Shifters in the Snow

by Jacqueline Sweet

  The thought that she had stumbled upon Silver Peak's best kept secret fled from her mind as her eyes traveled up, over the sculpted abdominal muscles, the chiseled pecs, past the thickly knotted muscles of the bare arm holding the door open to her, to the end of the beard that obscured the man's neck and most of the face that she already knew.

  "You're cold." The Grinch muttered at her like an accusation.

  Andi blinked rapidly, trying to reconcile the Grinch's face with the body that it sat on. This is not what she'd imagined was under all that flannel and overalls. In fact, this was so far from what she'd imagined his body looked like that she stood in his doorway realizing she'd never bothered to imagine what he looked like at all.

  She tore her eyes of the low slung waistband of the pajama pants and forced her eyes toward his, "Car got s-s-stuck," she stuttered through chattering teeth.

  The gruff voice with the surprisingly ripped body muttered under its breath in a manner that suggested that her misfortune was a "damn inconvenience" to him and for a moment, Andi was sure he was going to close the door and leave her to walk the 12 miles back to town in the blowing snowstorm.

  "Get in here then," his voice betraying a hint of concern.

  Andi stepped over the threshold into the cabin as he closed the door behind her. The cabin was warm, the fireplace taking up the wall on one side of the main room, the kitchen on the other. A large stock pot sat on the stove with steam pushing its way out from under the lid.

  A doorway directly opposite the front door opened into a short hallway that Andi guessed led to the other rooms. The ceiling was high and open with thick beams crossing from wall to wall.

  "You're wet."

  When Andi turned toward his voice she found him standing directly behind her in that too close for strangers way he had the first day she'd met him. He was looking down at her with worried eyes, sniffing at her like he could smell the dampness.

  Of course, the jacket she was wearing was almost soaked through and it probably didn't smell too good. She started to peel it off her shoulders and he took hold of the back collar and pulled it off of her.

  "Go stand by the fire and git yerself warm," He disappeared out the back door at the end of the kitchen. Andi watched him hang her jacket on a hook in the mudroom before he came back inside and disappeared down the dark hallway.

  She stood in front of the fireplace and held her hands out to thaw. The fire box was big enough to hold a proper bon fire, the thick wood mantle made of a rough hewn tree trunk was just above eye level with her. She stood on the stone hearth and looked at the little bear figurines that paraded across the mantle interspersed by other trinkets and a couple of framed photographs.

  "Put these on," The Grinch's voice interrupted her thoughts as she stared at the pictures. She turned to see that he had put on a t-shirt that fit snugly enough that now not only could she still see every muscle in his chest, but the way the sleeves stretched over his upper arms drew her attention to the way his biceps flexed while he held out a set of clothes to her.

  "You need to get out of them wet clothes." He gestured toward her damp cotton shirt and jeans.

  "Thanks," she said quietly as she accepted the bundle of soft, dry cloth, "Umm..."

  He pointed toward the hall without a word.

  Andi tried her best grateful smile but she wasn't sure how it came out. He only gave her another one of his trademark frowns, the one that made her feel like she was somehow not measuring up to his expectations.

  The hallway was short, three doorways revealed two bedrooms and a bathroom along with a row of cabinets that she assumed were filled with whatever kind of stuff surly bachelors shoved into cabinets. She chose the bedroom on the right.

  Clicking on the light switch by the door revealed a large room with a king size bed covered with a thick, down comforter in a dark green flannel cover. The room, like what she'd seen from the rest of the house, was warm and cozy. So unlike Mr. Grinch himself.

  Andi quickly changed into the dry clothes he'd offered her. A pair of pajama pants that made her feel downright petite and a pullover sweat shirt made from a really soft fleece fabric that was embroidered with the town's name.

  The sweatshirt itself hung down to her knees and she had to roll the cuffs of the pants up several times to shorten them enough to be able to walk.

