I tugged my sweatshirt on and walked out of the bathroom, giving him a questioning look.
He scratched the side of his jaw. “I know, Scotty, but I’m sure she’s okay.” He grimaced. “Yeah, I heard it could be bad, but come on, we’ve lived by those mountains for how long? You’ve been there a hundred years. Don’t tell me they don’t always exagger—“
Whatever Scotty said on the other end of the phone had Bauer letting out a slow exhale.
“Does she have food?”
My hands lowered slowly where I had started packing away my pajamas. Oh geez, was someone stranded? Lost? My mind started racing, my heart hurting for whoever might be in trouble.
“She’s tough, okay? I’m sure Agnes will be fine. Besides, I’m the last person she’d want to have check on her. She hates me.”
I would’ve smiled, if the name Agnes hadn’t conjured mental images of a sweet, little old lady, and now I wasn’t even sure if she had food.
“We can check on her,” I heard myself say.
Bauer’s face dropped in shock. He blinked. “Yeah, Scotty, that’s her. But—“
“Tell him we’ll check on Agnes,” I said, more firmly this time. I lifted my chin for good measure. For some reason, that made Bauer grin widely. “We can bring supplies from Richard, if he’ll let us part with some canned goods and produce. We’ll make sure she has food.”
The person he was talking to said something that made Bauer chuckle. “Yes, she is definitely a better person than me. Though she may regret this when she meets Agnes.”
My mouth fell open. Everything nice I said about Bauer, I took it back. He was horrible. And rude. And mean to little old ladies without food stuck in the middle of nowhere before a blizzard.
His eyes were glued to my face, full of mischief and fire. “Okay, Scotty. We’ll leave now, but all I can do is check on her, make sure she’s inside with some food, and then turn right back around. I have a precious package to deliver safely back to Seattle.”
“Oh geez,” I mumbled, ignoring his unwavering gaze as I zipped my backpack a bit harder than necessary. “Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think?”
Bauer said goodbye to whoever he was talking to, probably Agnes’s husband or son or grandson who was worried sick about her, and then watched me quietly. I fidgeted with my backpack until I could fidget no longer.
“Who’s Scotty, and why does Agnes hate you?” I asked.
He smiled slowly. “Scotty is the man who taught me everything.” Bauer sat on the couch, shoving his feet into the hiking boots he was wearing the day before. “I owe him my entire career, and he damn well knows it, which is why he calls me for this horrific task of checking on Agnes. Which I probably would’ve said no to, if you hadn’t piped up and given the poor old man hope.”
“That’s terrible,” I wailed. “You’d leave her out there, completely defenseless?”
Bauer tilted his head to the side. “Yes. Because she’ll be just fine. She always is.”
“Bauer whatever your middle name is Davis, you should be ashamed of yourself.” I propped my hands on my hips. “She’s a little old lady, and she needs supplies. I know you act tough, but come on, even you’re not so coldhearted.”
“I almost don’t want to warn you,” he said cryptically. He leaned forward, letting his forearms rest on the tops of his thighs, and his hands dangle between his knees.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you are the most frustrating, adorable, mystifying woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, and that’s the only reason I’m going to tell you what you just signed us up for.”
It was impossible not to want to reach my hands up and cover my face. I’d never been called any of those things. Okay, frustrating maybe, by my sisters. But I was an open book. Literally. I spent my life in open books, trying to absorb everything I found there. But for some reason, this man looked at me and saw a version of myself that I never knew existed.
Something about me drew him in.
“What did I sign us up for?”
Bauer stood and sauntered toward me, those gray sweats hanging off his hips in a way that I was not looking at, and he stopped just out of arm’s reach. “Agnes is a cat.”
I blinked up to his face. “What?”
“Agnes is Scotty’s horrible, evil, mean-tempered cat that hates every human being except him. And he can’t remember how much food he put in her automatic feeder, so he’s afraid she’s going to starve to death before he can get home.”
“Oh,” I said weakly.
Bauer smiled. “Yeah, oh.”
“So, we’re … driving out into a snowstorm to check on a cat who lives out in the middle of nowhere.”
His nod was slow. “It looks like it.”
I walked over to the window and carefully pulled back the heavy curtains. Snow was already sticking to the ground. Tree branches were coated white, lending a magical air to the already stunning vista. Like a winter wonderland. Except not wonderful, not anymore.
“He lives about an hour away?” I asked weakly. An hour wasn’t so bad. No reason to freak out.
“Yeah. We better grab some coffee and hit the road if we want to get back to Seattle on decent time.”
I pinched my eyes shut. “I’m sorry. This is …” I paused. “I should’ve waited until you were off the phone.”
His hands landed on my shoulders, and he gently spun me to face him. He didn’t speak until I pried open my eyelids. “Princess, it’s fine. I still think this storm will blow past like a sweet little kitten, unlike Agnes, who is an awful, awful bitch of an animal.”
My smile came quickly, and he hummed deep in his chest at the sight it.
“Killin’ me,” he whispered.
“Sorry.”
He squeezed my shoulders. “No, you’re not. You just can’t help it.”
Fifteen minutes later, coffees in hand, and breakfast sandwiches wrapped up for us by Richard’s housekeeper, we were bundled into Bauer’s Jeep as big, fat snowflakes hit the windshield in soft little pats of sound.
“You told Paige this wasn’t my idea, right?” he asked, watching me tap out a message to my sisters so they didn’t think I’d been kidnapped. “Because she looked very serious when she threatened my life.”
“She was serious.”
“Helpful,” he said dryly. He cranked the engine to life and sat back in his seat.
Me: Long story, but we have to detour north a bit to check on something for Bauer’s coach. We’ll be fine.
Lia: OMG, don’t let him talk you into something insane. Like he cares about a freaking blizzard.
Paige: THIS IS WHY I SHOULD BE ABLE TO TRACK YOUR ASSES. I’m making Logan learn how to hack your phone.
Isabel: *fist bump* Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
Molly: Who’s Bauer? WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT DID I MISS? I hate traveling when exciting things happen *sad face emoji*
I sighed at the immediate barrage, tucking my phone away into the front of my backpack. “Don’t worry, she’s never actually killed anyone.”
Bauer shook his head, pulling the gear shift into reverse. “You Ward women, you should come with a warning label, princess.”
As we pulled out of the driveway and headed into the ominous looking storm, I couldn’t believe it, but I was laughing.
BAUER
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.