by V. Vaughn
Not only do the fools drive in the storm to come see me, but they all seem to talk about their trip as if it’s a sport. I hear about too many near-miss accidents, and it confirms why I stay holed-up in the warmth of my home, grateful I don’t lose power.
That’s another joy of a Maine winter. If electricity does go out where I’m located, I’m told it could be a week before I get it back. Fortunately, I do know how to use my generator, but I never considered I was trading in hurricanes for blizzards. I let out a huff as I dig my shovel into more snow. We got over two feet, and as tempted as I am to just slam on the gas and blast my Jeep through it to get to the grocery store, I’d probably get stuck.
“Uh-oh,” says a familiar voice, and I glance up to see Lance sitting behind the wheel of a truck with a plow on the front. His window is down, and he continues, “I didn’t get here soon enough.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Oh my god. Are you really here to plow for me?”
“I am. Hop in, and I’ll show you how this works.”
I stick my shovel into a pile of snow by my walkway and get in Lance’s truck. He hands me what looks like a remote and explains the buttons to me before he says, “Go ahead and double tap it now.”
I do as he asks to put the plow blade down, and he drives forward. In a few passes, my driveway is clear. “Wow,” I say. “That was fast.”
“Much easier.” Lance puts his truck in park and turns off the engine. “Now let’s go shovel your steps.”
I’d say he doesn’t need to, but something tells me he’s going to do it anyway. He hops out and walks to the back of his truck. By the time I get out too, Lance has a shovel in his hand, and I lead him toward my skinny path I already cleared and grab my shovel too. With his help, we finish quickly, especially since for every one of my scoops, he manages two.
“I can’t thank you enough,” I say.
“You shouldn’t be doing this in the first place. You should have said something.”
I put my hand on my hip. “You mean like a helpless female, I should bat my eyes at some guy and ask him to shovel my driveway? I think not.”
He chuckles. “You can pay people to do it too.” He grins. “Unless of course you enjoy this part of winter.”
I smile at his teasing. “You’re funny. Thanks for coming by. I really appreciate it.”
“What does the rest of your day look like? Because if you can play hooky, I came over to see if you can come out and play.”
“Play?” Suddenly, the need to go the grocery store disappears. “I have a few hours. I don’t have an appointment until two. What did you have in mind?”
Lance walks over to his truck, and his shovel clatters in the back when he tosses it and retrieves two pairs of snowshoes. He holds them up. “This.”
“Snowshoeing.” I frown as I recall my attempt at skating on a pond. It wasn’t nearly as easy as it had looked. “Is it hard to do?”
“Not if you can walk. It doesn’t hurt to fall.”
“Really?”
“I promise. What do you have in the way of snow gear? It’ll make all the difference in the world.”
“A hat, mittens, a warm jacket, boots...”
Lance opens the passenger side of his truck and yanks a bag out from behind the seat. “Whatever you don’t have, I do. I grabbed a bunch of my sister’s things she outgrew.”
“Oh.” I stare at him for a moment. He thought to bring me winter clothing. Who is this guy? He’s nice, and he’s hot. I take a moment to appreciate his broad shoulders covered in a red fleece. Red is definitely his color. Lance raises his eyebrows at me. “Oh!” I say, “I’m sorry. Come on in.” I lead us into my house.
When we get into the living room, Lance plops the bag down on the couch. “Let’s talk about fabrics and layers.”
“What?” I glance around. “Is there a camera in here? Am I getting a makeover?” I give him a wicked grin.
He chuckles. “Now who’s funny?” Lance proceeds to teach me about materials that wick away moisture so you can sweat but not get cold when you stop moving, and he goes into how to layer so you can manage your body temperature to stay comfortable. And apparently the only thing I have right is the boots a smart salesman helped me buy.
“Now that we have you dressed,” Lance says, “let’s go get the snowshoes and my pack. There’s a great trail across your field.”
