Page 43 of Love Under Snowfall

“You sound like a snake,” she shouted over her shoulder, pressing farther into the headwind.

“What?”

“The cold is m-making your s’s sound s-snakey. Like you should be t-teaching the dark arts or something instead of law.”

“I don’t f-follow.”

“Forget it.” She had neither the will nor the energy reserve to explain her joke. They’d been slowly dragging through the snow for the past hour, and it felt as though they’d barely made any progress. Everything around them looked the same under the whitewash of flakes.

Boulder.

Boulder.

Tree.

Curve in the creek.

Boulder.

They couldn’t be far. Miguel had said the cabin was a half mile north along the valley, and she doggedly consulted her compass to ensure they didn’t get turned around.

“Not to sound like a five-year-old, but are we almost there?” Benjamin’s teeth chattered as loudly as his words.

“Yes?”

“Your confidence is ins-s-spiring,” he sneered softly.

Frankie stopped and spun around, maybe not swiftly enough to launch the full weight of her frustration, but sufficiently enough to stop him in his tracks. How dare he? Of the two of them, she had far and away more experience in these sorts of situations. It wasn’t her fault that the damned weather was kicking their asses. She thrust the compass at him.

Benjamin held up both hands. “What are you doing?”

“If you have an issue with my navigation, then by all means”—she pushed the disc against his chest—“you lead the way,Columbus.”

One perk of the anger growing in her belly was the illusion of heat it created. Her ears burned—though more likely from the biting cold than actual warmth—and she almost expected smoke to plume from each.

After a beat, he nodded and took the compass from her,brushing past so he could lead the way. Benjamin took a moment to get his bearings and then continued in the direction they’d been moving over the last hellish hour.

Frankie crossed her arms and allowed a smug grin to pull at her lips.Let’s see how well this chump does in these conditions.

“I see something.”

No way.

She pushed with all her remaining strength and overtook his sluggish pace.

“Where?” she demanded, following the direction in which he pointed.

Though barely visible in the whiteout, the shadowy outline of something large enough to be a building stood among a cluster of trees.

“Not too sh-shabby for a newbie, wouldn’t you agree, Miss M-Miller?”

Frankie’s face scrunched from the snow that peppered her sore skin like airsoft pellets. So many retorts came to mind, each telling him exactly where he could go. But all she could do was shrug.

“What are you waiting for?”

Chapter twenty-three

Benjamin

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