As for shoveling snow, June hadn’t believed in physical labor. It was the way she’d been raised, with a silver spoon in her mouth. And as luxurious as this cabin may be, June wouldn’t have voluntarily come here. She liked touring the small villages, but she preferred staying in the city or at the ski resorts. He’d never had a problem with her choices because when she had been happy, he’d been happy.
But maybe there was more to life. A different way of being. Maybe happiness didn’t have to be a one-sided venture. A bit of give-and-take sounded appealing—
Stop! What was he going on about this for? It wasn’t like he would ever see Mae and her glorious strawberry blonde hair after he got away from here. It still bothered him that he couldn’t place her face. You’d think that a knockout like Mae would stick out in his memory. Maybe it was the accident. He didn’t say anything to Mae because he didn’t want to worry her, but that had to be the source of his headaches and his fascination with her.
In the three years, five months and eleven days that he’d been with June, he’d never willed her to be anything other than what she was—the woman that loved him. When she’d looked at him, the love had shone in her eyes. No one had ever looked at him that way. Their relationship may not have been perfect, but they’d found a way to make it work.
He jerked his thoughts to a halt. What was the matter with him? Why was he comparing June to Mae?
While Mae was nothing like June, there was something about her—a vulnerability that drew him near. She’d been wounded in the past and was leery of trusting him. They had that in common—the lack of trust. After havi
ng loved with all his heart and losing June so quickly, he was wary of letting anyone get close to him. Until now, he hadn’t given much thought to how he kept people at arm’s length. Maybe it was something they both needed to work on.
Jackson made his way to the kitchen. He may not be any help outside, but he could still whip up a mean breakfast. He pulled open the fridge door to find the shelves loaded with food. Wow! This place was certainly well stocked, or else his beautiful hostess had bought a lot of food for just herself and her dog.
Leaning on one leg tired him quickly, but he refused to give in. He would have a lovely meal ready for Mae. She deserved it. He just wished it would ease his guilty conscience, but preparing breakfast with bacon, eggs, hash browns and pancakes did not even come close to the task of shoveling all that snow.
But thanks to Mae’s efforts, he’d soon be getting out of here. The storm was almost over and the road would be opened. And none too soon because he still had to film the segments for the holiday special. He had no idea where his crew was, but they were resilient. He was certain they would have hunkered down for the storm. And as soon as the cell phone service was reestablished, they’d make contact.
However, the holiday special was bothering him. He was better than puff pieces. He wanted to do more substantial segments—the type of investigative reporting that they featured on the evening news. But before he could do that, he had to get a story that would grab the network bigwigs’ attention.
He thought of the avalanche. That was a story, but without something more like hikers or skiers trapped, it wouldn’t go anywhere. Instead of playing where-in-the-world-is-Jackson? he needed to be tracking down a headline-making story—
“What smells so good?”
He turned from his place at the stove to find Mae standing in the doorway. But she was frowning, not smiling like he’d envisioned. “What’s the matter? Did you hurt yourself?”
“The problem is you. You shouldn’t be in here hobbling around.”
“I figured you’d work up an appetite.”
“I told you I would make food when I came inside.”
“And I thought I would surprise you. So...surprise.” He grinned brightly, hoping to lighten the mood.
And still there was no smile on her face. It bothered him because she was so gorgeous when she smiled. He remembered how hard it used to be to make June smile when she got in one of her moods. But he’d always persevered until he won out and eventually June would smile at him. Because when he’d said his wedding vows, he’d meant every single word. He would not get a divorce like his parents. He would not fail.
But Mae was not June. Why should he care if she smiled or not?
“Go sit down. I’ll finish this,” she said.
“It’s done. I just have to put this last pancake on the plate. By the way, your fridge was well stocked. I hope you don’t mind that I helped myself.”
She washed up and then followed him to the kitchen table. “No. I was worried that it would all go bad. So thanks for helping me to put it to good use.”
Once they were seated at the table next to a bank of windows, Mae’s gaze skimmed over all the serving dishes heaped with food. “Who’s going to eat all of this?”
“Arff! Arff!”
They both laughed at Gizmo’s quick response.
“It appears that Gizmo worked up an appetite, too,” Jackson said.
“I don’t know how that could be when he spent the entire time sitting on the porch. He refused to get off it, even after I shoveled out an area in the yard just for him.”
Gizmo yawned and whined at the same time.
They both smiled at the animated pooch. Maybe Gizmo wasn’t so bad—at least when he wasn’t running loose and causing car accidents.