Love Storm (5 page)

“That’s alright.
 
I’ve
got it,” Brooklyn said with a tiny laugh as she moved to the nearby staircase
and flipped on the hallway light.
 

“Thanks,” he said, moving in Brooklyn’s direction.
 
He stopped just a few feet from where she
stood at the foot of the stairs.
 
“So are
you going to be okay up there?” he asked politely.
 
“You can take the master bedroom if you’d
like.
 
I don’t mind moving my stuff
upstairs.”

“No, it’s fine really.
 
I usually stay in one of the upstairs bedrooms anyway.”

“Okay,” he nodded slightly.
 
“Well, I guess I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“Okay.”
 
She gave him
a slight smile.
 
“Good night, Ryan.”

“Good night.”

She started up the steps as Ryan turned toward the master
bedroom, but on the third step she hesitated.
 
“Ryan.”

He turned.

“Um, I just wanted to say thanks.”

He cocked his head to the side, eying her curiously.

“For tonight I mean, for being so nice
about…everything.
 
And well, you
know….”
 
She trailed off, assuming he would
know what she meant
.
 
For not bringing up the huge elephant in the
room.
 
His eyes widened slightly as
he seemed to grasp what she was implying, and for a split second she wanted to
kick herself for saying anything at all.
 
But then, as she watched, he smiled slightly and his expression grew
warm, almost tender.

Knowing exactly what she was referring to, Ryan smiled
understandingly and then gave her a playful wink to lighten the moment.

Brooklyn smiled back shyly, feeling an almost overwhelming
sense of relief flood through her.
 
Then,
turning away, she continued slowly up the stairs.

He told himself not to do it, but after hesitating for a few
seconds, he did it anyway.
 
“Brooklyn.”

His voice stopped her just a few feet from the upper
landing, and as she glanced over the smooth wooden railing, she saw him still
standing there below, looking up at her.

“Just so you know,” he began softly, his eyes locked on
hers, “sending you away that night…was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had
to do.”
 
Then, with a rueful smile, he
turned and slowly walked away.

She stood there for several seconds after he’d gone, and for
several more seconds after she heard the latch click into place on the master
bedroom door, unable to move, her heart in her throat.
 
Then, moments later, when she was finally
able to unlock her frozen limbs, she climbed the last few steps.
 
In a daze, she walked into the bedroom and
quietly shut the door behind her.
 
Without turning on the light, she moved to the bed and sat down heavily
on the edge of the mattress, replaying Ryan’s words over and over in her
mind.
 
Had he meant what she thought he
meant?
 
Was it possible that Julia had
been right all along?
 
Had he rejected
her, not because he hadn’t been attracted to her, but because of his friendship
with her over-protective brother-in-law?
 
Could it be, or was he just trying to make her feel better?

Lying back on the bed, Brooklyn stared up at the ceiling,
her thoughts suddenly spinning in a crazy whirl.
 

When Brooklyn entered the kitchen the following morning, she
found Ryan sitting at the kitchen table holding a steaming cup of coffee.
 
He was watching the morning news on the
flat-panel television mounted on the opposite wall, but turned toward her as
she walked in.
 
Apparently the satellite
dish was working again, she noted.

“Good morning,” he greeted.
 
“Did you sleep well?”

After his parting
comment the night before?
 
No she
hadn’t slept well.
 
“Yeah, I slept
great.
 
You?”
 
She eyed Ryan’s light blue, long-sleeved button
front shirt, wishing she’d had something nicer to wear than jeans and a
pullover sweatshirt, but unfortunately her options had been limited.
 
If she’d known she would be spending the next
several days with a drop-dead gorgeous football stud, she would have packed
differently.

“Like a rock,” he lied.
 
He wondered what she would think if she had even the slightest idea that
he had been secretly hoping she would show up in his room last night, like she
had four years ago.
 
Unfortunately, he
knew exactly what Wade would think.
 
Then
again, it wasn’t as if Brooklyn was a teenager anymore, he thought.
 
Especially now, with her hair falling around
her face in long, lustrous blonde waves, free of the previous day’s youthful
ponytail, she looked every inch a woman full grown.
 
And truth be told, he wasn’t the same person
he’d been four years ago either.

“I made coffee.
 
The
pot’s full if you’d like some.”

“Thanks.
 
It smells
good,” she replied, as she walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a large
coffee mug.
 
Glancing out the kitchen
window, she saw that the snow was lightly falling once again, and then she
shifted her gaze to the ground.
 
“Wow, we
must have gotten at least eight inches last night and it’s still coming down.”
 
She doubted that the roads had been cleared.

“Yeah I know,” Ryan replied, grabbing the TV remote and
turning down the volume.
 
“It looks like
you’re going to be stuck with me a while longer.
 
I hope you don’t mind.”
 
His voice was light and playful.
 

Fortunately her back was to him as she filled her coffee
cup, so he couldn’t see the tiny smile that tugged at the corners of her
lips.
 
“I don’t mind if you don’t”

“To be perfectly honest, I’m enjoying the company,” he
admitted.

Schooling her features into a composed façade, she tried to
keep the satisfaction from showing on her face as she turned around and moved
to the table, cup in hand.
 
She’d done a
lot of thinking last night, and she’d finally made a decision.
 
She certainly wasn’t going to throw herself
at him again, but if
he
made the
first move, well then, she was definitely going to consider taking Julia’s
advice.
 
She was a woman now, and she
might as well live a little.
 
She wasn’t
naïve enough to think that she had a future with someone like Ryan Landry, but
if she kept her head about her, and her emotions in check, what was wrong with
having a little fun?
 
