Cabin Fever(41)

 

“Thanks,” Jeremy says, stomping his boots behind me on the porch. “For the rescue.”

 

“You’re not welcome.” I go into the house ahead of him, fully intending to ignore him for the rest of the night, but he has other plans. He runs inside and grabs my upper arm, holding on until I turn around.

 

“What?” I glare at him, trying to discourage him from saying anything else that will embarrass me.

 

His voice is much softer, kinder. “I just wanted to apologize. For the way I acted earlier. There’s no excuse for it.”

 

I wasn’t expecting this. Some of my anger dissipates when his sincere expression comes through. “Don’t worry about it. No apology necessary.” I’ve been known to hold a grudge before, but I can’t with him. I just can’t. I don’t know why, either, because a grudge would probably be a good idea where he’s concerned; it would help keep him at arm’s length at a time when I’m finding it hard not to stare at his lips. I wonder what it would have been like to make out with him out in the snow…

 

He glances over at the kitchen. “Still have some of that chicken-fried steak?”

 

His question jerks me out of my crazy fantasy. “How’d you know I cooked chicken-fried steak?”

 

He smiles. “I’d recognize one of those anywhere. It’s my favorite.”

 

I pull myself from his grip and gesture to the kitchen island. “Go ahead, if you want it. I left it on the counter.”

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“To give the dog a bath.”

 

“Brush his teeth while you’re at it,” Jeremy says at my back.

 

“Sure, no problem,” I shout from inside the bathroom. “Where’s your toothbrush?”

 

He laughs but doesn’t respond. I find myself smiling at my image in the mirror. I guess we survived our first whole day together without anyone getting killed or maimed by frostbite. That has to be a good sign, right?

 

I roll my eyes. Who am I kidding? This is a complete mess. He’s a train wreck and I’m spending all my time worrying about him when what I should be doing is focusing on my work and myself. I’m just as much a mess as he is, but I don’t have a big fat bank account to pay my bills when I run out of money like he probably does.

 

Those snow plows better come tomorrow or who knows what’ll happen. At the rate we’re already going, one or both of us is going to come down with a serious case of cabin fever, and then I don’t want to know what kind of crazy stuff is going to happen.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Nineteen

 

 

 

 

 

JAWS IS ALLERGIC TO BATHS, or so he’d like me to think, the way he’s sneezing, coughing, and straining to get away the whole time. But when I’m done with him, using a comb I find in a drawer in the bathroom and my hair dryer to fluff his wiry brown and white fur up, he looks almost good enough for a dog show. Unfortunately, Jeremy doesn’t keep his toothbrush in here, otherwise, he’d have sparkling-white teeth too.

 

“Are you ready to make your grand entrance?”

 

Jaws glares up at me as I rest my hand on the inside handle of the bathroom door.

 

“Don’t look at me like that. You know you feel better without all that matted hair everywhere.”

 

The mutt shifts his gaze to the door, probably trying to cast the magic doggie spell he thinks will open it up. Apparently, he’s not speaking to me right now.

 

“Fine.” I open the door and let him leave. He runs over to the fireplace, sits down on the rug, and promptly starts licking his nether regions.

 

Jeremy’s on a stool at the island in the kitchen watching the dog. “Wow, he looks different. Better. What breed is he?”

 

“I have no idea. He’s not mine.”

 

Jeremy looks over at me. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean what I said. He’s a stray, I think. He didn’t have a collar and he followed me up here.”

 

“From Manhattan?”

 

“No, from the little grocery store down in the town a mile from here.”

 

“Huh. I thought I recognized him.” Jeremy points his fork at the dog. “That’s Stanky.”

 

“Stanky? Do you know his owner?”

 

Jeremy shakes his head and stands, taking his dish to the sink. “Nah. As far as I know, he’s the town stray. Everyone just calls him Stanky because he stanks.” Jeremy chuckles.

 

Little Stanky isn’t stanky anymore, and that name seems kind of disrespectful of the little lion heart he has beating in his chest.