know Ana would swallow her own disappointment and sadness and soldier on for her mother’s sake.
Next year, Ana. Next year, you’re going to have so many presents on Christmas morning that you won’t know where to start.
But Gabriela did have some money in her account. