“Just as a thank you. For bringing me here. For opening up a little bit. I know how hard that must’ve been for you. I want to thank you for letting me get to know you a little bit.”
Our heads turned and our eyes connected once again before I nodded my head. She smiled up at me before she threw her arms around my neck, elated at the fact that I was going to let her cook again. The fact that something so simple made her so happy, struck me. Could happiness really be that easy? I pulled her close to my body while the scenery around us faded into the background and, for just a moment, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to imagine.
I imagined us dancing around a ballroom with a beautiful dress fluttering around her body. I imagined us holding one another in bed while I slept peacefully at her side. I imagined us laughing with one another on the couch by the fireplace while we talked about memories from our childhood.
Then she released my body and we headed back toward the cabin while the images receded to the back of my mind. I had no idea what this woman had opened up and I had no idea how long she was going to be with me but maybe Paxton was right about more than one thing.
Maybe this wasn’t just about me opening up and talking to someone. Maybe this was about making a connection with someone so I felt a little less alone in this world.
But what would happen once the snow melted and she was gone?
CHAPTER 14
WHITNEY
I was whirling around the kitchen, trying to season everything while it was cooking. I was impressed at the selection of meat in his deep freezer. I had to run it under some hot water to get it to thaw quickly enough but, if I seared both sides of the steaks, it would still keep a lot of that juice inside of the meat. I flipped the steaks in the pan while I tossed the vegetables around in some garlic and pepper. I had to keep an eye on the buttered rice but that could pretty much sit there until it was done.
I could feel Liam behind me, watching my every move while I prepared dinner for us. I checked the fridge to make sure there was sweet tea for us to drink. Then, I removed the steaks from the stove and placed them into the oven. I wanted to broil a bit of cheese on top before I sprinkled them with the extra-crispy bacon I’d fried up. My mouth was already salivating from the smells swirling around the kitchen.
“Where’d you learn to cook?” Liam asked.
“My grandmother taught me,” I said.
“Ah, cooking in the kitchen with grandma,” he said. “You did grow up in a southern home.”
“Born and bred. My mother wasn’t much of a cook. I mean, she made do, but my grandmother was fantastic. Always had a pot of rice and beans on the stove in case anyone came in hungry.”
I could feel Liam’s smile crawling across his face while I watched the steaks carefully.
“Well, it smells delicious,” he said.
“There isn’t much I can cook this well but steaks were my grandmother’s specialty. She ate slabs of them until the day she died. I still don’t know how she lived to be ninety-two.”
“Ninety-two?” he asked.
“Yep. She’d lather on the butter and drink wine all throughout the day. She didn’t put a vegetable in her body if she didn’t have to and she somehow managed to outlive every single one of her sisters.”
“How many did she have?”
“She was the oldest of six,” I said.
“Six daughters? Her father’s in heaven somewhere for just being able to tolerate that many women.”
I giggled at his remark before I pulled the steaks from the oven. They were sizzling while the cheese melted on top and I began breaking up the bacon so I could add the finishing touches. I heard Liam step up behind me and start grabbing plates from the cabinet and I could feel his body heat radiating against my back.
“Here,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“So, who do you get your lawyer chops from?”
I felt myself stiffen while I dished out our dinner. I wasn’t liking where this conversation was going. I didn’t want to talk about my family. I didn’t want to go into any of the things I had to deal with while I was a teenager. I had positive memories of my grandmother before she died and those were the memories I wanted to focus on. Memories of covering the kitchen in smoke because I cooked the butter in the pan too long. Memories of burning cakes in the oven because we’d get to watching a movie and forget it was in there.
“No one, really,” I said. “My mother saw I had a knack for helping others and she was the one that suggested it when I was younger.”
“Your mother must be proud.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said.
I could feel his stare on me while I spooned the rice onto our plates. I tried to take deep breaths and control the shaking of my hands. I was having a good day and I didn’t want to think about the people who’d abandoned me as a teenager.
“Look, this is gonna be a wonderful dinner and I’d rather not spoil it with talk about my shitty family,” I said.
“Fair enough.”
It was easy to get him to shut down about it but, when I turned around with the plates, I could see the curiosity in his eyes. I knew he wanted to ask more, just like I did about his nightmares, but he didn’t push the subject. Instead, he grabbed glasses and filled them up with sweet tea.
I walked the plates over to the small table in the corner and set them down. Liam was behind me in an instant with the glasses. We sat down next to a window that looked out over the winter wonderland that had blanketed the forest and I couldn’t help but gaze out the window while I began to eat. It was so beautiful and peaceful out here. I could only imagine what it was like during the summertime. I bet the forest came alive with flowers and animals during that time of year. I bet there was green that overtook the landscape surrounding the cabin. I took mindless bites of my vegetables while I imagined living a life in a secluded place like this but it was Liam’s voice that brought me back to dinner.
“We’re almost out of some things we’ll be needing to get us through the rest of this stuff,” he said.
“You’ve got plenty of meat in the freezer,” I said.
“But we’re running out of some other things. Like toilet paper.”
“Yikes,” I said. “Yep. That’s a problem.”
“I’ll have to walk into town to get it, which’ll take me a while. There’s a small corner store about a mile down the main road but I’ve gotta walk through four miles of woods to get there first.”
“So, I can’t make that trip with you,” I said.
“Probably not, with your ankle.”
“Are you gonna be able to do something like that safely?” I asked.
He paused with his fork halfway to his mouth before a grin tugged at his cheeks. I watched him place the piece of meat in his mouth before he groaned and sat back in his chair. I’d never seen someone actually enjoy my food the way he was before and it was a really nice feeling. He closed his eyes and savored the taste. Then, he swallowed and nodded his head.
“I’ll be just fine. I’ll take my phone, just in case, but I’ll be good.”
I nodded before I took a bite of my steak and I couldn’t help but smile. Holy hell, it really did turn out good. I heard a small chuckle come from Liam’s side of the table while we continued to eat but, this time, my eyes weren’t focused outside.
This time, they were focused on him.
“Anything else you need to get besides toilet paper?” I asked.
“We could do with some more batteries around here. I forgot to grab some when I was in town last. Too focused on food.”
“Well, food’s a good focus to have during a storm like this. And you didn’t anticipate some silly girl falling down a hill, so it’s more than warranted.”
I felt his eyes move up toward me while I grabbed my glass of tea.
“You’re not silly,” he said.
I paused my glass in midair as my eyes hooked on his gaze.
“Not by a longshot,” he said.
I felt a blush tint my cheeks before I smiled lightly in his direction. He released the hold he had on me and continued eating. I swallowed about half my tea down to clear my throat. I felt my mouth grow as dry as cotton underneath his stare and, the more my body began to heat, the worse it got.