“Damn, if looks could kill,” he says.
“Then you would have been dead months ago.”
“Got it. Wedding is over, no need to pretend we like each other. But Sarah mentioned you don’t like driving when it’s snowing”
This is true.
“Did you notice the big snowflakes falling when you opened the door and then tried slamming it in my face?”
“No, Troy, I didn’t. I was too busy trying to avoid you.”
“Fair enough, but the roads are covered, and it’s a thirty-minute drive on the interstate to return the suits.”
“Ok, then I’ll go tomorrow,” I tell him, turning around to lie down and cover myself again.
“I can drive. I don’t mind. I kind of wanted to go to the cookie place, and I need to pick something up for my mom from the feed store.”
Sarah took me to the cookie store, Cookies and Dough, last time I was here. They have edible cookie dough by the tubs or in cones and giant cookies. I could go for a tub of dough.
“Fine,” I sit back up. “But only because I want cookie dough, and I don’t want to ask any favors of you.”
“Not that I would. We are leaving in ten minutes. Better hustle,” I hear him say as he walks down the hall.
Well, since it is snowing, I don’t really have a variety of things to wear. I throw on some black lined leggings, a long sleeve red shirt and my furry boots. I split my hair down the middle putting it into pigtails before cramming a beanie on my head.
“I’m ready. But I need to go check on the animals first.”
“You ever driven the four-wheeler in the snow?” he asks.
“No, but how hard can it be?”
I leave the house through the back door. First, I check all the feeders in the back yard and top any off that need it. When I go around the side of the house, Troy is there, on the four-wheeler.
“Hop on,” he says.
Why is this man such a pain?
“I told you, I think I can handle it.”
“Oh, let me help a little. They are my friends’ animals, too.”
I climb onto the back of the four-wheeler, grabbing the bars that are along the sides. But they are so cold, it stings, and I pull back instantly with a yelp.
Troy laughs then cranks over the engine. “Hold on to my jacket,” he says.
He moves, and I immediately donotregret letting him drive. It feels like cold needles on my skin. I tuck my face behind his shoulder and dig my hands into the pocket of his hoodie. Gloves, I need to get gloves.
The ducks and chickens are all huddled together in their coops. Grayson built them coops that look like tiny houses that have heaters inside of them. I fill their food and check the rest of the yard for the llama.
“Frank!” I yell. That’s the llama’s name. Cracks me up. His head peeks around the side of one of the mini houses.
“You hungry dude?” I ask him as I bring some hay over to his feeder. “There ya go.” Frank walks over and I hug his neck. He’s the sweetest thing.
“You guys and gals be good. I’ll check on you before bed.”
I walk back to where Troy parked, keeping my head down so the slight breeze doesn’t freeze my face off. I glance up to make sure I am going the right way, and Troy is watching me, a smile on his smug face.
“Stop,” I say as I get to him