Snowed In

by Tricia Wentworth

  They went into town that afternoon to run a few errands and then to Rose’s for an early supper, and since it was Friday, there were still a whole passel of people there despite it being earlier. Since the entire world knew they were dating now, it didn’t really bother either of them. Aunt Rose was Aunt Rose, and they all had a splendid time. It was looking like it would end up a good day.

  They planned to watch some of his, and her, favorite football movies later that night after he finished up the chores. He already owned most of them, and she got to pick the order. They were going to pig out on the popcorn and candy they’d bought in town for this very reason, and stay up late for their football movie marathon.

  Yeah, she wasn’t just a woman he wanted to date, but their dates were actually fun. For both of them. And at this point, it wasn’t like they were being over the top trying to impress one another either. It turned out, if you lived under the same roof with a woman, for however short amount of time, you learned who the real person was pretty fast. That was probably the reason why he refused to even stay over at any other woman’s place before. It didn’t take long for all the false pretenses to fade away when you were spending day in and day out with one another. Things could get pretty ugly pretty fast.

  Just not with Jordyn. He loved that she had been the one to suggest the football movie marathon night. They had been having an argument about whether The Replacements or The Blind Side was better, and she asked if they could watch them to find out. He wanted to kiss her senseless for suggesting it. Because who does that?

  But he did at least try to make it more of a date. He wore jeans and a nice T-shirt. He also set up some candles in the living room to make it a little more romantic. He knew girls were supposed to like fluffy stuff like that. Or that’s what Blakely told him anyway. Shoot, he even got some flowers for her while they were in town. She didn’t seem like the flowers type of woman, but he was just trying to show her, any way he could, that he wanted them to figure this thing out.

  They weren’t very far into The Blind Side when there was a knock on his door. He was mad before he even got up. They were having a great evening. They were laughing and giving each other crap, and at supper Jordyn had finally admitted to him that she wanted to come for Christmas.

  “Hi, baby,” said a super fake, seductive voice as cracked open the door.

  Yep. His whole entire day just went to hell. Completely shot. Ka-put. And as he looked at Ariana—all fake lips, fake eyelashes, and fake other parts that were falling out of her shirt right now—he just didn’t recall what he ever saw in her. Yeah, she was a looker all right, but underneath all that, she had disappointed him. When he first met her, she had been charming and kind, something he thought was different from the women he had been seeing. Now that he really knew her, he knew she was manipulative and selfish. He had never been more wrong about a person in his entire life. And this was the one woman he had even considered dating. To say it backfired was an understatement. He was so glad he didn’t date her long. She was an exhausting creature. However long their semblance of a relationship had lasted was more than long enough for him.

  Yet here she was. In the flesh. This was so not good. Fortunately, Jordyn had gone to the restroom when they paused the movie because of the knock at the door, so maybe he could hurry up and get Ariana out of here before she ruined more than just his mood for the evening.

  “I’m not your baby, Ariana. I don’t know why you came here, but please leave.”

  She rolled her eyes and pushed open the door a little farther. “Is she here?”

  “Ariana, get out.” He seriously hated this chick. Who the heck did she think she was? And her wanting to see Jordyn?? No. Helllll no.

  “Is everything okay?” Jordyn asked from behind him.

  Dammit. “Yes, darlin’. Just taking out the trash.” He tried to send Jordyn a look that told her how much he cared about her.

  Ariana rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell you what’s not trash. This little farmhouse. Why were you holding out on me? I didn’t know you inherited this place. It’s got to be worth a pretty penny.”

  He groaned. “Which you would have wanted me to sell. Not happening. Ever.”

  Ariana actually pouted. Or she tried to. The extra collagen in her lips made it look weird though. Like duck-face-meets-horror-movie type of wrong. Did people actually find all that fakeness attractive? Well, he guessed he did at some point in time, but now it was almost comical.

  “Ariana. Leave. Now.”

  Jordyn, sensing his anger, came up and wrapped her arm around his waist, tucking her small body inside the frame of his. And he loved her for it. She didn’t know what was happening, or who Ariana was, but she was automatically loyal and trusting of him. Her natural urge was to comfort and help him.

  “Did you tell her who I am?” Ariana asked and then proceeded to introduce herself to Jordyn.

  Jordyn tried to introduce herself back, but Ariana cut her off. “I already know who you are. And that is someone terribly normal. Way too normal for our Beckett. Now, about this commercial. I only have your best interests at hand, and I have a few ideas. Your first endorsement needs to be impacting or it’ll be hard to do anything else.”

  The hell? Like he wanted to do anything else? Excuse the hell out of him.

  It was Jordyn’s turn to lose her temper apparently. “This commercial has nothing to do with you and will have nothing to do with you. Beckett will not even be seen in the commercial, as it is about farm life. So unless you want to grab a shovel and scoop some cow dung, you won’t be in it, nor will your ideas. Correction. No living person is in it. There are no actors. Just Beckett’s voice and shots of the farm. So, no matter how you think you’ll manipulate yourself into it, you won’t be a part of this.”

