“I’ve been in a pissy mood for two days,” he said.
“Me, too. What’s your problem?”
“I want to know if you’re just using me to get Grady out of your life and off your back until Lizzy’s wedding and then planning to end this relationship.”
“No, I’m not using you, Blake. And why would you think that?”
“It’s doubt creeping in because I’m falling in love with you.” He eased up on the gas.
She turned around in the seat as far as she could without undoing the seat belt. “This is one hell of a time to tell me this.”
“Why, because we might slide off in a ditch and die?” he asked.
“Exactly.”
He turned to face her and his foot leaned too heavy on the gas. The truck slipped from one side of the road to the other before he got it under control and moving forward again at a trusty fifteen miles an hour.
She folded her arms over her chest and said breathlessly, “Let’s wait to talk about this until we are stopped at the motel.”
Blake glanced over at her. “I wanted you to know in case we do wind up in a ditch and freeze to death in each other’s arms.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve flat out fallen in love with you. I think it was love at first sight and I’ve been fighting it like hell, but it’s the way it is and I want you to know.”
For a few seconds she wasn’t sure that she would ever breathe again. Then she inhaled deeply and said, “Were you going to tell me before we got in this situation?”
One of his shoulders jacked up an inch or two. “I don’t know, Allie. I only figured it out tonight and hell, I’m tired of fighting with myself. I know it’s only been a few weeks but my mama said that I’d know when the right woman came into my life. And I know so I have to spit it out and say it.”
“That’s not so romantic for a man who’s got the reputation you do,” she said. “Look, that sign we just passed said it was only two more miles. We could walk that far.”
“Not without frost bite. And my reputation is what scares me, Allie. What if you have second thoughts about someone like me?”
“I won’t. I promise,” she whispered.
She loved him, too, but she couldn’t say the words. They were there but they wouldn’t come out of her mouth.
Ten minutes later she pointed to a flashing vacancy sign above a motel and he eased off the road into a parking lot so deep with snow that his front fender pushed it out of the way like a plow. He brought the truck to a long greasy sliding stop in front of the motel and waded to the office where the lady told him that they had three rooms left. One was a king-size, non-smoking room. The other two were double queens. He opted for the king-size bed and asked if there was a pizza hut that might make deliveries in the bad weather.
“A lot of the town is without power so we filled up real quick. Those that do have electricity are takin’ in their relatives and all the businesses are shut down,” she said as she ran a key card through the machine. “Here are your keys and, honey, right not far from your room is the ice machine and vending machines. Soda pop, juice, bottled water in one. Candy, chips, and those cute little energy bars in the other. That’s the best I can do for you tonight.”
“Does it take credit cards?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Only takes coins. Need change?”
He flipped a twenty-dollar bill onto the counter. “Turn it all into whatever I need.”
She counted out fifteen single bills, then picked up a plastic cup with the motel logo on the side and filled the thing with five dollars in quarters. “That should do it.”
He picked up the cup. “Thank you. Do you have complimentary toothbrushes and toothpaste? We were traveling to Wichita Falls when this thing hit us. We don’t have anything but what we are wearing.”
“Right here, and here’s a customer packet with shaving equipment, deodorant, toothbrushes, and such. Holler right loud if you need anything else.” She handed him two bubble packs, each containing a toothbrush and a tiny tube of toothpaste. “Oh, and we do doughnuts, bagels, and coffee for breakfast from six to nine in the morning if my husband can get out to the pastry shop to get them and if it’s open.”
Blake started toward the truck to open the door for Allie, but she pushed her way out of it, stepped out into knee-deep snow, and yelled above the howling wind, “Which way?”
He pointed and bent against the swirling cold chilling him to the bone. He found the room, only a couple of doors down from the office, and slipped the key card into the slot, hoping the whole time that the damn thing worked. He could have shouted when the little green light popped on and Allie hurried into the room.