Page 52 of Unexpected Pickle
Those dimples appear. “I bet you do.”
And we give in, having little else to do, and so many new things to explore about each other. I want to hear all those glorious sounds she makes again.
I never want the hotel to reopen.
But we’re dozing in the late afternoon after a third round, when a BOOM, BOOM, BOOM pounds against the door.
We startle awake.
“Someone’s here,” Jeannie says, scrambling for her clothes. We did fall asleep naked this time.
I pull on my pants and a hoodie and head to the door. I peer through the peephole. Two men in dark uniforms stand on the porch.
I open the door cautiously. A cascade of white falls into the room. “We’re here,” I tell the men.
“Are you Hex?” the man asks.
“The one and only.”
“Your manager called us when he couldn’t get in touch with you.” He consults a notebook. “But this isn’t your cabin. Is Jeannie Young there with you?”
“She is. I think we’re the only ones left.”
“You’re both okay? The power went out last night.”
“We’re fine. We had firewood and food and water.”
He nods. “We’re here to escort you to a snowmobile. It’s going to be a few days before the roads out here get cleared. We had a bigger storm than expected. We need to evacuate you to a more populated area.”
I turn to the room. Jeannie is already frantically throwing things in her suitcase.
“I’ll need to get to my cabin to get my stuff.”
“We’ll wait.” He gestures behind them. There’s a pair of black-and-white rescue snowmobiles in the courtyard.
“Okay. I’m coming.”
I close the door and turn to Jeannie. Our time is already up. “Can I help?” I ask her.
“You go get your things,” she says. “I’ll meet up with you.”
I’m reluctant to let her go. “Can we stay together wherever we end up?”
She pauses in her packing. “Is that what you want?”
“Of course.” I stride over to her. “What do you think this is?”
She shrugs. “A hookup. A convenience. Maybe a weirdness because of the storm.” She forces out a laugh. “Sex and danger, right?”
I take the chef jacket she’s trying to fold and set it down to pull her close. I’m not sure she gets what I’m after, at all.
“I wasn’t in danger when I started coming to the deli. And it wasn’t a convenience when I took your crepes class. And I didn’t make an ass out of myself at a chef retreat for a hookup. Jeannie, I’ve been dreaming of this for months. We’re just getting started.”
“Are we?” Her words are muffled against my shoulder.
“We completely and totally are.”
She nods against my hoodie.