  Holy freaking hell. He didn’t know if he wanted to high-five her, kiss her, or just ask her to marry him right there on the spot.

  Ariana opened her mouth to say something more, but Jordyn cut back in. “I will say though that the company shooting the commercial is big name. And that’s probably why you’re here. I’ve been working with them personally, as has my boss. If you stay out of production’s way, I’ll allow you to return the last day of filming to schmooze the production team. Though my company wouldn’t want you at all, you could at least put yourself out there for other opportunities. But only if you stay out of the way and off this farm until Wednesday. If you don’t, I’ll make sure your name is blacklisted as far as commercials go. If you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to try it and see what happens.” Jordyn ended her verbal lashing by placing her hands on her hips, daring Ariana to test her.

  Ariana’s mouth opened, and then shut. A few seconds later, she said, “I underestimated you.”

  Jordyn didn’t hesitate. “Most people do. It’s fun for me, not for them. See you Wednesday.” And then she shut the door right in Ariana’s face.

  ****

  “Dang it. Nothing like a gold digger to ruin a good Thanksgiving moment on The Blind Side,” Jordyn teased and went back over to the couch.

  That was something. Emotionally draining. And good Lord, she couldn’t believe that woman’s appearance. She was all long raven-black hair, puffy lips, size zero, tall, and with heels even taller. Like how did she think she could even compete with all that? Jordyn was a size four on a good day. Wow. Just wow. That woman looked like a real Barbie, but with black hair instead of blond. Never in a million years did she think that she’d have to deal with one of Beckett’s exes so soon. And she just knew this was that one woman he had more than one night with. Which means he must have seen something in her at some point in time.

  But what exactly did he see? Because she was night-and-day different to that woman. If he found that attractive, if that was what he was looking for, then this was going to be over faster than his pro career. She was not like that woman at all.

  Swallowing down her insecurities, she was about to push play on the remote when she realized Beckett st
ill hadn’t moved from the door.

  “Waiting to make sure she leaves?” She turned back around to check on him. “Think she’ll stay in town or leave and come back?”

  He wasn’t looking out the door though; he was staring at her with the weirdest look on his face. “I could care less about her. And I doubt she stays here longer than she has to. She probably can’t survive any place without a spa.”

  “What’re you doing, then?” she asked.

  He ran a hand over his facial hair on the side of his cheek. “I have never been more impressed in my life. That woman tends to squeeze the life out of everyone she meets, but you outwitted her in less than two minutes of meeting her.” He never took his eyes off hers and moved toward her.

  “I take it that was the repeat offender?” she asked with a smile.

  Beckett laughed, a real laugh, but was not deterred by her funny word choice. “Yes. And trust me, that’s over. Has been for two years. There will be no more repeating.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  “That’s it? Okay?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “You obviously didn’t know she was coming. And she was obviously trying to use you for the commercial. I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

  He shook his head. “I just didn’t know you had that in you.”

  She smiled. “What can I say? I’m loyal to a fault.”

  Still shaking his head, he added, “Jordyn Mack, you are going to ruin me.”

  Two-Week Anniversary

  CHAPTER 20

  Saturday, Beckett let himself sleep in. The night before had been draining, so he got a couple extra hours. It was only 8:00 a.m. when he rolled out of bed, but Jordyn was already ahead of him. She had a fresh batch of waffles made but was flying around the kitchen doing other things.

  “Big plans today, darlin’?” he asked, confused. Was today something special? He guessed it was like their two-weeks-of-knowing-one-another anniversary. Females liked to track crap like that, right? But that was hopefully not what she was doing. Yes, it was probably his longest relationship in like six years, but she didn’t need to shove that in his face, did she?

  “Game food!” she hollered, putting her hands in the air with two potholders in the signal of a touchdown.

  He almost spit out his orange juice, which he only ever drank with waffles or pancakes, and somehow Jordyn already knew that about him. He should be scared really. “Game food?”

  She nodded. “Conference championships are today. They start this afternoon, so I have to have all my game snackies and work emails done before then so I can veg for all the games. Plus the food for church tomorrow morning too. You game for all that? You and me and a bunch of unhealthy food?”

  He didn’t give this woman credit enough. Here he was freaking out because he thought she’d be wanting to celebrate their two-week anniversary. As it turned out, she just wanted to watch college football with a bunch of game food. And him.

  He really should just marry this girl . . . like tomorrow.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked like he was crazy. “You have plans with the guys already or something? It’s no big deal if you do.”

  He wasn’t about to tell her the truth of what he was really thinking about. “Not at all. I’ve just never seen a woman so jazzed up about game food,” he said honestly.

  She shrugged, potholders still in her hands. “I like football. I like game food.”

  And he definitely liked her. “Well, what’s on the menu for said game food? You doing the pigs-in-a-blanket kind of little smokies? They’re my favorite.”

  She laughed. “They are? I didn’t see you as a pig-in-a-blanket type of guy. And yes, of course. I am doing those and the bacon-wrapped smokies as well. I’m surprised those aren’t your favorite since they’re sprinkled in brown sugar. I know how you like bacon. And I know how you like your sweets.”