She supposed she
was just going to have to wait and see how things played out.

“Did you catch the weather forecast?” she asked, glancing
toward the television as she set her cup down and took a seat at the table.

“Yep.
 
It looks like
we’re probably going to get several more inches between today and tomorrow.”

“Oh.”
 
She lifted the
coffee cup to her lips to hide her smile, and then took a small sip.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” Ryan asked.
 

“Hmm, I’m not really sure.”
 
She sat her cup back on the table.
 
“Any thoughts?”

“Well, if you’re up for it, I was thinking we could take the
snowmobiles out,” Ryan suggested.
 
“The
wind seems to have died down, and Wade mentioned that there are some pretty
good trails not too far from here.”

“There are.”
 
There
were only about a dozen or so cabins situated along this particular section of
the road, but there was a small ski resort located several miles to the east,
and the surrounding public lands were popular with both cross-country skiers
and snowmobile enthusiasts alike.
 
She
knew that Wade kept four top-of-the-line machines out in the garage, along with
several sets of skis and snowboards, for whenever their family got together at
the cabin, skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling were always some of their
favorite pastimes.
 
“And sure, I’d love
to,” she nodded.
 
“But are you sure it’s
okay,” she motioned to his head, “with your recent head injury?”

“Don’t worry,” Ryan assured her.
 
“It was only a mild concussion.
 
As long as I don’t crash into any tress I’ll
be fine.”

She eyed him speculatively.

“I’ll take it easy, I promise.”

“Alright then, it sounds like fun.”
 
She’d just have to make sure to keep them
away from the more rugged trails.
 

“Great.
 
I’ll whip us
up a little breakfast and then we can head out.”

“You’re making breakfast?”

“I was thinking ham and cheese omelets.”

“Yum.
 
Do you want
some help?”

“Nope,” Ryan said, as he pushed back his chair and stood
up.
 
“Enjoy your coffee.
 
You can make lunch if you want.”

“Deal,” she agreed.

Once they finished their omelets, which were delicious and
just another point in Ryan’s favor, Brooklyn quickly washed the dishes as Ryan
headed out to the garage.
 
When she
joined him a few minutes later, he’d already gotten Wade and Kate’s snow gear
from the storage locker and had it set out atop two of the snow machines, along
with helmets, boots and gloves.
 
Fortunately, she and her sister were about the same size, but Ryan was
sure to be dwarfed in Wade’s outer garments.

Sure enough, as soon as he slipped into Wade’s one piece
blue and grey snowsuit, Ryan looked like a slightly more colorful version of
the Michelin Man, the well-known symbol of the Michelin tire company.

“No laughing,” he said, glancing toward Brooklyn with a mock
scowl as he pulled the zipper up to his chin.

“Sorry.”
 
She
immediately put her gloved hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles as she
turned to grab the smaller of the two helmets.

As soon as they were suited up, he and Brooklyn got the
snowmobiles out to the driveway and started them up.
 
They both roared to life with little effort,
and Ryan was glad to see that they each had a full tank of gas.
 
“Looks like we’re all set,” he shouted
through the thickly padded helmet, then went to the keypad and shut the garage
door before jumping onto the larger of the two sleds.
 
Moments later they were off, with Brooklyn
being familiar with the area leading the way.
 

For the next two hours, she and Ryan traversed the winding,
snow-packed trails under a light snowfall, enjoying the picturesque scenery of
the beautiful Colorado mountain top.
 
As
they explored the terrain, they encountered several other riders along the way,
fellow men, women and children out enjoying the winter weather just as they
were.
 
Luckily the wind wasn’t howling
through the trees as it had been the night before, and it proved to be ideal
weather for their early morning ride.

Stopping for the third time during their ride, Brooklyn was
delighting in showing Ryan some of the more scenic spots that the trails had to
offer.
 
The sweeping vista before them
now was her favorite, and by far the most beautiful, she thought, as she
dismounted from her sled.
 
“Isn’t this a
marvelous view?” she said, once she’d pulled off her helmet.
 

“I’ll say,” Ryan agreed, as he too pulled off his helmet and
then went to stand beside her.
 
The break
in the tress allowed them an unobstructed view of the wide, snow-covered valley
below, and with the snow still falling softly around them it really was a
magnificent sight.
 
They couldn’t have
asked for a more perfect day, and he was enjoying himself immensely.

After a couple more minutes, Brooklyn turned to him with an
engaging smile.
 
“Having fun?”

“Yep, this was a great idea.
 
Let’s keep going,” he said as they turned back around to the
snowmobiles.
 
However, as soon as
Brooklyn’s back was turned, Ryan couldn’t resist the sudden urge to have a
little fun of a different sort.
 
Bending
down, he scooped up a glove full of snow.
 
Then, waiting until she picked up her helmet from the seat of the sled,
he tossed the handful of snow into the air so that it showered down around her
head in a cloud of white.

“What the heck,” Brooklyn gasped, as she shook the snow from
her hair.
 
Thinking that a pile of snow
from one of the tree branches above must have shaken loose, she glanced
upward.
 
Then she heard the distinct
sound of a muffled chuckle.
 
Spinning
around, her eyes wide and her lips forming a round o, she looked to where Ryan
was standing just a few feet away, suddenly busying himself with the straps and
buckles on his helmet.

Ryan pretended not to notice.

She wasn’t fooled.
 
“Oh no you didn’t!” she said, shaking her head from side to side as
little bits of snow continued to shake free.