Wilma was gracious and told me that she knew the social services office in the next county might be a place that would be more suitable for me. I explained that my license from New York didn’t transfer and that I’d need to go through a lot of paperwork to get licensed in the state of Tennessee. I preferred to start working right away.
The interview went well and though I didn’t walk out with a bona fide offer of employment, I was pretty sure I would get the job.
I still hadn’t talked to Sammi for any real length of time yet, only explaining the basics of what happened and promising details later. As soon as I got in my house and changed into sweatpants, I pulled up her contact and called her.
“So, you mean to tell me,” she said after I had given her a slightly more detailed overview of the week so far, “that you got yourself lost in the woods and a dark, brooding, hunky mountain man saved your life? And you didn’t get laid?”
I laughed, shaking my head. Sammi was nothing if not predictably vulgar.
“No, I did not get laid,” I said. “He was a perfect gentleman the entire time, if a little gruff.”
Sammi sighed dramatically on the other end.
“I don’t know about you sometimes, Desiree,” she said. “You literally lucked yourself back to life and into the home of a Hallmark Christmas movie and then acted like a nun. I would have jumped his bones a few hours in if he was as hot as you’re describing him.”
I didn’t realize I had described him as especially hot. He was, of course, but I think Sammi had done some creative filling in of details.
“I just don’t know how to pay him back,” I said. “I tried to give him money, but he refused. Said he only wanted me to text him that I got home. Like I said, he was extremely sweet.”
“I know a way you could make it up to him,” Sammi said.
“No, Sammi, I am not going to show up at his door in lingerie with a bow on my head.” I giggled.
“I never said anything about the lingerie. I’d be standing on his doorstep buck naked.”
“There it is,” I said. “Why don’t I bake him some cookies? Men love cookies.”
“They sure do,” Sammi laughed.
“As in baked goods, you.”
She giggled again, and I sighed.
“I miss you,” I said.
“I miss you too,” she replied. “Next time don’t go in the mountain without your phone, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After I got off the phone, I figured I should head up to the store and see if I could find some materials for baking cookies. I didn’t have any of it yet. There was a beaten-up old baking sheet that was left in a cabinet, but it wasn’t ideal for making a batch of cookies. Plus, I hadn’t yet bought flour and eggs and milk. My initial grocery run had been a bit haphazard.
Since the day was getting away from me quickly, I decided one trip out of the house in yoga pants wouldn’t kill me, and I slipped some on rather than wait for the slacks or jeans that were currently in the insanely tiny washing machine at the moment.
Once I got to the grocery store, I realized I had no idea what kind of cookies to make the man. I didn’t even know if he liked cookies at all. From the look of him, he was the type of guy who did a lot of exercising and probably didn’t eat too many excess calories or carbs. If he ever ate any at all.
Grabbing a cart and going around the store, I decided I should make a little bit of a couple of different kinds. He had to like at least one of them.
After I checked out with my full cart, I headed home and had to take three trips to get everything in from the car. As soon as I was in, I turned on a movie, filled a large glass with wine, and started separating the ingredients for what I was internally calling the Great Italian Girl Baking Competition With Herself. The title was a mouthful, but nothing else was descriptive enough.
It took the entire film to get the cookies mixed and put on the three baking sheets I bought at the store and stuck them in the oven. A small bowl of chocolate chips and a bit of unbaked dough made their way with me to the couch where I put on a show, drank, ate, and tried desperately not to fantasize about showing up at Aiden’s place in a bow.
9
Aiden
The downside to the blizzard being as intense as it was and then dying off so quickly was that I was prepared for a long lockdown. Except now I didn’t really have any reason to stay in the cabin all the time. The weather folks weren’t calling for any more snow for at least a week. And while there was still plenty of snow on the ground on the mountain itself, the roads were mostly clear, which meant the town had gone back to life as normal already. Folks in Ashford were used to snow and had no need to hunker down just because the blizzard happened suddenly.