Page 39 of After Hours Lectures

“Me too.” He grinned and handed over his camera. “Given we are surrounded by nothing but snow, how about we practice white balance that we went over in class?”

“All right.” I adjusted the setting for white balance and took a few shots of the trees with the frozen lake in the background. The sun was peeking through the branches and at just the right angle, it created a sunburst. “Who knew snow could be so beautiful?”

“It is. Let me see what you captured.”

I handed him the camera and he scrolled through the few images. “Wow, Tyler. You either have a real knack for photography or I’m an excellent teacher.”

“How about both?” I teased.

“I’m really in awe every time I look at your pictures.”

My heart swelled. “Thanks, teach.” I winked.

“What happened to sir?” he challenged.

I took a step closer to him. “You really do like it when I call you sir, huh?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think we have time to act on it.” Hayden looked at his phone. “We need to leave here in an hour if I’m going to get you back in time. How about we shovel the driveway since we’re already out here and then head inside so we can warm up?”

“Sounds good to me,” I replied, but held out hope we’d have time to warm up by sharing body heat once we were done.

“According to the rental website, there’s supposed to be a shovel out here somewhere.”

“It’s probably in there.” I pointed to a small tool shed at the corner of the house.

Opening the door, I saw two shovels inside, and we each grabbed one. When we reached the driveway, I pushed the blade fully into the white powder, but then struggled to lift it. “Damn, this is heavy.”

Hayden laughed. “Have you ever shoveled snow before?”

“Uh, no,” I replied sheepishly. “I grew up in San Diego, remember?”

“Okay, Cali boy.” I bristled at the nickname. No one from California referred to it as Cali. “The key is to only partially fill the shovel.”

We got going, clearing a few feet and then Hayden said, “I hope the plow comes to clear the road soon.”

“They won’t be by until tomorrow morning,” a voice called out from the other side of the driveway.

“Are you sure?” Hayden asked the older man standing on the porch next door.

“I’ve lived here for thirty years, and they’ve never come on a Sunday,” he replied.

“Shit,” I grumbled. “What are we going to do?”

He thought for a moment. “I better call the rental company to add on another night. Looks like I’ll have to drive you home tomorrow, and I need to cancel class.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll text Fallon and ask him to grab my stuff from our room.”

“Was he the one driving you back?”

“We actually rode up with Ford,” I replied.

“The ex?”

“Yeah.” I sighed.

The drivers and who would ride with them had been arranged before winter break, and rather than change it up, which would cause questions among the brothers, Fallon and I decided to stick with the original plan of going with Ford. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. Unfortunately, Ford managed to make it awkward. Even though I’d told him I was seeing someone else, he kept stealing glances at me in the rear-view mirror while he drove, but Hayden didn’t need to know that.

“Interesting,” he muttered.