Page 35 of Hairpin Curves

Scarlett squealed indignantly at the first snowball Megan lobbed at her, and then returned the favor. The snowballs came mixed with leaves, since there wasn’t really enough snow to make good snowballs, but none of it mattered. The snow stuck wetly to Megan’s hoodie, soaking through immediately. She got in another good throw, this one hitting Scarlett right in the back, before Scarlett got her in the head with one and it started dripping down the back of her neck. Laughing and screeching in equal measure, she tackled Scarlett down to the snow, trying to shove some under her collar. Scarlett was way too strong for her, though, and quickly flipped her over, pinning her down on the soaking wet ground.

They stopped moving immediately. Scarlett’s smile faded, leaving something else in its wake, an expression of surprise and then...desire. Oh. Megan opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, her own smile fading with the sudden surge in her blood.

Scarlett stood up quickly, getting to her feet and offering Megan a hand. “We should get dressed before we both freeze,” she said, brushing snow out of her hair.

Megan nodded, too shaken up to say anything else, taking Scarlett’s hand to get up. Snow had soaked through her layers. “Yeah. Let’s...let’s go change.”

She let Scarlett have the first shower and used the time to gather her thoughts and take a few pictures of the snow. Then it was her turn for the hot water, which blissfully melted away not only her chill, but also her shakiness about this morning and last night. By the time she got out of the shower, Scarlett had the maps spread out on the table and was poring over them. Whatever moments they’d had—last night in bed, this morning in the snow—were gone, shifting into the past, and all they needed to focus on was the road trip.

Scarlett looked up from the maps wearing an eager, expectant, but nervous look on her face, the look she got when she wanted to say something but didn’t know how.

“What do you want to convince me of?” Megan asked.

Scarlett’s hesitation melted into a smile. “You can still read me.”

“Of course. You wear your thoughts all over your face.” Megan let a touch of irritation through in her voice. Best that Scarlett didn’t think she was completely forgiven yet. Nothing was forgiven yet, not even if Megan spent time in the shower thinking really inappropriate thoughts about Scarlett’s hands and lips all over her skin. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You always have that expression when you’re about to try to convince me of something.”

“Well, I was thinking.” Scarlett traced her finger in a circle over a spot on the map. “We’re all the way out here. How about we keep going west?”

“We’re going to Quebec.” Megan pointed up. “That’s North.”

Scarlett shook her head. “Not west forever. Just as far as Nashville.”

“Nashville, Tennessee?”

“No. Nashville, Wisconsin. Yes, Nashville, Tennessee.” Scarlett made a face, but then immediately got that wistful look in her eyes again. “The Grand Ole Opry records tonight. It’s five or so hours away. If we leave now, we could get there in the afternoon, see the city, go to the Opry at night.” She bit her lip. “What do you think?”

Megan had never thought about going to Nashville before; it wasn’t in her scrapbook, wasn’t on her plans, but she loved the thought. Nashville was one of the holy places of music, and the Grand Ole Opry was legendary. “What happened to no more than two hours either direction of I-95?”

Scarlett shrugged. “You’re really into music. You should get to go to Nashville.”

That was unexpectedly sweet, the kind of sweet that made Megan melt a bit and then immediately try to un-melt. She was staying hard-hearted. She would not be hurt.

“What does it do to our Quebec arrival?” Megan asked.

“Another day delay, but we’ve got the time.”

“Let’s look at the route.” Megan joined Scarlett over by the map. She found their current location in Western North Carolina, then the city of Nashville further west. It didn’t look that far on the map, but nothing looked that far when zoomed out to this scale. Five or six hours, Scarlett had said.

Megan traced an alternate route back with her finger. “If we go out to Nashville, we could head back east on 40, and then pick up 81 in...” Switching to the Tennessee state map, she relocated their route. “Dandridge. In Dandridge, Tennessee. 81 will take us all the way back to...” Back to the country map. “Well, we could take it all the way up through Pennsylvania, or we could switch to 66 and head through Virginia...” It didn’t seem like Scarlett was listening to her anymore, and Megan looked up to catch her eye. “Are you even paying attention to this?”

Scarlett nodded a bit too quickly. “Sure. Route 66 through Virginia. And Route 66 is famous, so that’s cool.”

Megan looked back at the map and did some quick calculations. “It might mean we cut another stop, though, if we want to get to Quebec on time.”

“We don’t have to cut anything.” Scarlett started ticking off days on her fingers. “Nashville today. Full day’s drive to DC tomorrow. We stay over in DC. Drive the next day up to New York City. A day in New York, then we drive up to Salem. A day in Salem, then up over the border all the way to Quebec. Plus we’ve got some wiggle room because we were planning to spend a couple of days in Quebec.”

She was right; they did have enough time.

And Scarlett had planned this trip just for her, just so Megan could see something Scarlett knew she’d like.

Outside the window, the snow had stopped, and the sunshine was already melting it into sparkling dampness, promising clear roads. “All right. Let’s do it.”

Chapter Nine

Megan took the first stretch of driving, leading them down out of the mountains and toward Nashville. She was in a really good mood, and Scarlett could get used to seeing her that happy. Maybe it was the snow, or the new plan for Nashville, or maybe it was because she’d gotten off last night. Scarlett would be replaying that memory for a long time, that soundtrack of Megan’s desperate breaths as she tumbled over the edge into climax.

She distracted herself from that by digging through the CD case for some traveling music. Megan had a CD labeled “Tumbleweed Feels,” which she slid into the drive. Some country music could prep them for Nashville. The first song, though, was “Life is a Highway,” the old Tom Cochrane version and not the country Rascal Flatts version.