Snowbound Read Online Free Page A

guests, and a couple of packages of feminine products. It might embarrass the girls, but if they were here for very many days, odds were a couple of them would need something.
    Fiona stood when he came back. Ill take that up. She looked into the basket. Oh, thank goodness. I didnt even think of that as a problem. Ill distribute all this. She raised her voice. Im going to bed, kids. Help Mr. Fallon clean up, then I expect you to get ready for bed, too. Its been a long day.
    Do we have to turn the lights out? Amy looked genuinely horrified.
    No. You can read, talk, listen to music, whatever. Just keep it down, and be considerate of each other.
    If you need anything during the night John pointed to a door at the back of the kitchen thats where Ill be.
    Nods all around.
    He walked the teacher to the foot of the stairs.
    Standing one step up, she was at eye level with him. Did I tell you when I called that our principal said they had four inches and snow still piling up even in Portland? Its amazing that you have electricity.
    We operate on a generator. There arent any power lines out here.
    Oh. That makes sense. She gave a small shiver. I cant believe how lucky we were. I didnt want the kids to know, butI was so scared.
    Feeling cruel, he said, You should have been. Without winter gear
    Her chin came up. This blizzard wasnt predicted so soon. And none of the meteorologists expected it to be so major. Its only November!
    You ever noticed how ski areas open Thanksgiving weekend? Means theyve been getting snow for weeks.
    Thats true, but were not at that kind of elevation here She trailed off, then sighed. Youre right. We should have never set off without being prepared. I knew we had chains, and Ive driven in snow, so I got complacent. But my dad kept down sleeping bags in the trunk whenever we traveled during the winter.
    Smart man.
    You saved our lives.
    No. It sounds like Dieter did.
    Her face softened. He did. Hes an amazing boy. Really brilliant. I mean, theyre all smart, but not like him. And hes sotogether. Mature and, I dont know, comfortable with himself. Which, let me tell you, is rare in sixteen-year-olds.
    The boys hed known in Iraq were younger in years, if older in experience. Living in a war zone did that to kids.
    He jerked his head toward the kitchen. They all that age?
    Willow is fifteen. Shes our only sophomore. And Troy and Erin are seniors, so theyre seventeen. The rest are juniors.
    John nodded.
    Its nice of you to take charge. I really am tired.
    Go. Theyll be fine.
    I know. Youre right.
    Still she didnt move, and he thought how easy itwould be to step forward, wrap a hand around the back of her head and kiss her.
    Something on his face may have given away the tenor of his thoughts, because her color rose and she groped backward with one foot for the next step.
    I dont know what Im just standing here for. Tiredness, I guess. Um, good night.
    He dipped his head. Good night.
    John stayed at the foot of the stairs watching until she disappeared above with the basket of toiletries. He should have offered her a nightgown; he had a few of those in the lost and found, too. All were sturdy flannel. He didnt know if any newlyweds had ever honeymooned at Thunder Mountain Lodge, but if so the brides had remembered to take home their lacy negligees.
    John frowned, trying to remember whether the kids had called her Miss. Or was it Ms.? Young as she looked, she could be married. No, he decided; if she was, she would have called her husband tonight, not the principal. And shed asked him to phone parents. She hadnt said anything about him calling a husband.
    Heading back to the kitchen, he was irritated to realize that he felt relieved.

    F IONA HAD NEVER been more grateful to be able to brush her teeth. As she did so, she thought about their host. Hed been remarkably kind so far, but hed looked so grim all the while!
    She wondered what had happened to give him the limp and the scar that ran from his jaw down his neckand