Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
He hangs up. “Nothing we can do about it until the storm has passed. Let’s pack up your things. You’ll have to stay with me.”
Panic races through me. “What? No. I’ll just stay on the couch.”
Byron glances around, sees the bag from Snail Trail and grabs it. “Let’s go.”
“No, Byron, I’m staying here.”
“No, Rosey, you’re not. You have a leak in your bedroom now, but the entire ceiling could collapse. Water likes to travel. Without inspecting the roof, there’s no way to know where the ingress started. The entire ceiling could be at risk. You’re staying with me.”
Tears form at the back of my throat. I arrived in town a week ago in a wedding dress with no place to stay and no job, having let down my entire family, but it’s not until now that I feel truly vulnerable.
“We used to get leaks in our trailer all the time.” My voice quivers as I finish my sentence. “We always had a couple of buckets collecting rainwater.”
“This isn’t a trailer. If this ceiling comes down, you’ll know about it. And we could be facing tornadoes in the next twelve hours. You’re not staying here.”
“I can’t stay with you. Maybe the inn—”
“The inn is still full, Rosey. I’m not asking you to move in with me. I’m telling you, you need to shelter at my place. There’s a big difference.”
His tone has darkened. I realize I don’t have any other choices here.
Silently, I get to work gathering up the few belongings I have here in Star Falls. It’s just toiletries and clothes, but it’s nothing I can afford to sacrifice.
My Snail Trail bag full, we head out. “But Athena. I don’t know where she is,” I say.
“She’ll turn up. Or maybe she went back to whoever she lived with before she turned up here.”
“And maybe she’s frozen and vulnerable, hiding somewhere.”
“Shit, Rosey.” He pulls out his phone and starts to type. “There. I messaged a couple of people to keep an eye out. Bring her food in case she comes back. We gotta go.”
I hand him my bag of belongings and grab the cat food. We both brace ourselves for the storm as we head to Byron’s cabin.
FIFTEEN
Rosey
Byron’s cabin is an exact replica of mine, but it still feels weird being here. With him. He’s my boss, but it doesn’t feel like he has all the power. It feels more like we’re at the end of a date—minus the tornado threat. That can’t be a good sign. I need to focus on the impending disaster rather than the guy who came down the mountain just in time to… rescue me?
“Help yourself to whatever you need,” Byron says, as if an incoming tornado is a regular occurrence. “There’s hot chocolate on the counter. Should I make us some?”
“You think we’re going to be safe?” I ask, glancing out the window. The rain sounds less like it’s falling and more like it’s attacking the cabin with pickaxes.
He catches my eye, holds my gaze and says, “You’re safe now. It’s going to be okay.”
My stomach lurches. Does he mean tonight or forever?
But of course, I know the answer.
I break eye contact. “I’ll make the drinks,” I say. The least I can do is make myself useful. “Thank you so much for helping me,” I call out as Byron heads into the bedroom. “And letting me stay here.”
He reappears in dry clothes with a towel in his hand. “It’s not a big deal. This is the pre-storm. It’s going to get worse.” He rubs a towel against his wet hair, leaving him looking adorably mussed.
“Of course it’s a big deal. I’d be completely on my own if you hadn’t shown up.”
“I didn’t expect the rain this early,” he says.
“I didn’t think I’d need to worry about tornadoes in Colorado.” I pour hot milk into mugs and try not to think about Byron’s worn gray joggers, or the way their low-slung position on his hips should carry an R rating.
“Was that part of your criteria when you were deciding where to come to after the wed— You know?”
I smile at him trying to say the right thing, which is impossible when talking about how I ran out of my wedding. My situation is so ridiculous. He’s not the one who should feel awkward.
“Honestly, I just got on the first plane out once I got to the airport. I didn’t care where I was headed. But Colorado… I don’t hate it. Star Falls, I mean. It’s not like I’ve seen anywhere else in the state other than the airport and whatever I caught through the bus window. But it’s beautiful here. It must have been nice growing up with the mountains in the background.”
“I guess,” he says, in a way that makes me think he doesn’t feel lucky about any aspect of his childhood. He scrapes his fingers through his hair, his biceps flexing as he does.