"Probably. The neighbor I spoke to said he saw her come in with a bag of groceries."
She'd completely forgotten about the neighbor. She'd gotten so distracted by the storm and the thought of having to spend more time with Jake. "What else did he say?"
"He saw her talking to my friend, Trevor. He didn't see anything odd about their conversation. No one was angry or upset. They just seemed to be chatting. He said she was driving a Prius. That's all he knew."
"I wonder why she was talking to your friend."
"No idea. Since you don't know Trevor, I doubt Kelly would."
"She wouldn't. Trevor would be a lot younger than her. And Kelly has been gone so long. There's no way they know each other."
"I didn't think so, either, but it's odd that she would leave Brett and go talk to Trevor. If she needed something from a neighbor, she could have talked to the guy I spoke to, whose cabin is closer to this one."
She sighed. "Nothing Kelly has done so far makes sense to me." She grabbed plates out of the cabinet along with some silverware. "Do you want to cut up some chicken? I'll throw the salad in a bowl."
"Sure."
While he grabbed a knife, she put the salad together. It felt strange to be making dinner with Jake, something she never would have imagined them doing together.
He gave her a smile as he put slices of chicken on a plate. "I bet you didn't think tonight's trip would end up with us making dinner together."
Clearly, he was still good at reading her mind. "Definitely not. If I hadn't gotten a flat tire, our paths might not have crossed at all."
"Fate."
"Which usually doesn't work in my favor. I'd prefer if fate brought me a winning lottery ticket, but it never seems to go that way."
"I don't know about that. You could think of me as your winning lottery ticket. You're not stranded on the side of the road. You're not alone with Brett, because fate brought me to you."
"Fine, I'm not going to argue with you."
"That's a first," he said dryly.
"Keep being annoying, and that might change."
"I don't know how not to annoy you, Hannah. I take a breath and I make you mad."
His words made her feel like she was being childish, which she was. She hated that she couldn't seem to get over being pissed off at him. She should be more adult about it. They lived in the same town. They had some of the same friends. She wasn't a heartsick teenager anymore. She was an ER nurse. She handled life-and-death situations without missing a beat. So, why did this man still throw her off her game?
"Let's just eat," she said, taking the salad to the table. She moved back into the living room where Brett was watching a cartoon. "Do you want some chicken, Brett?"
"I'm not hungry," he replied, his gaze focused on the television.
"Are you sure you don't want a little more?"
He shook his head.
Since Brett had had cereal only a short time earlier, she decided to leave him be rather than force the issue. He was happy enough with the TV, so she'd let him keep watching. She could see him from one end of the kitchen table, so she took a seat there while Jake set a plate of chicken on the table and sat down across from her.
After the first bite, she realized just how hungry she was. She hadn't had much lunch and that had been hours ago.
"This isn't bad," Jake said with a pleased smile.
"Not bad at all," she agreed. "There are cookies for dessert, if you still have room."
"I always have room for dessert."
She couldn't help but smile. "I remember the night you ate an entire apple pie because Micky bet you that you couldn't." Jake had never been able to say no to a dare. If someone threw a challenge in front of him, he was determined to conquer it, no matter what it was.
"I won, but I felt bad afterward. I should have known better."
"You knew better; you did it anyway. You like having a mountain to climb, even if it's just eating a pie."
He tipped his head in agreement. "That's true. I like to push the envelope."
"Which I hear you do quite often. Some patients I've treated in recent weeks have talked about some harrowing rescues by you and Brodie and others on the search and rescue team."
"We've seen some bad crashes and some fairly stupid behavior. Not everyone conquers the mountain. Some people lose. Usually, because they didn't prepare."
"You believe in preparation? I thought you were more of a wing-it kind of guy."
"Not when it comes to battling nature. I respect the mountains and the weather."
"You weren't always that way."
"I grew up, Hannah. So did you. We're not the kids we once were."
"No, we're not. How's your business going?" she asked, wanting to immediately derail what might be another trip back into their past. She preferred to stay in the present.
"It's good. We've been very busy this season. I had to hire on some extra guides."
"How big is your team now?"
"Besides myself, we have six full-time guides and another four who work part-time, depending on the season. I have four other employees who handle the bookings and sell the limited amount of merchandise we carry in the store."
"Why limited?" she asked curiously.
"Because the focus of my business is the experience, the adventure. Gianna's parents already sell top-of-the-line equipment in their store, so I'd rather carve out my own niche. Plus, it's not that exciting for me to sell or rent skis. I'd rather show someone the thrill of coming down a virgin trail after the first snow."
His words took her back. "You showed me that."
He met her gaze, smiling as they shared that memory. "You loved it."
"I did. I had never been on that trail before. I didn't even know it existed. It felt like we were on our own private mountain, like no one had ever been there before us."
"And to think you were almost too afraid to go."
"But you talked me into it. You always pushed me to go further than I wanted to go."
"Wasn't it a good thing?"
"Most of the time," she admitted. "But it was different for you, wasn't it? I didn't push you; I held you back. I wanted to keep your feet on the ground, and you wanted to fly."
A frown drew his brows together. "It wasn't exactly like that, Hannah."
She shrugged. "Maybe we remember it differently. Anyway, it sounds like your business is going well." She picked up her plate and carried it to the counter. The window over the sink rattled from the force of the wind.
"I don't think we'll be able to go back to town tonight," Jake said, as he joined her at the counter.
She didn't want to spend all night in this small cabin with Jake and a four-year-old, who was going to go to bed soon, but she also didn't want to risk taking Brett into a fierce winter storm. "I think we have to stay here," she agreed. "I'm sorry that my flat tire got you into this."
"You know I'm not really sorry," he said, with a gleam in his eyes.