NO WONDER Brett set to realize his dream the moment he moved here. The land, the hills, the mountains, called Jada to live free. When had she gotten such an appreciation for the near-wilderness?
The noon sun glistened off the snow. Jada tried to remember why she hadn’t brought her sunglasses for the group outing.
Sighing, she glanced behind to Mary Jo who’d crept a little too close to Brett. Only a handful of travelers and the Mansouri kids decided to pile onto the 8-foot long, deep sled to view the property, and MJ had to be one of them? What was she? Twenty-one? Her father didn’t seem to realize her antics bordered on vixen.
“Come on, Jada. This will be fun! We’re going to take the sled down the slope over there. All aboard.” Windy ran to the small hill with some of the others, abandoning her skis in favor of a tumble with new friends. The woman must be mid-sixties with energy to spare.
Jada declined with a smile and shake of her head as she waved them away to have fun. She kicked and brushed snow off of a wide tree stump by a section of the fence, and sat to wait for them to tire out.
After detaching the snowmobile, Brett glanced her way in his dark shades, then at the others, and when he turned back, she waved him off, too.
He took the sled over to the hill while she closed her eyes. “God, what am I feeling?” she asked aloud. “Why do I want to see what happens with this man? Instant attraction I understand. This is… I can’t explain this one.”
Maybe God knew why she kissed Brett, even if only on the cheek.
“And what do you want me to learn in all of this confusion?” Confusion? No. But she couldn’t afford her own will to take over due to attraction of an ideal man. Her eyelids fluttered open to see the object of her desires—could she call him that—and current problem halfway over to her. “God, don’t let me lose myself where I shouldn’t. Direct me,” she added quickly between her lips so Brett wouldn’t think she was talking to herself.
Jada cleared her throat, glancing behind Brett’s approaching frame to view MJ watching him like she wanted to follow.
“Tobogganing not your thing?” she asked him, surprised that he hadn’t taken a turn on the hill. She squinted with one eye open by the time he stood several feet away.
He removed his sunglasses and squinted back, out of necessity, given how the snow reflected light on his clean-shaven face. Boy, she’d thought he was good looking yesterday, nearly had a heart attack when she came for breakfast this morning.
“I’m not finding this sense of adventure we talked about.” He kicked snow with this boot and grinned. “But someone once told me that black women are allergic to cold. Thought maybe you’d caught something. Came to see if you’re presenting any symptoms.”
“I can’t believe you said that!” She laughed so hard she nearly fell off the stump. “You are outrageous.”
The non-colored men she associated with weren’t bold enough to meet her where she was racially. She understood that came with a comfort level they didn’t share. Which was fine, and normal. Yet Brett came already there. How was it they’d entered the comfort zone across their races?
“I don’t have anything a hot cup of cider can’t cure. Know where I can get some?”
“As it so happens…” He didn’t wait for an invitation, but trudged up beside her and she made room on the stump. “There’s a house not too far from here. The owner wouldn’t mind making you a mug when we get back.”
“Sold.”
His eyes roamed her face, his look on the verge of a question before he turned his attention to the far away group. His shoulder leaned into hers. She bumped back, returning his amused look.
“I like you in my jacket.”
“Yeah?” She looked down at the dark gray winter gear. Glancing back to his face, his eyes stayed on hers before doing a sweep from her hat to her lips. A jolt ran through her and she rolled her lips. “What do you like about it?”
He smiled, turned away, came back. “It really doesn’t fit,” he laughed, “but you wear it like it should. Like it has to conform to you.”
“I do?” Why did the strange comment make her voice go high with happiness?
He laughed and bumped her shoulder again. They spent a minute watching the group before he looked at her, joy fading. “Did you hear the report earlier?”
That didn’t sound good. “What report?”
“The roads will be cleared by tomorrow morning.”
Jada couldn’t speak. Their time had a clock on it. Weak, she rested her head on his shoulder before censoring the move. Now that she knew without a doubt the end was in sight, why did she choose to hold onto their vacuum of moments? “I wish I didn’t know.”
“Hey.” His hand on her back encouraged her to sit up, and they shared a nervous look. “I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position, but…is it just me?”
A vague sentence that she understood perfectly. She wanted to look away but wouldn’t deny him the truth in her soul. “No.”
“People meet and connect in an instant all the time.”
“We’re Christians. I don’t want to make the mistake of being involved with someone and be wrong about what we feel because we’re strung out on emotions. We don’t know each other.” She chuckled and looked around, her heart bumping out of her chest. “Insta-love. Doesn’t happen.”
“My pastor and his wife met and married in three months.”
She jerked her eyes back to him.
“Not that I’m saying we’re…I can’t say that either. Point is, why not try?”
What if it was all a waste of their time? “The day before yesterday, you didn’t exist. Now I’m sitting here.” The sweep of the back of his warm bare fingers made her cold cheek tingle. She closed her eyes. “I’m here by accident. I made a mistake on the road.”
“Call it divine intervention.”
While they exchanged a sad laugh, she opened her eyes to find his face closer. He placed his forehead against hers.
“Jada.”
“I love it when you say my name.” Her whisper slipped out without permission, but oh, how she meant it. He was made to say her name. She didn’t want anyone else whispering it in intimacy. The thought stunned but didn’t frighten her.
“I kind of wish I didn’t promise not to pressure you. Pray about it. I’m good, but if—”
“I have been.”
