BLURB:
When a funeral calls his
friend Martin away, sunbelt resident Chris is left alone in Martin’s cabin in
the dead of winter—and in a blizzard to boot.
When the power goes out, Chris thinks he’s going to freeze to death. Luckily, Horace drops in to check on him—and
then runs out after a few kisses, leaving Chris upset and feeling used. Horace
does come back with explanations, but is their time together keeping each other
warm enough for them see they belong together? Or are these sudden emotions the
product of being snowbound?
EXCERPT:
CHAPTER ONE
“You said to come and spend
Christmas with you so I wouldn’t be alone,” Chris whined into his phone after
he’d set down his bags and closed the front door of the small lake house in the
woods. “So I left Phoenix to come to northern Wisconsin in December.” Chris
shivered at the thought, even though the house was warm enough. He was
beginning to believe he’d truly gone crazy and that they were going to find him
frozen solid come spring.
“How was I supposed to know
that one of the few relatives I had left was going to die?” Martin said, and
Chris immediately felt guilty. It really wasn’t something Martin could have
helped, but the entire purpose of this visit had been so Chris wouldn’t have to
spend the holidays alone. “The funeral is tomorrow, and afterwards, I need to
meet with the executors of the will. I should be home in a few days, and then
we can spend the rest of the next two weeks together. I promise it’ll be fine.”
Martin sounded a bit frazzled, and Chris let his own angst and anger go. “I
left plenty of food in the house, and you should have everything you need for a
few days. I also marked one of the trees on the property for us to use as a
Christmas tree. You can cut it if you want, and there’s a stand in the basement.”
“I don’t think so. There’s
snow on the ground,” Chris said. Martin had been surprised when Chris had told
him he’d never actually been in snow and appalled when Chris had told him
recently that he would be spending the holidays alone. Apparently, even though
Martin had very little family, and even less now, he had a group of friends who
always spent the holidays together. So Martin had talked Chris into visiting
for the holidays. More like cajoled and bugged until Chris had agreed just to
shut him up.
“It’s not going to hurt
you, but we can do that when I get back if you want. I have you in the first
bedroom in the right as you go down the hall. You’ll find the bathroom, I’m
sure. I set out warm clothes for you on the bed, and if you need anything,
check out my closet. Like I said, I should be back in a few days.” Martin
paused, and Chris heard voices talking softly behind him. “I have to go, but
you know I love you and can’t wait to see you. I’ll get there once this is
over.”
“Okay.” Chris held back a
sigh. “I’ll see you then.” He hung up and shoved the phone into his pocket
before looking around the small house. It had obviously been built as a summer
cabin. Chris knew Martin had done a lot of work on the place so he could live
here year-round, and it did seem rather cozy. It had a lake house feel, with
big overstuffed furniture that looked amazingly comfortable, pictures on the
walls of boats and people fishing, rugs spread over pine floors. There were
huge windows that overlooked the tree-lined lake, which had what looked like
mini-icebergs floating on it.
Chris sighed softly and let
some of the tension that had built during his drive slip away. He had flown
into Wausau and then driven almost two hours to get to Martin’s. The sides of
the roads had been piled with snow. He was thankful it hadn’t been snowing
during his drive because he wouldn’t have known what to do. Instead, the sun
had shone and he’d had to stop at a wide spot to dig out his sunglasses because
of the way the sun had reflected off the whiteness that hung everywhere. The
sun had lasted until he’d approached the lake, and then gray clouds had
obscured the sky. Chris had had to take off his sunglasses in order to see. As
he stood looking out the windows, the first flakes of snow began to fall.
Figuring he should experience everything he could while he was here, Chris
found the bedroom Martin had indicated and spied a coat, gloves, and hat on the
bed and a pair of boots by the closet. He wasn’t planning to traipse through
the snow, so he left the boots alone, but put on the coat, gloves, and hat
before walking back through the house. He unlocked and opened one of the patio
doors and stepped outside.
The cold immediately braced
his cheeks, but he was warm otherwise, so he ignored it and walked to the edge
of the deck and stood still. The snow was falling faster and getting thicker.
Standing stock-still, Chris listened. He’d never have expected snow to make a
sound, but it did, a soft underlying hum that seemed to come from everywhere
and nowhere. Through the increasingly thick falling snow, the lake and trees
seemed to slowly retreat, getting father away as they were obscured by the
swirling flakes.
The wind shook the branches
of the surrounding pine trees, sending cascades of snow billowing around. Chris
shivered as the chill went right through his clothes, and he turned and hurried
inside before closing the patio door behind him with a resounding thud, as if
to shut out the wind and the cold it brought. “Why did I come visit the cold?
It’s beautiful,” he said out loud to try to fill some of the empty space, “but
it’s so damned….” He shivered. “Cold!”
Chris found the thermostat
and turned it up a few degrees, listening until he heard the soft, reassuring
hum of the furnace. He took off the outside gear and placed it in the closet
before deciding it would be best to hunt up something to eat. Martin was true
to his word, and Chris found everything he could want. He made a salad and
broiled a steak, then opened a bottle of wine and sat in front of the television
to eat. His improving mood lasted until he found out there were only six
stations, but at least Martin had Internet access, so he booted up his computer
and found something to watch on Netflix.
The wind rattled the patio
door, and Chris shivered again, but he was warm; the furnace’s sound reminded
him of that. He had his feet up, his belly full, a glass of wine, and something
to watch. He was fine. He could do this. Chris set his glass on a coaster
before carrying his dishes to the sink. He rinsed them and looked around for
the dishwasher. Not finding one, he placed the dishes in the sink and cleaned
everything up before returning to his spot on the sofa. The wind whistled
around the corner of the house, and Chris got up to find a blanket before curling
under it on the sofa. Everything was fine; it was just the wind. After a while,
Chris found the switch for one of the outside lights. He turned it on and
peered through the window. All he saw was snow blowing and swirling in the
circle the light created. He couldn’t even tell where the ground began. Chris
turned off the light and sat back down on the sofa, returning to his movie.
The credits had just begun
to roll and Chris was about to close the window when the house went dark, the
glow of the computer screen the only light, and the howl of the wind sounding
more and more like it was trying to get inside with him. Chris used the light
from the computer to find his phone and called Martin.
“Hello,” Martin said.
“The power went out, and
I’m going to freeze to death,” Chris said in a hurry, burrowing deeper under
the blanket. “The wind is rattling everything, and I can only see snow outside.
I’m going to die, and it’s all your fault.”
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