After we gather the gear, we walk toward my backyard, and I think about how I occasionally see bear running through my field. Before I think about who I’m talking to, I blurt out, “It’s not safe!”
Lance stops and looks at me. “What do you mean?”
I shake my head. “It’s nothing.”
He frowns. “I don’t think so. I may not be a warlock, but when a witch says something like that, there’s a reason. What’s scaring you?”
“It’s stupid. I didn’t think before I spoke.”
I begin to walk, and Lance steps in front of me. “I believe in your powers, Dawn. Talk to me.”
“It has nothing to do with my magic.” I realize Lance isn’t going to let this go, so I say, “Sometimes I forget where I am. I learned werebear exist less than a year ago, and that means things like the bear who run around in my backyard make me nervous. Even though I know...” I grimace because I’m probably insulting Lance.
“They’re clan members who are human too.”
“Right.”
“Wow. That news must have come as quite a shock, but you moved here anyway.”
“I didn’t have much choice. My mother was supposed to come, but if she did, then she and my father… well.” My father never would have come even if the idea of Maine appealed to him. The truth is my parents’ marriage has been on rocky ground for years, and I think part of the reason my mother chose to send me here was because she didn’t think she and my dad would survive it.
“He hates winter more than you do.”
I smile at Lance, because he’s very good at giving me a graceful out, and I say, “Something like that.”
Lance tilts his head at the door. “Let’s get out there and enjoy the fresh snow.”
“Snow,” I grumble. “Enjoy. Right.”
“I have chocolate,” says Lance as he steps out the door. He turns to me. “It’s very important to fuel up from time to time in cold weather.”
“Of course,” I agree. “And chocolate is very good for that.”
The snowshoes land with a soft thud when Lance drops them on the ground, and he gets on his knees to help me put mine on. Once we’re both ready, he explains that in deep snow, you march, and he walks in front of me to demonstrate. I follow behind him and find that snowshoeing isn’t difficult. But it is more strenuous than walking, and it doesn’t take long before I’m sweating, as I did when I was shoveling earlier.
“This is work,” I say.
Lance stops and turns to me. “Unzip your jacket before you get too hot.”
He resumes hiking, and the snow pants I’m wearing swish as I move my legs. I glance around at the scenery. My field is completely white, and it makes the sun very bright. I’m grateful for the sunglasses Lance insisted I wear. I ask, “Have you always lived here?”
“Except for four years. I went to Bowdoin College, which is south of here, but it’s still in Maine. And...” He glances over his shoulder at me. “I went to Daytona Beach for spring break once.”
I groan. “You were one of those people.”
“Yup. Although werebear don’t get drunk easily, so I don’t think I was too much of a jerk.”
“I’ve heard that. How did you like Florida?”
“The beach was pretty, although there were far too many people around. I’m not a big fan of crowds.”
I chuckle. “That’s good considering where you live.”
We’re headed toward the forest, and it occurs to me that since I’m not cold, I’m enjoying myself. I say, “Thank you for the gear. It’s nice to be warm.”
Lance stops. “How are yo
u doing?” he asks as he lowers his pack to the ground. “Thirsty?”
“Yes.” I take the water bottle he hands me and relish the cool liquid sliding down my throat when I drink. “Thanks.”
“So what do you think about snowshoeing? It’s not bad, huh?”
I smile. “This is fun.” I imagine it must feel laborious to Lance, though, and I ask, “Wouldn’t this be so much easier as a bear?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. But getting from point A to point B isn’t the main goal here.” He spreads his arms. “It’s about enjoying the great outdoors.” Lance stares at me for a moment, and his eyes twinkle as he smiles slowly. “With someone you’d like to know better.”
I smile back at him, and I think about how much I want to be out here right now. And it’s because of the sexy guy standing across from me. I gaze into his green eyes as I wonder what his bear might look like. Not that I want to see it yet, but I am happy he came into my life. I say, “Yeah. It is.”
