Warm Winter Love Read Online Free Page B

wasn’t her father and he wasn’t her Jason. Sam was just another man who would go on his way come Sunday. Just another pleasant memory.
    She watched as he made his way toward her and she knew she was smiling. Yes, it was nice to have someone like Sam Hubbard to talk to at Cedar Crest. He was making the vacation more fun. Maybe she might even tell Irene about meeting him.
    ~
    The cross-country trail led past an old farm—past the deserted and neglected boarded-up gray, weathered house and barn and sheds and its only use nowadays was as a marker for skiers who needed signposts as guides back to the main resort area.
    They had already passed the farmhouse on their way out and now, this, their second time in view of the abandoned homestead, on their return to the Crest, they were both delighting in the fact that their tracks were the only ones still showing in the snow. Sam invented a game—seeing who could ski as near as possible to their original markings but at one point he made a wrong maneuver and crossed over too early, so that his skis imprinted over her lines for a few feet before he returned to his original position. She pointed to where the tracings merged. “You’ve double-crossed me, Sam Hubbard,” she said, laughing. “You’ve invaded my territory.”
    “Would I do that?” he teased. “The best skiing partner I’ve ever had—would I deliberately cross her up?” He held out his arms. “Would I really do that to a beautiful stranger who’s befriended me?” He nodded his head. “You are, you know.”
    “I…” She hoped he would think the blush on her face was only from the cold weather.
    “Come on,” he said pulling back onto his primary course and, with an extra burst of speed, moved ahead of her. “Catch me, if you can.”
    Katie watched the motions of his arms and shoulders and suddenly felt a strange sensation. She crinkled her eyes as though compressing them would help her to understand what the feeling was but she couldn’t quite sort it out even though the vague, unknown, feathery ticking at her temples seemed to be telling her something… to be warning her about… about what? It seemed strange but it was as though quite suddenly she knew in this altogether ordinary moment, as she and Sam approached close to the abandoned farmhouse, that everything seemed to be changing for her. It was nothing she could put her finger on… nothing so overt that she could say, yes, that’s when she knew it—when she realized that something had happened to the both of them. It was just that odd little feeling… a soft, delicate feeling… almost as though a perfect calm had overtaken her.
    They paused at the porch of the house and sat down on the snow-covered steps, catching their breath and resting for a few minutes before continuing on the trail. It was late in the afternoon, almost four o’clock, and the sun was already beginning to set. The sky was streaked with deep rose-pink and blue-gray clouds and it was at that almost-dusk time of day when she could see the lights in the distance but not really clearly. She knew it was time to return to the Crest before they would have trouble finding their way back, but instead, they lingered. They began to talk about their lives. She told him about some of the students and the way they acted and even how they had nicknamed her “Kindhearted Katie” because she really didn’t want anyone to fail her class. He laughed and told her he couldn’t envision her in a classroom.
    It was funny, she thought; she didn’t feel reluctant about telling him the stories. She even told him about Irene, her best friend, and how they had both gone to the same school and had grown up together and now were teachers. But, for some reason, she was hesitant to tell him about Jason and so she avoided speaking about him. He wasn’t a topic she wanted to bring up. Besides, there was no reason to tell him about Jason. What would she tell Sam—that she and Jason were engaged…