Page 135 of Snowed In
“I think I can pull some strings.” I glance toward the stairs, lowering my voice. “The proposal?”
“Tomorrow. Going to take her on a walk.” His grin is mischievous. “She loves walks.”
“You’re really bad at this.”
“The grumpier she is, the more she’ll be surprised.”
“You’re also an idiot. But I’ll make this up to you.”
“Cottage with the pool?”
“Cottage with the pool.”
Molly and a fully dressed Megan start bringing our bags down while Andrew helps me clean up the living room.
“We should be fine on the roads,” he says when we’re ready to go. “They were cleared this morning, but it seems everyone’s using the snow as an excuse to stay inside. Mam is still insisting you come for dinner,” he adds to Megan. “But I’m going to guess you want to head home.”
“If you wouldn’t mind,” she says. “I’m sorry we took your surprise.”
“Don’t worry about it. If it had to be anyone else, I’m glad it was you two.” He rubs his hands together, glancing around at the now spotless cabin. “We good to go?”
“As we’ll ever be,” I say, shouldering my bag. “I’ll get Molly. I think she’s still choosing what food she wants to keep.”
Turns out that’s exactly what she’s doing. I poke my head in the kitchen to find her standing with her back to me next to several tubs of leftover food stacked on the counter. She doesn’t hear me come in, lost in her own little world until I rap my knuckles on the door frame.
“Let’s go, slowpoke,” I say, as she spins around, startled. “If you wanted to stay here, you shouldn’t have gone shopping.” But she doesn’t budge, distracted as she glances over her shoulder. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she says in a not-fine voice. And then: “Did you bring all this stuff up yourself?”
“All the food? Nah, we just brought a change of clothes. This was Andrew overpreparing.” I prop a shoulder against the wall, frowning when she just stands there. “I’ll make it up to you guys, I promise.”
“No, I just…” A strange look crosses her face. “Never mind. Let’s go.” She grabs the tubs, brushing past me without another word, and, confused, I round the island to see what she’d been looking at.
I don’t see anything at first. Nothing but some empty cartons to be returned to the caterers, the recycling bags laid out for the cleaning crew…and the two boxes of untouched rose petals next to them, a sticker sayingHoneymoon Specialplastered to the side.
THIRTY
MEGAN
We all take Andrew’s car since his rental is fitted out for the snow, and no one wants to risk getting stuck again. But we’re only about ten minutes into the journey when I begin to regret the decision.
And it’s because of Molly.
She’s quiet the whole way down the mountain. Completely and utterly silent. She sits up front with Andrew while Christian and I take the back, and the air is so strained, I can practically feel it.
“What happened?” I whisper when we go forty minutes without anyone speaking. Christian just shakes his head, but in adon’t askrather than aI don’tknowway, so I nudge him with my foot and give him a pointed look until he caves.
“She saw the rose petals.”
“What?”
“The rose petals,” Christian murmurs, his voice barely audible over the music. “Andrew ordered them to propose.”
“So?”
“So,” he says, “how many situations can you think of where your boyfriend whisks you away to a cabin getaway and orders two buckets of rose petals?”
“He could just be being romantic,” I say, but Christian grimaces.