Chapter 4
“What else would you like to know about me?” I ask Lance as we begin to move again.
“Tell me about your powers. I know that each witch has specialties. Right?”
“We do.” Coming here and using my powers for more than occasional tarot readings, I’ve learned I never really developed my powers to their full potential. “But I’m not sure what all of mine are yet.”
“How do you find out?”
“With practice. In Florida, I didn’t use my magic much, so I never worked on discovering the depth of my abilities.” Magic wasn’t something I needed at home, but my mother would have been happy to help me explore my powers had I asked. I think she never pushed because neither of us ever thought I might be a clan witch and need to know. “I never expected to end up here.”
“I imagine being thrust into a situation unprepared must be a little unsettling.” Lance stops for a moment to open zippers in the armpits of his jacket.
I say, “It would be if I were facing great dangers every day, but I’m not.”
“I heard you saved a Robichaux warrior.”
I laugh. “There are no secrets in this town, are there? But I wasn’t the one who saved him.” I think about how I helped Bella save her soul mate by taking action. All my life, I’ve had sudden truths come to me when I needed them most. Like the time when I knew a shark was in the water, and even though I didn’t see him, I screamed at two surfers to stop them before they headed out in the water. They were grateful when we spotted the shark just minutes later. When Cade’s heart stopped beating, I was given the sudden truth I needed to save him. Because Bella and Cade have a soul-mate connection, I knew she needed to be bonded to him to amplify her magic and bring him back to life. So I grabbed a scalpel covered in his blood to slice her wrist and create the bond.
I say, “I’m pretty good at knowing what to do in emergency situations. I have a keen mind for creating spells, and I have some telekinetic powers.”
“You do?” Lance stops. We’re at the edge of the forest, and he drops his pack again to grab more water. “Will you show me something?”
“Okay. I’m pretty sure I’ve only tapped into this side of my magic because it definitely takes practice, but check this out.”
I notice the bar of chocolate in his pack, and I point at it as I focus my powers to lift it up and have it come toward me. I grin when I catch it.
“Whoa! What else can you do?”
I thrust out the fingers of one hand to send my magic at the ground, and snow blasts up as if it exploded.
“Hey, you could have cleared your driveway with magic.”
“I could, but it would take a lot of energy, and I’d need a major nap and a lot more chocolate afterward. It’s less strenuous to just shovel.” I slide my fingers under the candy wrapper to open it up. I snap off a piece and put it in my mouth before I hold out the bar to Lance.
“Makes sense. I never thought about how much energy it must take to use your powers.”
“Yeah. And I likely use more than necessary because I haven’t fine-tuned it yet. But I’m getting better.”
“You impressed me,” Lance says as he steps closer to me and the chocolate.
He breaks off a square, and I open my mouth so he can pop it in. I let out a small noise of pleasure when the sweetness hits my tongue, and his nostrils flare. I react by placing my hand on his chest and swallow down my chocolate with a gulp. Lance cups my chin with his hand, and his lips turn up in a smile before they land on mine. Our kiss is soft, nipping, with a hint of sweetness that comes from more than the sugary treat.
When we break apart, I take a much-needed breath, and my cheeks heat up as I smile.
He asks, “What would you like to know about me?”
What your hands would feel like on my bare skin, because I bet you’d be good with them. I blow out air as I regain my composure. “Tell me what you do for work,” I say as we begin to move single file on a path in the woods.
“I work at the mill.” Snow flips up from his snowshoes and splatters on his legs as he walks.
The Veilleux clan’s major business is a specialty paper mill that creates products for artists, and I say, “So you are good with your hands.” Oh god. A flush returns to my cheeks when he glances back at me. “I mean—” I let out a sigh because Lance is laughing.
“I am very good with my hands,” he says. “In my spare time, I draw and dabble in watercolors.”
“I’d like to see your work sometime.”
“Are you inviting yourself over to see my...” He glances over his shoulder and waggles his eyebrows at me. “Paintings?”
