“Luke-warm.”
He gave me a real smile. “That was a little ‘Forced.’”
Not a single one of my friends would have understood my joke, let alone been able to respond in kind. “How about this one? Where do Sith lords shop? At Darth Mall. Where all the prices are cut in half.”
“We can’t stay here,” he said gently, picking up on my nervousness and my obvious delay tactics. Leaning across me, he opened the door. “Let’s go.”
The wind and snow slammed into us, cutting across my exposed skin like sharpened little knives. I jumped out, and Rafe was right behind me. He figured out which way the wind was blowing and then stood in front of me at that angle, trying to give me as much protection as he could.
My nose started to run, and the wind blew up the edges of the blanket around me. I had my hands in the coat’s sleeves, but in order to keep the blanket seams closed together, I had to keep slipping my fingers out. And they quickly turned into frozen hot dogs, feeling too stiff to move.
We were walking quickly, knowing the movement would help keep us warm. I started to lose track of time, and I didn’t know how long we’d been walking when we finally found the road to the cabin. Turning west, Rafe shifted his position to just behind me, again blocking the wind with his broad frame. My own personal Han Solo keeping me safe from the storm.
I tried to keep my breathing shallow as the cold lined my throat, my airway, and the inner lining of my lungs. It hurt to breathe. Whenever I did breathe too deeply, I would cough.
The glacial wind made my eyes water, making it difficult to see. I put my head down, concentrating on taking one step at a time. I could feel the cold on my scalp, even through the blanket. I seriously missed the long, quilted, puffy coat I’d left at home, which would have protected me.
Icicles stabbed at my blood cells. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this cold. We had been walking for forever, and I briefly worried that we might have gone the wrong way. With all this blinding whiteness, it would be very easy to get lost. I hoped we didn’t end up out on the lake. It might not have had time to freeze over yet.
The snow and the storm was unending, and as I’d predicted, snow was getting into my shoes, making my socks wet. My teeth chattered in response, but all I could do was push forward. We couldn’t go back.
The cold was starting to feel like a burn, singeing me all over. I knew that was very bad. I increased my pace and wondered how it was possible to be both frozen and sweating at the same time.
I saw a big lump on the landscape, covered in snow. I went over and reached out, using my sleeve to brush the snow away. It was the old rusted truck Max kept on blocks near his cabin.
“We’re almost there,” I said with relief, instantly regretting the words as the cold rushed into my mouth, making my teeth sting.
Finally, after what felt like an actual eternity, the cabin came into view. “Is there a key somewhere?” Rafe asked.
“It won’t be locked.”
We stepped onto the porch at the same time with Rafe muttering under his breath about people who didn’t take security seriously. Just as I’d predicted, the knob turned.
He ushered me in, closing the door tightly. “Are there light switches?”
“No electricity,” I told him. “Off the grid, remember?”
I heard the sound of something being knocked over and Rafe saying some words he probably shouldn’t have said in mixed company.
I let my blanket drop and unwrapped the other one from around my head. I put my hands out in front of me and walked until I hit the couch. Running my hand along the back, I headed for the kitchen, managing not to stumble over anything.
“I found the fireplace,” Rafe said. “With my toes.”
I ran my hand over the countertops and stopped at the sink. There. “And I found a Coleman lantern!” Max typically used kerosene lamps at his place, but I was worried that given the personal beef the universe seemed to have with me, I’d end up burning the whole cabin down. This one was an LED light that ran on batteries. I turned the knob, and light filled the cabin.
Taking the lantern from me, Rafe increased the light output and walked over to the bedroom area. He took off his hoodie, throwing it on the bed. He opened the armoire and found some dry clothes there. “We need to change.”
Then he pulled off his shirt. The image of his wet hair and bare chest sparked a memory inside me.
The memory of the night I found out he was a liar.
Toward the end of the reality show, when there was only me, Lemon, and Evil Abigail left, we were supposed to be invited to have an overnight date in the Romance Room.
But the show had changed it up. Instead of it being a sure thing, we had been told by the host that we might or might not receive invitations. Then they separated us into different bedrooms so that none of us would know who had been asked and who had not. I didn’t even have my things. A production assistant brought me some out-of-date magazines, but I couldn’t read them.
All I cared about was whether or not I got an invitation. Would he invite me? Would I go? I mean, there was a certain understanding about what happened in those rooms. Did I want all of America assuming that we’d slept together? Did I want the show to use it as a promotional tool? I could already hear the announcer’s voice: “Tune in tonight to find out whether or not Genesis is still a virgin!”
But as time went on, I realized that there was no invitation. Which either meant that he didn’t intend to invite me or he had asked another girl to go with him.