The wind whistled, pushing Arctic fingers into the warm cabin. Her parents braced themselves for the short walk to the cottage, and Suzanne watched them from the doorway as her parents trudged away, hunched into their coats, their flashlights lighting the way on the cold, dark night, gusts of wind making the short walk challenging. When they reached their door, they turned and waved, and Suzanne waved back before shutting the cabin door and the inclement weather outside where it belonged.

Outside with Grady.

…

Nine o’clock came and went. Ten o’clock did, too. Grady had told Suzanne to not wait up, but she couldn’t go to bed with the wind howling outside and him still out there in it. True, it hadn’t started snowing yet, but it wouldn’t be long.

Where was he? She’d texted him half a dozen times, and her head was full of worst-case scenarios.

In an effort to keep her mind off Grady’s absence and her infuriatingly silent phone, she’d kept herself busy. She’d showered and regularly stoked the fire so the cabin would be toasty warm when Grady finally did arrive home. She’d baked a batch of brownies that were cooling on the kitchen bench top, and she had a saucepan full of warmed milk ready to go because surely a hot chocolate would be appreciated after coming in from the storm?

She’d turned on some Christmas carols for company, painted her toes, and cleaned out her handbag sitting on the rug in front of the fire. And now she was on the couch, her legs pulled up under her, a fleecy blanket over her lap and a glass of red by her side, trying to concentrate on her e-reader. She’d turned off the carols in an effort to improve her concentration, but it hadn’t worked, as she stared once again at the Christmas tree, her thoughts whirring.

Not even the tree gave her any pleasure tonight, despite the small pile of presents beneath it now. One each for her parents, even though they didn’t believe in gift giving. And Winona’s wrapped cookies. There was also a little something for Burl and Cora. And there was a present for Grady, because it would be weird if she hadn’t gotten him anything. And one from him to her that she’d wrapped and placed with the others because, ditto. They were just matching sweaters to wear to Christmas lunch, but there was still a pretense to be upheld.

Glancing out the windows into the dark, Suzanne was grateful the power hadn’t gone out yet. The lights inside were comforting while she was here alone, and knowing the ones outside were shining like a beacon for her rancher was also welcome.