“What? I—”
He’s laughing again, and I stoop down to pick up snow and form a snowball. I throw it and hit the back of his head.
“Hey!” Lance turns around with a grin. “You sure you want to start that?” He steps close to me and gazes at my mouth. His voice lowers, making me think his insides are trembling with desire the way mine are. “Because it’s going to end up with us on the ground.” He pulls off his glove and hooks his finger in the opening of my jacket to tug me closer. “Covered in snow.” I let out a shaky breath as he lowers his mouth toward mine, and he whispers, “And very wet.”
I melt faster than a snowball in the Florida sun as our second kiss gets heated, and I clutch at Lance’s jacket, wishing I could remove it along with everything else he’s wearing.
He’s the one to pull away first, and he asks, “How do you like winter now?”
“If that’s winter, I have been doing it wrong.”
Lance says, “At this rate, we’re never going to get to the river.” He starts walking again. “I left a little surprise there for us in case I could convince you to come.”
“I like surprises.” I trudge along behind him, and it doesn’t take long for us to reach the river. It’s mostly frozen over, but water still rushes by, and I can see it through various nooks and crannies in the ice.
We walk over to a fallen log, and Lance clears the snow off of it for me to sit. He drops to his knees and begins to dig. He pulls up what looks like a neoprene bag one might use on a boat and hands it to me. “Go ahead and open it up,” he says. When I do, I pull out a loaf of French bread, a container with pieces of cheese, another with pepperoni, and a bag of grapes.
My stomach growls at the sight of food.
“Aha!” says Lance as he holds up two bottles of beer. “Our winter picnic. What do you think?”
“I think you’re amazing, because suddenly I’m starving.”
A bottle cap pops as he removes it, and he hands me a beer. “Snowshoeing will do that to you. I swear it makes food and beer taste better too.”
As he sits beside me, I take a sip of the beer and notice a bit of slush in it. The icy-cold liquid feels good in my mouth, and after I swallow it down, I say, “Wow. That really does taste better.” I tilt my bottle toward him. “I think this is the best beer I’ve ever had.”
He taps his drink against mine. “To n
ew discoveries.”
“To new friends.”
“Friends, huh?” Lance frowns and leans in to kiss me but stops when he’s inches from my mouth.
I pull back to scowl too. “What’s wrong?”
“I want us to be more than friends, Dawn.”
I smile as my crush on him fills me with warmth. “Me too, Lance.” I lean forward and kiss him with the kind of passion that reinforces what I said. When we stop, I say, “I think I’m beginning to like winter.”
“Uh-huh,” Lance leans in for another kiss. “And it’s only just begun.”
Chapter 5
I’m working at my kitchen table, trying hard to focus on something other than Lance. I didn’t want to come back from our hike yesterday, and I’m afraid I wasn’t the most attentive witch to my clients that afternoon.
My phone buzzes, and I pick it up to say, “Mom. How are you?” My spell book scrapes across the table as I push it aside to focus on my call.
Instead of answering me, she asks, “How are you?” There’s a little too much excitement in her voice, which tells me something is wrong. But I know she won’t tell me what it is until she makes sure that I don’t have anything upsetting me first.
“I’m good. My magic is getting stronger every day.” I think about snowshoeing with Lance yesterday. Actually, what I think about is kissing Lance while I was wearing snowshoes, because I’m pretty sure that’s what I’ll associate it with forever. “I’m even making some werebear friends.”
“That’s great, honey. Any more mishaps with the house?”
“No. The plumber assured me that the rest of the pipes are fine.” I smile as I recall Lance showing up at my house yesterday. “And I’ve got someone to plow the driveway, which is a huge time saver.”
“It certainly is. Good call,” says Mom. She lets out a sigh.
“Talk to me. What’s bothering you?”
“I’m afraid I have some bad news, honey,” she says. “Dad and I have decided to go our separate ways.”
