He was gruff, to the point. He was certainly older than me, but not quite middle-aged yet. Only the tiniest few white hairs seemed to course through his beard, and when he turned to go into the little kitchen, I didn’t see any on his head.
“I got lost,” I said. “I’m parked down by the entrance to the trail.”
“The trail?” he asked as he fumbled in his kitchen. I noticed he had a little one-cup coffee maker, and he had put a mug under it with some teabags. “That’s miles from here. How did you get all the way up here?”
“I don’t know, really. I got turned around.”
He came back into the room with the mug, now steaming with the smell of jasmine and honey. He also carried a plate with a bowl on it. In the bowl was a stew, and around it was a couple of pieces of bread.
“I made lunch right before you came. I can make myself more. You should eat,” he said, setting them in front of me.
“Oh, thank you,” I said, taking off my gloves. He took them from me, perhaps a tad more roughly than I thought necessary.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “Do you have a change of clothes in your pack? Staying in cold, wet clothes can give you hypothermia, even if you are in front of the fire.”
“I have some extra socks and an extra shirt,” I said. “I didn’t think I would be gone long. Just wanted a little hike before the storm hit.”
“Well, you missed that by a bit,” he said, going to the window. He peered out and took a sip of his own mug of tea. “The storm is only going to get worse from here. There’s no way I can get you back to your car. You should probably stay here tonight. See what kind of visibility we have tomorrow.”
I didn’t like the idea of staying in some stranger man’s cabin, but at the same time, he was right. It would be a suicide mission to try to leave now.
“I appreciate you answering the door,” I said. “I’m sorry to be a burden.”
He shook his head, continuing to stare out into the storm.
“It’s fine. Just next time, maybe pay attention to the weather better. Going for a hike in Ashford in a storm is a life-or-death thing,” he said. “I have my sleeping bag and stuff set up by the fire. You can have my bedroom for some privacy. I’ll get my stuff out of it. Bathroom’s on the right across from the bedroom. I’ll grab you some sweatpants for the night and hang up your clothes in front of the fire if you like.”
“I would. Thank you.” I said, “This stew is amazing, by the way. I’ll go change and be right back.”
He looked over his shoulder at me and nodded once. I made my way to the bathroom and after a moment heard a knock.
“Just letting you know the sweats are on the chair by the door. I’ll be in the living room,” he said.
He didn’t trust me. I could tell that. But I didn’t trust him, either, so at least we were on the same page.
I slipped into the pants and used the rope string to tie them tight around my waist. Then, I took my wet clothes to the living room and hung them on a cord he set out in front of the fire.
This was going to be a long, awkward night.
5
Aiden
Waking up on the floor in my sleeping bag confused me at first. I remembered setting everything up out here, but when I opened my eyes and the light above the sink was still on, I was confused as to why the electricity was still running.
Then it hit me. The woman that showed up on my porch, shivering, wet, and freezing in the blizzard, was currently occupying the comfortable bed that I was now missing greatly. In the two years since I had been schlepping through the sand, my back had grown accustomed to having a mattress and box springs under it and was now giving me hell about returning to sacking out on unforgiving wooden floors. At least it was better than cement and gravel, both of which I had napped on before.
The advantage of sleeping in the living room was that I was right by the fire, meaning I could keep it going all night without worrying about burning the place down. The other side, in the bedroom, I had a full furnace, so burning wood in that was safe as could be, but the fireplace in the living room kept the whole cabin warm. And by burning it all night, I could get up in the morning and walk across the floor without socks on and not feel like my toes would fall off.