"Either would be fine with me, so your choice."
"All right then."
"And wine," we both said in unison as we looked across at one another. There was definitely a tension between us that hadn’t been there before.
Once the food had been delivered and the wine had started flowing, the tension dropped between us, the conversation never stopping. She told me all about her day shopping, the things she had seen and some things she had purchased. I shared with her all about my day, told her about the ski shop I had found. The more I talked about it, I was sure I almost had her convinced to take lessons once we got to the skiing part of our trip.
She sat across from me, running her fingers around the rim of her wine glass, her eyes glued to mine as I spoke. Yet when I brought up the offer of teaching her to ski again, she shook her head no.
"Seriously, I'm a disaster on two feet. I don't want to end up in a body cast." She laughed as she took the last sip of her wine.
My eyes ran from her eyes to her lips and back again. "Do you honestly think I'd let that happen?" I questioned as I slipped my credit card into the billfold.
“What are you doing?” she asked, reaching for the billfold I’d placed on the edge of the table.
“Uh, what does it look like?” I said, picking it back up and handing it to the server who’d appeared at the perfect time.
"Maddox, you're not paying for dinner!" she exclaimed quietly, leaning forward in her seat.
"Oh but I am. She already took my card.” I laughed. “Now, seriously, do you really think I would let you get hurt out on the hills?" I questioned.
She shook her head, looking rather bothered at the fact that I insisted on paying for dinner. “No, I know you wouldn’t,” she answered as I filled her glass with the last of the wine.
“Then what is the problem?” I asked, picking up my empty glass and holding it up in a mock cheer, smiling at her.
We stepped out onto the sidewalk, and I went to hail a cab, but Tess grabbed my arm, stopping me. "How about we walk back?"
Snow was gently falling from the sky, then I looked over at her, down to her heels, and shook my head. “Tess, you aren’t exactly dressed for an evening stroll in the cold and snow."
"I'll be fine. I had all that wine. Plus, it's so pretty with the snow falling," she said, holding her hand up to catch the falling flakes. “Please?”
"It is beautiful," I said, complimenting her more than our surroundings. "I guess we can walk back. Just be careful okay," I said quietly, looking around at the empty street, testing the sidewalks to see if they were slippery.
“I will be.”
We'd taken a couple of steps when Tess stepped on a patch of ice and went flying. I scrambled to catch her before she went down, and wrapped my arms around her waist just in time. She let out a scream followed by a laugh. "Stupid ice," she muttered.
"Are you okay?" I asked, standing her up and steadying her.
"Yeah, I'm good. Now you don’t have to wonder why I won’t ski.”
“Yeah, but I caught you, didn’t I.”
“You did, so I guess you were right. You probably wouldn't let anything happen to me on that hill." She laughed.
"I told you," I answered, winking at her, making sure she was steady on her feet before releasing my grip on her.
She was just about to take a step forward when I held my arm out for her to take, which she wrapped hers through and held onto. Words seemed to stop flowing as we walked through the streets. We'd only gotten to the end of the block when I felt her shiver against me.
"Here," I said, stopping, removing my jacket.
"No, you need that. Don't be silly. I'm fine. I just need to adjust my shall." I watched as she pulled it around herself a little tighter.
"That flimsy thing? Tess, I'm fine," I insisted, holding the jacket open, waiting for her to slide into it as she shivered again.
She looked up at me but didn't argue. She rubbed her arms before sliding one arm and then the next into my coat, wrapping it around her. Then she slid her arm through mine and we continued our walk back to the hotel. She surprised me when she rested her head against my shoulder as we walked. If I were being honest with myself, I didn’t want the night to end, and it didn’t seem to take long and we were walking into the lobby of our hotel. "Did you want any more wine?" I asked before we approached the elevator.
She innocently shook her head in a yes motion, and I held my finger up and made my way to the front desk, asking them to have one delivered to the room. Then I made my way back over to Tess just in time for the elevator door to open.