Page 48 of Snowed In on Valentine's Day

“But we hate each other,” I said, my voice sounding odd. “Why—”

“I don’t hate you,” he said abruptly.

“OK, maybe we don’t hate each other anymore. Hate is a strong word. But we don’tlikeeach other, and we’re not friends. We’re certainly notmorethanfriends. We’re not … people who kiss!” I dared to look at him, and he looked relaxed but thoughtful. And then a thought occurred to me. “Well, it’s Valentine’s Day. Please tell me this isn’t some weird sympathy thing because you overheard me talking to Mari about Valentine’s Day and me being a romantic and—well, you felt sorry for me …” I trailed off.

His face transformed in an instant. Gone was the serious but almost oddly affectionate look from before. Now his expression was thunderous, and he sat up straighter, his body tense.

“Uh, did I say something?”

He looked at his hands, which were clenched, and then abruptly stood.

What on earth had ticked him off suddenly? Maybe my theory about the kiss being a pity kiss was wrong, but why would that triggerthisstrong of a reaction?

Without a word or even a glance, he darted over to the front door and stuffed his feet into his boots.

Perplexed, I rose and followed him. “Peter? Please, I’m so confused. What is going on?”

It all felt like a bad dream.

Well, except for the part that felt amazing. That part was glorious …

No, I was just tired, exhausted, caught off guard.

He turned toward me but avoided my eyes. “You’re right. You don’t need me here. Your heat seems to be working, and obviously your shower is too.” I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

I nodded, but my brows were furrowed. “Wait. Maybe we should talk—”

“I have to go,” he said before turning around.

“Why now?” I cried in exasperation. “When I wanted you to leave me alone, you wouldn’t … Peter, wait.”

His hand still on the doorknob, he turned back to me, and his cool blue eyes met my eyes briefly. “Sorry, Hazel.”

Before I could think of any response, he opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind him quickly.

I stepped back, shivering from the blast of frigid air from outside. But my skin quickly warmed as memories of our kiss came unbidden, all the little details flooding my mind, my senses.

I had to sit down.

“What just happened?”

Chapter 13

When the plow finally came through two days later, I hired a local guy to help clear my driveway and then drove into town for my monthly lunch with Nora, who was Terry’s grandmother. We’d hit it off almost immediately just over a year ago when I was scheming with Mariana on how to convince Nora’s wife, Jane, to sell the Christmas village. At the time, we didn’t know Terry was Nora’s grandson—he’d left out that little detail—and that trying to convince Jane to sell was futile since she and Nora had already planned to bequeath it to him. After Terry and Mariana reconciled a few weeks after Christmas, I called up Nora to ask if she wanted to meet me for coffee. The older lady was sweet and infinitely wise but also sassy and hilarious, just my kind of woman. That fifty-year age gap? Irrelevant.

While driving downtown, I debated on whether to talk to her about Peter and everything that had happened. Even after replaying Peter’s visit in my head at least a dozen times over the next two days, I still had no idea what to think. As usual, the man was infuriating, but now he was confusing as well. I hadn’t told Mariana anything yet because … well, it felt like a conflict of interest, with her being married to Peter’s friend. She’d probablytry to do some matchmaking or something. I’d talk to her eventually, but not yet.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw through the cafe window that Nora was waiting for me. Her thin, silver hair was barely visible beneath a cute yellow hat. In fact, I’d almost say the hat was what brought us together, as I never saw her without one. When I remarked on this, she’d said, “This beautiful brain needs to stay warm to be able to show its brilliance. Plus, there are just so many cute hats, right?” From then on, I knew we’d be great friends.

“Nora, so good to see you!” I exclaimed while removing my blue knit scarf and gloves.

She pulled me into a hug. “Hazel, you’re more gorgeous than ever. It’s been too long since we’ve met.”

“Only a month,” I squeaked as she crushed her surprisingly strong arms around me.

“But this past week has seemed like a year, am I right?”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered as we stepped apart.

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