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They’d passed the sign for Strawberry Sands just a few miles ago, and then Griff had turned his bike off the interstate at a little-used exit that declared the town of Raspberry Ridge was just ahead.
Even though she’d lived in Strawberry Sands for years, she hadn’t ever been to Raspberry Ridge.
They were far enough north that there were trees, even though the ground was still flat. Several cabins dotted the area, and as they motored closer, she could see a glimpse of the lake and realized they were riding alongside of it.
It felt secluded and safe.
Interestingly, when she was thinking about going to James’s penthouse, living with him, she hadn’t felt safe. And it definitely hadn’t felt right.
Of course, she wasn’t moving in with Griff, just going to his house, but it didn’t put off alarm bells in her head the way being alone with James had. Even though she had been attracted to James.
Griff was just her friend.
He had been a good friend to her. On the ride to his cabin, she determined that she was going to be just as good a friend to him as he had been to her. Starting today.
“Just a bit further.” The wind blew Griff’s words past her ears as he turned his head just a bit and spoke.
She nodded her head and then realized he couldn’t see her. “Okay.”
He slowed down even more, glancing behind him before he turned left onto a gravel road, carefully maneuvering the bike over the stones.
The trees opened up, and a majestic view of the lake stretched out before them. A small cabin, one that looked barely bigger than a one room, maybe two, sat at the back of the clearing.
The opening stretched right to a cliff, where the ground dropped out of sight.
She knew Lake Michigan had cliffs as well as sandy beaches, but she hadn’t seen anything like this before.
“This is amazing,” she breathed, meaning it. It was all the more amazing as the large snowflakes that had been falling drifted past the cliff’s edge. It hindered her view, which she supposed was even more spectacular when the clouds weren’t lowered and the snow wasn’t falling.
Still, it gave a cozy glow to everything, even if the cabin was dark.
Night had long since fallen, along with the temperatures, and she realized that she really hadn’t been a very good friend after all. If she had, she would have insisted that Griff take his jacket back. After all, he was the one who was blocking the wind.
“You have to be cold.”
“I’ve felt worse. But I’ll be warm soon enough. I know I need to split some wood before I can build a fire, and that will be job number one.”
“Split wood?”
He shut the bike off and kicked the stand down, allowing it to slowly tilt until it rested on the kickstand. “Yeah. There’s no electricity or heat other than a woodstove. It’s too remote.”
“Oh my goodness. No electricity?”
“There is a pump, it’s in the cabin, and it’s working. I was there last week. To check it.”
“All right. So we have water?”
“Yeah. We’ll have heat here in a little bit. And there is a cellular signal, although there is no internet, of course.”
“Of course. And I can’t charge my phone.”
“Not right now.”
Just then, a gust of wind blew, swirling flakes, reminding Chi that she was cold and Griff had to be colder. There was a bit of moonlight seeping through the storm clouds, just enough to see by, but it was as chilly as the sunlight had been warm earlier that day.
“You can have your jacket back.”
“No. You keep it. I... I guess I should have thought to stop and get some clothes for us.”
