“What the hell are you doing here?”
My heart was pounding in my chest and I did not want to show him how much he intimidated me. Putting our past aside, I didn’t appreciate the way that he was talking to me, no matter how irate he was. Why was he asking me why I was here anyway? He wasn’t scheduled to be here either.
“I’m working. Missy asked me to be here early to stage some sets for you guys ahead of time.”
“She sent you here alone?”
“No, not originally. Plans changed at the last minute what she had to go to the hospital so I just caught a commercial flight instead of waiting for the rest of them. I got a rental car up here because I was here anyway, why wait to do it later. Weren’t you supposed to arrive tomorrow as well?”
“Well, Missy’s little doctor’s appointment messed up everybody’s plans then. I was going to fly with Easton but he always wanted to be with Missy so I figured I would come up here and crash for the night.” Could he sound any more bitter? He and Toby were close, Missy told me they were best friends. Why wasn’t he more sympathetic? It wasn’t just a little doctor’s appointment either. What the hell was he going to say if the news came back and it was something serious?
My mouth fell open and I quickly closed it. That had been my plan as well. Well, truthfully I was looking forward to going straight to the resort but after getting here and finding out that the reported ‘cabin in the woods’ was actually a very clean, cozy, and well-appointed ‘cottage in a forest’, I had thought about sparing myself the drive.
Toby being here was a pretty strong deterrent though, no matter how nice this place was.
What were the chances?
I had fully played out the fantasy of waking up in the morning and standing on the verandah, watching the first snow of the winter come down as I sipped something warm. Toby was about as warm as a blizzard.
Part of the reason why I agreed to come on this trip was that I was sure there were several options for me to be able to avoid Toby if I needed to. He was the furthest thing from my mind until he showed up.
I took a second to think it over logically. The place had a number of bedrooms, I had checked. We could easily avoid each other as long as we weren’t using the kitchen or other common areas at the same time and since the cabin had two floors and was spacious, we could probably do it. He would however remain a constant presence that I wouldn’t be able to shake.
On the other hand, he had shown up and I couldn’t pretend I was the owner of this place for a night anymore but that was okay. All he was doing was robbing me of the night at a cute mountain cabin, and instead forcing me to have a night at a luxury resort. It was literally impossible to lose. He didn’t seem that keen on staying so I’d see what he decided and choose the opposite.
“Well, don’t let me get in your way.” I didn’t stick around to wait for his answer. I wanted to get away from him but I wasn’t lying when I said I had work to do.
I still couldn’t believe that he was here. I really hated the way I randomly remembered our night together at the most inopportune moments. Of course, he could never find out about that. How embarrassing. I was thinking about him every other night, meanwhile, he was turning the prettiest women in the city into notches on his bedpost.
He was a hookup. Some dick for the night because I was desperate. He had no right to matter that much to me. You know what? In the past five or so minutes that I had been thinking about him, I had literally lost five minutes thinking about him. He wasn’t worth it. One night over a month ago and that was that.
I went back to the living room where I had been working. The cabin was completely furnished and clean when I showed up, but Missy had sent me with some extra accents and props, besides the wardrobe to have available for the shoot tomorrow. I figured they would want indoor and outdoor shots of the guys since the area was so nice, so I had been prepping the living area to look more like a set. When they moved it outside, they would likely use more natural elements.
I kept working until I couldn’t ignore my hunger anymore. It was well past lunch when I planned to take a break. Toby had thrown me completely off. I went to the kitchen, wondering whether I’d be lucky or whether I would have to make a long drive to find food. I wasn’t thinking about having food on-site when I came up because originally, I had intended to head to the resort after this.
The cabinets weren’t bare but they weren’t overflowing either. Bread, oatmeal, some milk, cheese, some stuff in cans, bottled water, deli meat, enough to throw together a sandwich at least. The meal wouldn’t be gourmet but it would get the job done. I was looking for a plate when I glanced out the window.
Snow.
Wait a minute, it was too early in the year for snow, that was what Missy had told me. I went up to the window to get a better look. Thick, heavy flakes fell from the sky at a shocking velocity. I ran to the front door and let myself out. Snow was blanketing the driveway and front lawn, making piles on both the cars.
The wind howled loudly, and it looked like it was midnight, even though it was still the afternoon. I went back inside. It was a storm. Nothing in the weather report said anything about this. Winter was coming and snow tended to come earlier this high in the mountains but it was too early for that. I was confused. I had warm enough clothes but it was coming down so hard, this wasn’t normal.
My phone rang as I stumbled back into the kitchen. I ran to the living room to find it.
“Missy?”
“Hi, is everything okay out there? I just heard the news,” she said. Sliding glass doors opened up to the verandah off the living room. I went and stood at the doors peering out at the storm brewing outside.
“News?” I asked.
“A storm. Blizzard. We just had our flight rerouted to Denver because it's expected to get really bad. You’re okay at the resort, right?” she asked. I wanted to laugh because I should have been.
My eyes watched the snow outside. I wasn’t supposed to be here right now. It seemed like the best plan in the beginning, but then Toby showed up, and now this. Everything, even the damn weather was telling me this was a mistake and now there was nothing I could do about it. I walked back into the kitchen.
“Uhm, how did you know there was a blizzard?” I asked foolishly.
“It was just supposed to be rain but a storm that was expected further north dipped too low.” Ah, well that made sense. Rain I could have dealt with. Snow was something else.