Winter Winds Read Online Free

winters were an annual event in her life. And the warm gloves. And the knit ski cap. Six years in San Diego had thinned her blood.
    She shuddered again, wishing she didn’t have to deal with what weather.com had told her would be a week of single-digittemperatures all through the Mid-Atlantic states. Maybe, she thought hopefully, Pop still had her red Lands’ End Squall, the one with the navy lining. Grandparents kept things like that, didn’t they? After all, it had meaning for him where the green parka didn’t. He’d bought the whole family the red jackets one year for Christmas, Trev’s senior year in high school if she remembered correctly. They’d all told Pop he was nuts, they weren’t some athletic team to be dressed alike, but they’d all worn the jackets with pride, even Honey.
    Like he’d kept a coat for her for six long years.
    Just when she was certain she was going to be struck down with pneumonia as she waited for Phil, she heard her name called.
    “Yo, Dori!”
    She looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man waving to her from the end of the line of cars pulled to the curb awaiting passengers.
    Her heart sputtered. Trev!

T wo
    H
E WON’T COME FOR YOU ,
she’d told herself again and again all through the long flight.
He won’t meet you. And you don’t want him to. You don’t even want to see him
.
    But he had come! Delight washed warm through her.
    When in the next heartbeat she realized it wasn’t Trev after all, but Phil, she had to turn away, blinking at tears. To buy time, she made a production of being certain her suitcases were secure. When she finally felt dry-eyed, she turned toward Phil and made her way slowly through the press of people all anxious to leave the airport.
    She was appalled at herself. The height of her elation when she thought Trev had come both shamed and frightened her, as did the depth of her subsequent disappointment.
    Don’t think about Trev. Don’t look for Trev. Don’t expect to see Trev. He means nothing to you. You’ve cut him out of your life—and with very good reason. Let it go. Let
him
go
.
    It was that black hair and the size of the man that made her think Trev, but the closer she got to Phil, the less he looked like his brother. Though both men were handsome by any measure, there was about Phil the softness and charm of a puppy gamboling at your feet, anxious to please, while about Trev was a toughness, astrength that made him a combination of Sir Lancelot, Prince Valiant, and Buzz Lightyear.
    “Dori!” Phil cried, running to meet her, leaving his car in spite of the Do-Not-Leave-Your-Car signs and the watchful police presence. He grabbed her in a bear hug and swung her around, then planted a great smacking kiss on her cheek. “It is so good to see you!”
    She had to smile as she kissed him back. Sweet Phil. He’d come to San Diego several times to visit her, making her laugh, taking her places, reminding her of his brother. Such bittersweet visits.
    “Welcome home,” he said as he picked up her suitcases from where they had fallen when he grabbed her. He began walking toward the car, and Dori followed, thankful she had managed to keep hold of her laptop when he grabbed her.
    Home
. Visions of the brick Colonial flashed across her mind, Honey’s carefully pruned and tended azaleas mixing with rhododendrons across the front of the place, the giant oaks shading the deep backyard. She could practically feel Trev and Phil pelting her eight-year-old self with acorns from those trees, grinning with delight when she shrieked that they hurt, then kneeling beside her in distress when they reduced her to tears. At least Trev had knelt beside her, wiping her cheeks, soothing her. Trev, her white knight.
    Swallowing the lump at the base of her throat, she turned from Phil, who was putting her bags in the trunk. No remembering! No reminiscing. It was the only way she could keep the regrets from overwhelming her.
    “I’m freezing!” She shivered