hadn’t been for Stella’s dad pushing her out of the—
Yes, he might not be so flippant in his call with Owen.
Thankfully, though, no one was hurt, and Stella had hopped out and given him a smile—something warm and definitely dangerous—as she went with her family to their cabin.
But still, so far so good. No fires. No catastrophes and all the guests were alive.
“Actually, I was calling to say thanks,” Owen said. “My dad got a call from Tom Karlson. Tom was pretty grateful for your work in getting Gerald settled. Apparently, yesterday wasn’t the first time he’s run off. Said he really appreciated the winter cactus you put in the cabin—it was his grandmother’s favorite.”
“I know. It was in the guest notes your mom left.” Romeo went to the stove and turned down the heat on his pot of soup, one of the frozen packets Scotty had left for him.
“My mom has guest notes?”
“They’re in the old registers, next to their names. Details, preferences. I was looking back to see how many years the Karlsons had been coming here. Did you know they’ve rented cabin six since their honeymoon in 1956? They’d been married for sixty-six years.”
“Seriously. No wonder he’s having a hard time. A piece of him is lost.”
“And he keeps looking for it.”
“Good job. By the way, no go on the car rentals. Everything here is booked for the holidays.”
“No problem.” Romeo tasted the soup. Creamy clam chowder. Reminded him of his aunt Ingrid’s Christmas soup. “That storm you predicted is here, so you’re probably not getting any flights anytime soon either.”
“Yeah. Oh, and with the wedding rehearsal tomorrow, Casper’s hoping you can run by the house and make sure everything is all set.”
“I’m on it.”
“Thanks, Romeo. You’re a hero. Remind us to leave you in charge every Christmas.”
He didn’t know why the remark turned bitter in his chest. “Yeah.” A knock sounded at his door. “Wear sunscreen,” he said and hung up.
He slipped the phone into his pocket as he opened the door.
Stella stood on the steps, wrapped in an unzipped jacket, her borrowed UGGs, a pair of yoga pants, her hair covered in snow, shivering. What—
“Are you okay?” He opened the door to let her in.
Honestly, after coming home, and after he’d shaken off the near death of his guest, he’d spent an hour shoveling the ice rink and the paths trying to sort himself out.
He experienced a sort of out-of-body view of this afternoon’s events, seeing himself inviting her along on his route, then taking her for a walk into the forest, like some cheesy Hallmark movie, complete with hot cocoa and sing-alongs.
The man who looked upon this crazy version of himself wanted to give him a good smack upside the head because, hello, Stella was still a guest.
A guest who had turned into a friend.
A guest who didn’t see him as damaged but as a hero.
A guest who wanted to be with him.
Who trusted him.
And despite the sirens roaring in his head, she made him feel…well, a whole lot less like having been abandoned in a cold van. Or by his family.