Page 67 of Staying for You

I snap my fingers and point at nothing. “Would you look at that? My money spent on keywords actually works!”

She chuckles at my excitement. “Right?! The Escape was one of the first to show up and as soon as I clicked on the link to your website, I felt something in me shift. I knew I was supposed to come up here.”

I like that. Her honesty, openness. I don’t like that she felt defeated and that’s why she ended up here, but the fact that just looking at my website helped her find some sort of peace makes me feel pretty damn good. We could sit and talk for hours on this subject. I could cover her with kind words and praises. Tell her that she’s obviously a good author and amazing human or explain how freaking happy I am that she ended up here. But none of it really matters because she knows all this. She just needed to be here, away from her home and reminders of all the failures — in her mind, anyway — around her. So rather than continue to focus on the past, I give her a taste of what she needs. “Want to go sledding?”

“Yes.”

Her quick response makes me smile. “Alright then. Get your coat and boots on that you wore up here yesterday and we’ll sled down to your cabin to get your snow pants on.”

“Sled down to my cabin?”

“What? That’s not normal?” I joke and she shakes her head, laughing.

A few years ago, a local company was closing down. I bought several sleds and a couple pair of snow shoes. I had no idea if I’d ever use them but the sleds have come in really handy. Earlier this year, I used them to pull supplies up and down the hill to get to the new cabins I was building.

It doesn’t take either of us long before we’re sitting in a couple brightly colored plastic sleds. Hers is blue and mine is green. She looks over at me with a twinkle in her eye and grins. Hair sticking out all over the place from under her yellow beanie. Snow still lightly falling from the gray sky above. The snow fell wet and heavy enough that we have a good pack down, making it perfect for sledding. “Race ya!” she shouts then pushes off the ground and begins zipping down the hill.

I’m competitive enough that I waste no time following after her and luckily even with her head start, my weight propels me down the hill faster. However, I wasn’t really planning on how we would stop when we came to her cabin because it’s still on the downhill side. When I get close, I stick my foot out and tip the sled to the side to stop me from going any farther. I hear her scream just in time for her to barrel into me. We’re in a heap of snow and tangled limbs while we each hold tight to our sleds so they don’t continue on without us.

We’re both laughing and breathing hard, me on my back and her against my side where we crashed together. She sits up and leans over me, bends down and kisses me quickly then stands up.

I’m still lying on the cold, snowy ground staring up at the snow-covered trees when I hear her cabin door open and her call out, “You comin’?”

“Yeah,” I croak out, moving to get up.

But I think once again how easy she fits in here at The Escape.

And how hard it’s going to be when we have to say goodbye.

Chapter Twenty

Cami

“Calling Camilla Moore. Over.”

I grin. Damn I love these walkie talkies. Like. Seriously, they are the absolute coolest and most fun things ever invented.

“Camilla here. Over.”

“What you up to, beautiful? Over.”

“If you saw me right now, you’d hardly call me beautiful. Over.”

“Doubtful. I’ve only seen you look beautiful. Even when you’ve gone a day too long between showers. Over.”

I lift my phone and look at myself in the reverse camera and wince. Yeah. It’s not pretty.

“A day too long, huh?”

“You forgot to say over. And yeah. But that was your wording, not mine. Over.”

“Did you have a purpose for interrupting my incredibly busy schedule? Over.”

“Are you done writing your next best seller for the day? Over.”

I grin and bite my bottom lip. He’s so encouraging. Always giving me the space I need to pound on my keyboard, as he calls it.

“I could be. What’d you have in mind?”

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