Page 8 of A Runaway Bride For Christmas
I look down to hide my disappointment. I don’t know what I expected. Hans to be happy to see me, to welcome me with open arms and help me escape?
“Yes,” I say defiantly. “I’m not going back there, so you can either help me or leave me on my own on the mountain.”
I hike up my wedding dress and take a few steps through the snow. Damn, my toes are so cold they’re painful, but I don’t let him see it. If he doesn’t help me, I have no idea where I’ll go. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. And the harsh reality of what I’m doing sets in. Maybe I can find an empty cabin and break in for the night.
I just need to buy myself some time to give everyone a chance to calm down. Then I’ll work things out with my mom.
“Come on then.” Hans sighs. “Follow me.”
He turns to the left and takes a path that runs behind the cabin we’re staying in. I hang back, still not sure what he’s going to do.
The kind man I shared a connection with two years ago is gone. All I see now is a grumpy employee who’d turn me over to my family with no consideration of my feelings.
“You’re not going to turn me in, are you?”
He turns to look at me, and his face is half in shadow from the tree we’re standing under.
“No, I won’t.” He sighs. “But I won’t leave you out here to freeze to death either.”
It’s not the romantic answer I was hoping for. Not the answer of a man who’s pleased to see me. I was right. I was just another rich tourist to him.
The thought hurts more than anything else that’s happened today.
He turns and trudges up the path, and with no better options, I hike up my skirts and follow.
4
HANS
Ican’t bear to look at Allie. In a ski suit with an eighteen-year-old’s innocence, she was beautiful. In a wedding dress that hugs her filled out womanly figure, she’s breathtaking. Stunning. If I look at her too long, my retinas will burn and I’ll be blinded to everything in the universe aside from her.
So I keep my head down and trudge through the snow, hoping she’s following me.
My cabin is at the back of the staff accommodation area. I moved out of the two bedroom I used to share with my sister and into one of the single cabins right at the back. I wanted to be as far away from the staff lounge and other communal areas as possible. These days I’m as much of a recluse as you can be while working at a busy ski resort.
The staff accommodation area is empty. Everyone’s either hunkered in for the storm or working at the wedding. The wedding where Allie is supposed to be the bride.
A hundred questions go through my mind, but the only thing I really want to know is if her lips still taste like cherry cola.
Snow falls off my boots as I discard them in the wet room of my cabin and unzip my snow suit. Only then do I turn to Allie who’s followed me inside.
She’s shivering. The force of the cold has hit her hard, and her shoulders shake as she runs her hands up and down her bare arms.
“Shit.”
I was so busy being cross with her that I failed to notice how cold she was getting. My instinct is to put my arms around her, and I move forward until her mother’s voice rings in my ears.
He’ll never be good enough for someone like you.
The less touching I do of Allie the better, or I might just forget that she wants nothing to do with someone like me. I drop my arms awkwardly and clench my fists at my side.
“I’ll get you a blanket.”
There’s a woolen throw on the back of the couch, and I drape it around her shoulders.
“Sit.” I indicate the couch and she sits down, wrapping herself in the blanket while I get a fire going.
It doesn’t take long to ignite the wood and get the fire blazing. I sit back on my haunches and watch the flames, unsure what to do now.
