Page 85

“It might not be pretty.”
“If we really wanted it to get ugly, I could tell Winnie.”
Thatfinally got a smile out of Alden. “You think she would be on our side?”
“She’s the one who told me to go after you at that party.”
“Really? She didn’t say anything about the age gap?”
“It’s four years, not four decades. And we were on the same level intellectually at that point.”
“Are you calling me dumb?”
“I’m callingmesmart,” I replied and squeezed his hand. “It’s not gonna be a huge deal.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Enough about my dumbass brother. What are you going to do?”
“I need to be sure Ryan is okay at my house. I bet he had a frustrating week of people getting their asses injured.”
“And I need toseethe park,” I said. “I can’t believe I’ve never been.”
“You’d like it. It’s quiet, just like here.”
“I need that,” I said. “Will you show me around?”
“Of course I will.”
I couldn’t resist the smile on my face. This wasn’t going to end just because we were free. The door was open for me to know every part of this man, and I wasn’t going to deny myself that. I polished off my muffin in a few bites and stood. “All right. I’ve eaten. Let’s go shovel.”
“Are you excited to leave?”
“Yes,” I nearly groaned. “I loved having time to ourselves, but I’d like to at least seesomeof my family for Christmas, or whatever we’re calling the day after.”
We walked into the cold and got the driveway shoveled. It was hard work since her driveway was so long, but the slush wasn’t as stuck as it would have been if it were still below zero.
Once that was done, we walked to his truck, where we both tried to get all the snow off it. It took a long time to shove it out of every crevice, but eventually, it was cleared and we could get in.
I glanced at the back seat with a grin.
“What are you thinking about?” Alden asked.
“Oh, memories. Think we could still fit back there?”
“We could try,” he said with a smile. “But first, let’s see if I can get this thing out of this ditch.”
We slid more than I had anticipated, but eventually, the truck pulled onto the road. Despite there being tire tracks, the few turns we took to get to Amma’s were accompanied with terrifying slides, and I hoped we had an easy time getting out of here and into the city.
“We can’t stay after it gets dark,” he said. “All of this will be frozen over by then.”
“Let’s clean up a little and then find Amma. We should be able to make the walk to Hank’s house.”
We didn’t waste time. He helped me clean up the mess we’d made. We folded blankets and took out the trash. When we were done, it was already the afternoon.
“Okay,” I said, grabbing a jacket, “time to go find?—”
I was interrupted by the front door opening. Amma’s short form walked through. She was in a jacket too big for her, with snow-covered shoes.