  “That’s a thing?!” he asked excitedly. She had just described heaven for him. Bacon and sugar. And her. Yep, yep, and yep. Sign him up.

  She nodded and asked incredulously, “You’ve never had them??”

  He shook his head no.

  “They’ll probably change your life.” She laughed. “I think I like the salty-and-sweet combination most.”

  He couldn’t have stopped the smile creeping across his face even if he’d wanted to. “Salty and sweet. I’ve never heard a more accurate description for you.”

  She shrugged and simply said, “Guilty as charged.” She proceeded with telling him her menu and the tons of food she was making, both for today and for tomorrow for church, but he was a bit zoned out. He couldn’t help but think that the bacon smokies weren’t the only thing changing his life.

  ****

  “Come onnnnn,” she yelled at the screen. At first she tried to play it cool watching football around Beckett. But he let her know he got a kick out of her liking football, so she wasn’t holding back as much now. Poor Mable even knew she enjoyed football, and it was the only time the cat kept her distance.

  Beckett was also into the game, which was quickly becoming a nail-biter. It wasn’t teams he cared about, but he liked to cheer for the underdog. She supposed it was because he spent a lot of his college career as an underdog since Nebraska didn’t have the best record in the years he played there.

  “You cheering for Georgia because I am, or because you just don’t seem to like Bama?” he asked at one point early in the first quarter.

  She was mildly offended. Like she would choose a team just because he did? Yeah, nope. Did he not know her at all? “No, I’m cheering for Georgia because they are the better team. They’ve had the tougher schedule. And though I can’t say a bad thing about Alabama and their dominance in recent years, I do know that their strength of schedule has been going down. They’ve found a way to work the system. I just think they need to play more conference games if they want to go around calling themselves the greatest team in college football.”

  He looked surprised. “I thought you didn’t follow college football.”

  She shook her head. “No, I just said I preferred pro. I used to live about thirty minutes from College Station. I’d have to have been an idiot to not know anything about college football.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Aggies?”

  She nodded. “I wasn’t a big fan or anything. Always rooted for the Texas teams in the area—Houston, UT, A&M, Baylor, TCU.”

  He playfully tugged on her shirt, one of the many Nebraska items he’d gotten in her size and had shipped to him. “Just be sure to remember what hue of red looks best on you, honey.”

  She laughed. “Let me guess. Good ol’ Nebraska U?”

  He nodded and brought her in close. “And don’t you ever forget it.”

  After a distraction of the best kind, Beckett kissing her senseless, they soon got back into the game. Beckett would give some input on what plays he did and didn’t like. She would ask him what he would have run instead. Watching football live, she realized that his knowledge for football was a lot more than she even thought it was. It was more than just knowing the routes he had to run. He knew the quarterback position well, which had probably only helped him as a receiver. And he had these amazing instincts; he knew when something was going to go bad two beats before it actually did. She had no idea why he didn’t coach, but she finally had to ask.

  “Beckett,” she started.

  He ran a hand through her hair. “I sense a serious question coming on. What’s up, honey?”

  He knew her too dang well. “Why don’t you coach?” she blurted out. “I don’t mean to open any sore wounds. I just think you’re brilliant, and you would make an excellent coach.”

  He shrugged before he started explaining. “I only played two seasons. I’m not interested in coaching at the college level because of all the job hopping you have to do to make a name for yourself. And I don’t want to recruit a bunch of spoiled brats . . . . ” He trailed off, but she gave him plenty of tim
e to think and finish while she listened. “Maybe high school someday. The high school coach here in Picketts is getting older, and I’ve thought about it a bit. I just wasn’t sure I was ready to give my life back over to football.”

  “I can understand that.” She paused to give him a kiss on his dimple. “But for what it’s worth, I think you’d be excellent. There has to be a way to have it all—both the farm and football.” And her, she added mentally.

  He nodded. “Thanks, Jord. Means more to me than you know.”

  He just called her “Jord.” He gave her a nickname. Lord have mercy, things were moving fast! And though she had hated it when her mom used to call her that, it sounded completely different on Beckett’s lips. She was absolutely okay with it. More than okay.

  “No problem, Becks,” she said with a laugh. If they were doing nicknames, she wasn’t scared.

  He looked to the big screen and back to the game. “Uh-oh. Fourth and one and Bama is going for it. What should Georgia run, defense girl?”

  She looked at him, a bit insulted. Please. An easier question could not be asked. “Blitz. Duh. Bring the dang house. Send ’em all.”

  He laughed. “I love that you know your stuff. I just wish you were an offense girl instead.”

  She leaned in to whisper, “Well, offense is starting to grow on me.”

  He caught her hand and brought her closer into his chest. “That’s what I like to hear.”

  They finished that game, though the team they were rooting for lost—but it was a heck of a game so they couldn’t even be mad. They watched all of the next game too. They were so comfortable and it felt so normal, even though they hadn’t known each other very long. Jordyn was absolutely certain that game food wasn’t nearly as fun when it was just her. She was going to remember this day for a long time.