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For now, she felt her way back through the kitchen and touched the box of matches that she found earlier. Her phone still sat by the chair she’d napped in, but she didn’t feel the need to grab it.
Setting the wood down, she took a small handful of kindling and arranged it in the stove by feel.
After she thought she had it pretty well set, she lit a match just to check and make sure.
It didn’t look like very much, and she decided to go out for more. Another thump on the porch indicated that Griff had dropped another armful of wood down.
Maybe she should have gone out and helped him. But she felt ridiculous in the dress.
She’d looked around, even though checking in his drawers felt like snooping, and she did find a flannel shirt that she put on over her fluffy pink dress.
She’d only found one pair of pants, and they were way too big for her. She would wear them if he didn’t want to, but she couldn’t take his last pair.
Therefore, she sat in the chair and didn’t go out.
If she was going to be stuck in this dress for the next who knew how long, since Griff had said he couldn’t ride anywhere in the snow on his bike, she didn’t really want to be dirty, and she definitely didn’t want to be wet.
Regardless, she pushed to her feet, went out, got some more kindling, and brought it back in. She hadn’t had occasion to make too many fires in her lifetime, but growing up, she’d watched her parents do it more than once.
She tried to remember exactly how her dad had fixed it up, and she wasn’t too disappointed when she lit the kindling and while it didn’t catch beautifully at first, it slowly started to burn, and she felt gratified that maybe she was going to get the fire going after all.
Ten minutes later, it was going pretty well, and she was congratulating herself when she heard the door open.
She turned, and Griff walked in.
He had an armful of wood in one hand and carried another piece in his other.
“You got the fire going.” He stated the obvious, but he sounded surprised.
“I started working on it after you dumped the first load on the porch. It’s been a while, but I remembered a little.”
“You made a fire before?”
She nodded and didn’t say anything else. She didn’t typically talk about her childhood.
“I have to say I’m impressed. I think you’ve got a better fire going than I would have had.”
His words made her glow inside, but she avoided looking at him while she pushed up off the floor where she knelt in front of the stove.
“I wanted to have something ready for you to eat, but there was no way to cook it.”
“I’m sorry. I should have come in and made a fire right away.”
“It’s okay. I found your flannels, and I’m not too cold.”
“It’s chilly in here. I’m sorry, I guess I had a lot of things I was thinking about and it never even occurred to me that it would be cold in the house and I should get you warmed up right away. I’ll try not to be so inconsiderate from now on.” He looked truly distressed.
“I promise, I’ve been fine. I mean, I haven’t been keeping warm by chopping wood, and I was a little bit tempted to go out. But my dress isn’t exactly suited for it and... I didn’t even think about it, but I don’t have shoes either.”
Her low heels were hardly appropriate for her to be tramping around the woods in.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve stopped and dropped you off at your house. This was a bad idea.”
“Are you regretting that because of my attire? Or are you regretting it because now you realize you’re going to have to spend the evening with me?” She tried to make it so that there was teasing in her voice, but she was a little bit afraid that he was having buyer’s remorse.
“No!” he said quickly. “I’m actually looking forward to talking to you. We...work together a lot, but everything we talk about is usually diner or food related. We don’t have to talk about work at all today if we don’t want to.”
“Or tomorrow. I assume we’re going to be stuck through at least tomorrow?” She tried not to sound like she was dreading it. She actually wasn’t. She...wouldn’t mind getting to know Griff a little better. They worked together, and she hadn’t really considered that he had a life outside of the diner. That he had a cabin.
