Holiday Hideout (Polar Bear, Alaska)

“Funny how those things work, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

We talk a few more minutes and then I have to end it. “Let me let you go, because Rachel and I are going to a glacier.”

“Oooh, have fun.”

“It isn’t like that, at all.” Even though every bone in my body wants it to be just like that.

After I hang up with my sister, I put on another pair of socks to wear out to the glacier. I can’t believe how many people live here in the cold.

When I came to Alaska to hide from the press, I didn’t think through what it would be like to live here. I figured I’d watch movies, chop firewood, and live my best recluse life. I never realized how much there is to learn about living in extreme weather.

“Are you ready to go?” Rachel asks when I step out of my bedroom. She takes one look at me and laughs. “You look like the abominable snowman.”

“I fluffed up.” Sure, I may have thrown on a few extra layers to stay warm while we’re on the glacier. “It’s manly, right?”

She laughs harder, and it’s adorable. “It’s supposed to be warm today.”

I laugh, loud and short. “I highly doubt that.”

“Ok, well, when we get up there, you’ll start shedding those layers.” She snaps her mouth shut and her cheeks tinge pink.

Hopefully, she’s thinking about me undressing around her. Something I’d be happy to do for her, if she ever requests it.

I try to pull up all the reasons I can’t get involved with Rachel, but they fade with each smile she casts my way.

“I doubt that, too.”

She laughs and grabs her things, and we head outside to her Jeep.

“Ready?” she asks as she starts the engine.

“As I’ll ever be.”

I don’t know what to expect about being on a glacier, but I’m excited to be out of my element and trying new things. Trinity never wanted to do new things. I once offered to take her rock climbing, but she complained about messing up her nails, and we never spoke of rock climbing ever again.

“Polar Bear is a lot different from LA, huh?” Rachel asks as she drives through the town.

“Yeah,” I say, peering out my window.

It’s the first time I’ve seen it, and it’s definitely small. But it has a quintessential charm. When I flew into town, I didn’t even bother looking out the cab windows, trying my hardest to remain as hidden as possible. I should have looked because this town is fascinating. Each building is topped with lights twinkling below the frosted snow caps on their roof. Green garland with enormous red bows drape across the street creating a tunnel to drive underneath. Pine trees decked out with Christmas ornaments decorate the storefronts, and the whole place feels like a Thomas Kincade winter painting. I’m just waiting for a horse-drawn sleigh to slide by.

“Does Santa live here?”

Rachel laughs. “What? No, he lives in the North Pole, silly.”

“I swear this is secretly the North Pole. Look,” I point my finger out the window. “That’s a candy cane.”

Rachel smiles. “That’s not a candy cane.”

“Yes, it is. There’s a candy cane on that building.”

“It’s a barber pole.”

“A what?”

“A barber pole. Many barber shops have them.”

“I’ve never seen one.”

“Yes, it used to symbolize blood and bandages, or something crazy like that.”

I laugh. “I don’t believe you.” I pull out my phone to Google a barber pole. “Red to represent the blood and white to represent the bandages used to stem the bleeding from bloodletting.” I shut my phone off. “Interesting.”

“See, no Santa.”

I point out the window again. “Well, explain that.” I point to a snow-covered wooden cabin with puffs of smoking floating from the chimney.

“That’s just a shop.”

I laugh when I read the sign. “It even says ‘Santa’s Workshop’ on the sign.”

“Well, it’s not the real Santa’s workshop.”

“How can you be so sure?”

She doesn’t say anything right away as she drives through the town, until finally she says, “Well, I guess I can’t.”

A few miles further down the road, I turn in my seat. “So, what kind of wild animals can I expect to find on this glacier.”

“We shouldn’t run into any.”

“No polar bears?”

She shakes her head. “We shouldn’t.”

“You don’t sound very confident.”

“Like I said, we should be ok.”

My nerves twist. “Should I be afraid?”

“I’ll keep you safe,” she says.

“I should be the one saying that to you.”

She smiles, and I stare a beat too long at the way her mouth curves. Her lips are kissably sweet, and I wonder for a moment what they taste like.

And who will keep me safe from her.

Eight

Rachel

* * *

The temperature inside my Jeep is at an all-time high. It has everything to do with the man sitting next to me, and nothing to do with the temperature gauge.

I wish I could undo the way he makes me feel.