  She looked down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes. Getting out of her soaking wet boots and socks felt great but her feet were cold. He hadn't brought a pair of socks with the dry clothes.

  She thought about rummaging through the dresser but then thought better of it. The storm outside was picking up, she didn't need to do anything that might make him throw her back out there. She was already pretty sure he wasn't happy to find her on his doorstep.

  Chapter 5

  He was just sitting in the chair across the room from her, staring at her while she sipped the broth off the hot stew he'd insisted she eat.

  Andi had tucked her feet up under herself and curled up in the corner of the sofa by the fire. Trying to make herself as small as possible and maybe invisible so she wouldn't be too much of a burden on her reluctant host.

  "You do eat meat, doncha?" His gruff voice called from the kitchen. The gruffness was still there, but with each sentence he seemed to force himself to utter, it became less mean sounding and more like an awkward attempt at conversation.

  Andi thought it was a strange question, she turned away from watching the fire and stared at him as he stood in front of the pot on the stove with a ladle in his hand. He was watching her carefully, anticipating her answer.

  She wondered why it mattered, "Do I look like a vegetarian?" The tension between them was getting to her and her frustration showed through the sarcastic crack of her voice as she gestured to her body.

  A smile spread slowly across his face, detectable only by the lifting of his bushy mustache. A smile. A real smile. Andi thought she must have imagined it. He shook his head slightly and turned back to start scooping the stew into an oversize mug, "Nahp, ya sure don't."

  Andi strongly considered being offended by his words but she couldn't help noticing that his tone sounded like a compliment. He crossed the room and handed her a mug of the hot stew, "Yuh wanna a beer?"

  He had set his own mug of stew on a small end table next to the chair and was already walking back to the kitchen, "I ain't got nuthin fancy, just Bud and this local stuff," He held an amber bottle sporting a green and gold label up over the open door of the fridge, "I guess I got milk er water er I could make yuh some coffee er sumthin."

  "That looks fine." Andi accepted the bottle that he brought her and watched him sit across from her.

  "Girls come up here all year and they don't wanna eat at the 'dog cuz they're all vegetarians now." He said the word like it was dirty, "Some damn thinkin' about not eatin meat'll make em all skinny like them magazine models. They just look sick if ya ask me," he mumbled into his dinner.

  Andi tried to hide a smile with a pull from the beer bottle. This guy was growing on her and it was just downright cute the way he kept squirming when ever he noticed her looking back at him.

  "Man likes a girl who's gonna keep him warm at night. Summpin soft to hold onta," he continued to mutter while he worked to keep stew out of his mustache.

  He'd take a bite of the rich stew and then draw his napkin over his face immediately, as though he was overly aware of his company and trying to make a good impression. Then he'd draw his eyebrows together over the bridge of his nose and make another of those little frowns.

  Andi was starting to interpret the frowns as something he was aiming at himself, not her. Like he was confused by his own behavior.

  Silence fell over them and Andi pulled her feet up tighter underneath her while she ate her stew. The Grinch just sitting in his chair staring at her like he didn't know what to do with her.

  When she'd emptied the oversized mug of its contents it was like he was grateful for something to do. He sprang
from his seat and took her mug and empty beer bottle from her, hurrying into the kitchen.

  He returned with another beer and sat on the other end of the sofa from her, "'me yer feet."

  "What?" Andi looked at him with distrust as he sat beside her and gestured toward her frozen feet tucked up under her.

  "Your feet. You're cold. Lemme have 'em."

  She was somewhat surprised to hear his careful annunciation of the words. He'd never spoken much to her and since she'd arrived uninvited to his home, every syllable had been slurred together in half-intelligible grunts and mumbles. Hearing him speak up for the first time gave her a new appreciation for the man's voice.

  Andi slowly untucked her feet and gingerly stretched them out toward his waiting hand. She turned around to face him, letting his pull her feet onto his lap while she settled against the over-stuffed arm of the sofa with her beer.

