Her grandmother nodded. “Thank you. I'm really into this book and now I won't have to stop reading to make dinner.” Then she smiled. “Have a good time. I'll see you in the morning.”
The drive up the mountain filled Harper with anxiety. It wasn't just seeing Nash again that put her stomach in knots. Flashes of memory appeared before her eyes as she rounded the corner where her car had gone over the side of the embankment. She kept thinking she was seeing an animal run in front of her, when there wasn’t anything there. It was just phantom images in her mind.
She hadn't really remembered much of the accident. She remembered rolling, being hit in the head with something that had been in her car that had gone airborne. And she remembered that feeling of hanging and being trapped in the seat belt. The rental car she had now took the road easy. She still wasn't familiar with it like she was with the car she’d been driving for years. The only difference between then and today was that the roads were now bare. There was still snow on the side of the road the higher she got up the mountain.
She finally reached the cabin and parked her car next to Nash’s truck. He had no idea she was coming. For all she knew, he was out hiking somewhere in the mountains and wouldn't be back for hours. Hiking in the dark didn't seem like something that bothered him or would disorient him the way it did so many tourists who ended up getting lost in the mountains. Harper couldn't even count how many calls she'd had over the years where someone had gone missing. Luckily most everyone was found a day or two later, worse for the wear, but alive. Most of them.
Rescuers found those people because someone cared enough to know that person was out there in the woods. They would call into the station worried if their loved one was late.
Who was worried about Nash? Who was making sure that he returned home safely? Maybe he called into his team and they kept track of his whereabouts. He hadn't been concerned at all when they'd been together during the blizzard. He could be out there struggling and stuck in the snow like they had been after the avalanche. But instead of it being precious minutes, it could be days or weeks before anyone found him.
“Knock it off, Harper,” she said as she climbed out of the car. “Leave the lasagna if he is not here. If he doesn't come back, then a grizzly will eat it.”
She pushed the door to the back seat open and grabbed the tray of lasagna on the floor. She should have thought of that. The grizzlies. There was an abundance of wildlife in the area. You couldn’t go hiking in the woods in the mountains without being startled by a grizzly on one of the hiking paths. She'd even once come down from a hike at another location and found a grizzly standing right next to her friend’s car in the parking lot. They were here. How would anyone know if Nash had fallen victim?
With the tray of lasagna in her hands, she shut the car door with her hip.
“He's a survivalist, Harper. For God’s sake, you sound like a lunatic.”
“We'll that's something new,” she heard Nash say from somewhere nearby.
Harper swung around and looked for him. He was close enough to hear her, but she couldn't see him. A few seconds later, he peered out from behind the cabin with a big grin on his face. “I don't recall you talking to yourself so very much when you stayed here.”
“You heard me?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Well, I never claimed to be sane.”
“I don't know if I would go that far,” he said.
An awkward silence fell between them. And then she remembered the tray in her hand.
“Since you didn't get a chance to sample some really good food, I thought I'd bring this over for you.”
“Oh, but I did.”
Her shoulders sagged. “That's right. You were at the potluck. There was lots of good food there.”
“I meant your food.”
She frowned. “You did?”
“Word was you made some pretty awesome chicken wings. Award-winning, I think one of the firefighters said. I managed to grab the last three left in the tray. I had some of that dessert you made too.”
He tapped his hand on the stomach as if eating three chicken wings and a little bit of trifle made him fat. There was nothing at all out of shape about this man. Nash Webber was lean, muscular, and so appealing that Harper almost had to look away because it was too painfully obvious what her reaction to him was.
“Well, then I guess you don't need the lasagna after all.”
“I never said that. I would never say that. I’ve been out all day and I’m really hungry. I'm glad you stopped by.”
He looked at her for a few moments. She recognized that look of appreciation in him. She’d seen it before. She’d been standing by the stove just putting a pot of water on to boil and he’d just looked at her from across the room.
“Are you just going to stand there letting that lasagna get cold or should we go inside and taste just how good it is?”
“It’s good.”
His smile widened. “That’s for me to decide.”
* * *
Harper thought it would feel awkward to be back in the cabin again after what had transpired between her and Nash. But in way, it felt strangely comforting, as it had the night Nash had brought her here after the accident.
It had to be the place, the memories, and everything familiar about the cabin that gave her courage now. Her parents were here. Their love surrounded her. All the anxiety she'd had driving up the mountain seemed to dissipate. She was a guest here, and yet, she still felt so comfortable even after everything that had