“And?”
“I haven’t heard a ‘no’. But what if that’s my wishful thinking?” Where was the great sign she awaited? Maybe no great sign was to come. Maybe it was the small still voice of Brett’s laughter, the first sound she heard when awaking this morning. Maybe it was the fact that she didn’t consider she’d taken his jacket when preparing for the outing.
Maybe it was his smooth jaw pressed against hers before he drew away and stared at her. “Waiting for a sign?”
He couldn’t have known those were her thoughts. “Waiting for an answer where my spirit feels release.”
“What does it feel now?”
Strangely enough, “At ease. At peace.”
“Then it’s your head getting in the way.” His finger tapped her nose. “If your head needs to clear, I’ll wait. I know where your heart is.”
“That simple?”
He released a long breath, his eyes never leaving hers. “I’ve been in a relationship where it wasn’t that simple. Someone who jumped at the chance to date a doctor, own a big house, live in the false glitter of the prestige and the in-laws. You’re weighing your options about what your heart and your God want. I think I like those odds.”
“You’re a strange man, Bretton. But I like you.” At his raised eyebrow, she laughed. “Yes, Bretton. I went exploring yesterday. Found your office while you were out back with an axe, shouting, ‘Timm-berrr!’” Her mock manly voice cracked.
“I think that was Doug,” he mumbled turning away.
“Yeah?” She tried to get in his face to tease him as he playfully hid. “Doug had an uncanny resemblance to your voi
ce on several occasions.” She pushed her scrunched up face to his, not noticing how close she was until his smiling eyes came back to rest on her. The sweet scent of him, the uncanny likeness of love and admiration and fun in the beautiful gray windows to his inner joy. Did she cause that? Sitting back, she bumped his leg. “I saw your credentials, read a few journal articles you wrote. You’re a pretty big name for a young ’un.”
His humble laugh melted her emotions. That ex-girlfriend must have been off of her rocker. Probably pursued everything about him but his heart.
“What happened to the woman? You were more than dating, I take it?”
His lips twisted. He watched the others. “I like to say she just didn’t know what she wanted. We were engaged, but she cheated on me with a friend. Her friend. It may have been a one-time thing when I found out, but everybody saw it coming. Except me. I should have though. Should have questioned their relationship more. They’ll be married next spring.”
Jada didn’t know what to say. Slipping off her mitt, she slid her fingers between his. This was the first time they’d truly held hands. His fingers were cold, they held on tight, and she would hold just as tight for as long as she could take in the chill. Too comfortable for words, she let her head fall again on his shoulder. Her new favorite place.
“Do you miss her?”
The motion of his body said he shook his head. “Inside, it’s like a switch flipped. I look at her as a person. I didn’t like how she left our situation. There was a lot to clean up that she hid away from at first, but she came round afterward. I wish them the best.”
Jada felt as though she hid away her own truths right now. Their conversation from last night, when he asked about her leaving for Judith’s place, whirled around in her head. She didn’t have to leave. She didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to for the next two weeks.
What if what held her back truly was logic trying to interject itself into this new adventure? Her heart and spirit being free, she couldn’t follow her mind on this one.
“My sister is in Greece.”
No movement came from Brett, save his thumb caressing hers.
“The course offered some of the students a month-long trip. Greece, Paris, England, Portugal I think. They left three days ago.”
“So, you weren’t going to spend Christmas with her?”
“At her place, not with her. That’s the extent of my great Christmas getaway.”
“Alone?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I don’t mind solitude.”
“I’m uncomfortable with the idea of anyone spending Christmas alone. Particularly you.” He released her hand and slipped her mitten over it before donning his glove. He clasped her hand again. “Come spend it—let me rephrase. Stay here.”
“Christmas is four days away. I can’t intrude on you and Lance. Besides, with him moving out, just you and me in the house? No can do, bossy.”
“Hmm.” His wisecrack inflection deviated from the topic at hand. “At least I know you considered it.”
Chuckling, she turned and buried her face in his shoulder. Yes, she considered it. Spending a lot of time with him.
“I’m taking the snowmobile to town later to get some supplies. Mohammed’s not going anywhere, his car’s shot, so they’ll stay a few more days. Chuck and Windy are coming back Christmas day rather than spend it in their retirement community. And Claire’s kids are with her ex until next week. She was going to spend Christmas with friends, but when I invited her to stay, she said she’d think about it, so long as Chuck and Windy are here. So what do you say? You’ll have food, and friends, and Lance. You can even check out the church on Christmas Eve.”
The church he was enjoying? She breathed into his jacket.
“Jada.”
Her moment of truth. He’d asked her to stay. His other hand touched her face while heat scorched a line from her belly to her chest. She raised her head to look at him. Could she? What would her sister say? What would the others here think?
“Stay, Jada. We won’t do anything but get to know each other. My brother is an annoying chaperone when he needs to be.”
With an agreeing smile, she formed her mouth to say yes, right when an ill-timed movement interrupted.
“We’re ready to go. Are you two finished?” MJ stood with her arms crossed, in a much too mature swimsuit centerfold pose.
Jada turned to Brett to find his eyes on her not the snow-bunny.
“Okay. Tell the others I’ll take you all home. But no.” The corner of his lips lifted in a smile. “Jada and I are far from finished.”
CHAPTER EIGHT