  "Sorry," He said softly as he wrapped a large hand around her foot, "I shoulda given you some socks too." His hands were warm, the skin soft in most places, with hard calluses dotting the pads of his palms.

  "I ain't used to havin a woman to take care of," the quiet words were almost sad, a lilt to the way he said them made it sound like something he was sad about and it touched Andi's heart in a way she hadn't been prepared for.

  "Well you're doing a good job so far," she was honestly surprised by him. Surprised at the little electric tingle that had run through her when he'd opened the door with nearly nothing on. Surprised by his attempts to make sure she was warm and dry with food in her belly. And for damn sure surprised that he was sitting on the couch with her, rubbing her feet with a strong but tender touch.

  Something about him made her feel safe. Made her sink into the throw pillows on the couch and stretch her legs lazily into his hands. Made her sigh deeply and close her eyes and forget where she was and who she was with and that he probably didn't want to know more about her than he'd already asked. But by the time all that occurred to her, she was already done with the story of how she'd ended up in Silver Peak for the winter.

  "Sounds like a damn stupid man, if ya ask me."

  The Grinch had stopped rubbing her feet but his hands were still wrapped around her toes in a gesture that felt like he was reluctant to stop touching her.

  Andi swallowed the last bit of beer in her bottle and he reached across to take the empty from her. His hand made contact with hers as he took it from her and again, the little jolt of electricity that shot through her was surprising.

  "What's your name?"She suddenly wondered. Suddenly she needed to know who this man really was, who he was beyond his reputation as a surly hermit.

  "Umm," he seemed surprised by the question. For a second Andi thought he was going to jump and run away but then he nodded slightly and thought for a second.

  "You don't have a real name?" She teased.

  "Daniel. My mother named me Daniel." His eyes were soft and unfocused for a second and then the corners of his mustache drew up in another all-too-rare invisible smile under all those whiskers.

  "Thank you for letting me wait out the storm, Dan." Andi smiled warmly.

  The man whose real name was Daniel smiled back and gave her feet a light squeeze in reply.

  Chapter 6

  Andi wasn't ready to wake up yet but she opened her eyes and looked around anyway. The fire had died down to a bed of glowing coals, leaving the air in the cabin with the tell tale chill of early morning even though the sky outside the windows was still dark.

  She pulled the patchwork quilt up so that it covered her shoulders again and moved so that her ear wasn't smashed against Dan's chest anymore. His arm relaxed to let her move and then tightened back around her again as she settle back against him and drifted off to sleep without stopping to wonder how she'd ended up sleeping in his arms on the comfortable sofa.

  She woke up a few hours later to the sound of a phone jingling somewhere in the house. Bright morning sunlight streamed through the windows and Dan was carefully maneuvering out from under her to get the phone.

  Andi drifted off again as he carefully laid her head down on the cushions. She heard his deep voice speaking in muffled tones from the rear of the house and then she heard the sound of the fire crackling back to life. Forcing her eyes open, she saw his broad back as he knelt to load wood onto the growing flames.

  He got to his feet and headed toward the kitchen. He looked down at her and smiled when he saw her looking back up at him, “Mornin',” he greeted her, “breakfast'll be ready in a few.” He continued toward the kitchen, still talking, “My brother's gotta come up and get the snow mobile. I guess one of his rangers is stuck somewhere,” his voice faded in and out as he moved around the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, checking the oven, getting a coffee mug out of the cabinet.

  Andi pulled herself to a sitting position and looked around while she put the memories of where she was and how she'd gotten here back into a cohesive pattern. The vague, sleepy memory of spending the night curled up against the Grinch's-- no wait, Dan, against Dan's-- chest, with his arms around her for warmth and support drifted through her mind.

  “You slept out here with me?” She asked through the blur that was her mind on any given morning, as she pulled herself to her feet and headed for the steaming mug of coffee that he'd set on the counter for her.

  “I didn't want to wake you once you got back to sleep,” Dan said sheepishly.

