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Christine: Maybe longer if this snow keeps coming down this way.
Me: Is it a lot up there?
Christine: Understatement.
The snow had tapered off a bit where we were in Colorado Springs, but standing to look at the parking lot out the long vertical window revealed a world washed in white. There were at least four inches piled up on the eaves of the roof I could see to one side, and the entire landscape looked magical, completely transformed from what was here before. Funny how even a parking lot could look pretty when it was covered in snow. I didn’t know much about driving in snow, but it did seem like at some point it was a pretty bad idea.
Me: Well, I’ll keep in touch, okay?
Christine: Enjoy your adventure.
I sighed as I put my phone away, and Archie glanced over at me with a half-smile on his lips and a raised eyebrow.
“Just this situation,” I explained. “It’s crazy, right?”
“It is, and maybe it’s a weird thing to say, but I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too, actually,” I confessed, warmth and nerves turning my tummy as I held his gaze.
“You know,” he said quietly, “I should probably tell you that I don’t make a habit of kissing guests.” It wasn’t something I’d worried about—Archie Kasper didn’t strike me as a player in any way. But it was still reassuring to hear him say it, and to know he was a man who didn’t mind talking about sensitive things.
“Just now and then?” I joked.
“Just never.” His voice was low, nearly a whisper, and held a serious edge that focused my attention.
“Okay.”
“I don’t know if I should have done it,” he went on. “But I just want you to know it’s been a long time. Like, a really long time.. .and maybe I shouldn’t have put you in that situation?—”
“No, it was fine.” I felt a blush crawling up my neck. “I mean, it wasn’t fine.”
“It wasn’t fine.” He looked ready to either laugh or be offended, depending on what I meant.
Shit. “I meant that it was more than fine. But also, you should know I don’t make a habit of kissing men I don’t want to kiss.”
“Oh.” Archie’s eyes burned into mine and fire licked at my blood as I sensed some kind of escalation there. “So...” he stretched out the word, each millisecond pulling me closer to him as the air around us buzzed with tension in the empty waiting room.
I still stood near the window, and now he closed the distance between us, and I could hardly breathe for the anticipation of feeling his lips on mine again, of feeling his arms pulling me near. His hand grazed my shoulder, his eyes burning into mine.
“Mr. Kasper?” I jumped as a shrill voice broke the moment.
Archie had turned away before my mind had cleared, still laced with the fog of desire. He’d been about to kiss me again, I was sure of it.
“Yes, I’m Archie Kasper.”
“I was told to come fetch you. Would you like to meet your nephew?”
Relief and happiness surged within me, replacing the muddy confusion I’d felt a second ago. I stood next to Archie and squeezed his arm as he grinned at me. In that moment, his face was boyish and glowing, the freckles across his nose standing out beneath his ocean blue eyes. The joy he radiated was like pure warmth and I wished I could bottle it. Save it.
“A nephew,” he said, his voice full of emotion. He turned back to the nurse. “And he’s okay? Aubrey is okay?”
“Everyone is healthy and well.” The nurse held the door open for him. “Come back and see.”
“That was so quick,” he said, looking between the nurse and me.
“Your sister was pretty determined,” the nurse laughed.
“You just described her entire existence on the planet.”