  She remembered sitting with him, talking to him, the foot rub and him bringing her a pair of thick socks before saying good night. He'd offered her the other room but she'd been enjoying laying on the couch by the fire. She must have dozed off out in the front room.

  Then it came back to her, the nightmare. It had started with being chased by the big bear she'd seen yesterday, she'd made it to the car before it got to her but then the car was stuck and she couldn't get away. Then the bear had jumped up on the car and started tearing through the roof, but when it reached through to grab her, it had been Mike. Mike had grabbed her around the throat and she was trying to get away but she couldn't and then the bear had been back, tearing off the car door and she'd been so scared, thinking the bear was going to kill her while Mike still had his hand around her throat and then the bear had reached in and ripped Mike's arm off.

  Oh yeah. She remembered now. She had woken up in a panic, still terrified of being caught between the bear and Mike, struggling for her life.

  And Dan had come out to check on her. He'd sat down on the end of the couch and let her curl up against him. She'd fallen back to sleep while he stroked her hair and pulled the afghan off the back of the sofa to drape over her shoulders.

  She remembered now, looking at the big man as he worked in the kitchen, he had felt warm against her and she had fallen asleep listening to his heartbeat as it raced beneath her ear. She remembered thinking it was beating faster than usual and she thought she remembered him leaning his face toward the top of her head, inhaling her scent deeply, and possibly muttering something against her hair as she had drifted off.

  She tried to concentrate on what he might have said but the sound of a truck crunching on snow interrupted and Dan rushed out the cabin's back door.

  Another man was climbing out a big 4 wheel drive truck in front of the cabin. He was built very much like Dan but he was clean shaven. His features hidden by the wide brim of a regulation Forest Service hat, his large frame covered by a dark brown barn jacket with the sort of sheepskin lining that made him look like he'd stepped out of an ad extolling the benefits of life on a Montana cattle ranch.

  If Dan looked anything like his brother under that beard, he was doing women everywhere a huge disservice by hiding not just that amazing body but those rugged facial features as well.

  Andi watched the two men talking outside as Dan pulled a two passenger snow mobile out from under a tarp on the side of his garage and then lifted it onto the trailer behind his brother's truck as if it weighed nothing more than a child's bicycle.
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  The mystery brother shot a undefined look toward the cabin and then looked back at Dan with a worried expression but soon enough he was laughing and slapping Dan on the shoulder before climbing back into the idling truck and making his way down the drive.

  The outer door to the mud room slammed shut and soon Dan returned to his breakfast prep in the kitchen.

  He was humming a little tune to himself as he refilled Andi's coffee mug and, for a minute, she felt like she was seeing a completely different man.

  “So your brother is a park ranger?”

  The humming stopped, “Forest ranger, actually. He's the head of the local ranger district now.”

  “Oh.” Andi regretted opening her mouth, she liked listening to him hum. There for a moment he'd seemed comfortable with her there, “I didn't know there was a difference.”

  Dan pulled a stack of pancakes out of the oven where he'd been keeping them warm while he fried sausage patties in a cast iron skillet. He fixed her a plate and sat it on the table where she was sitting.

  He set his own plate down and then brought a carafe of warmed syrup to the table, “Yeah, parks and forest. Different rules, different management, different parts of the government. Rod works for the forest service, he only just managed to get the transfer. He hasn't seen California since the....”

  Dan's eyes went wide and his mouth snapped shut as though he'd been about to spill a secret that Andi didn't have the proper clearance for. He looked at her, waiting for her to ask what he'd been about to say but she gave him a crooked smile with a mouth full of pancakes.

  “...He hasn't been home in a long time.” Dan finished casusally.

  Andi wanted to know what he was really going to say but she was enjoying listening to him, eager to learn anything she could about Silver Peak's best kept secret. Also, the pancakes were extremely good and she just couldn't be bothered to stop eating to pry into something he obviously didn't want to tell her.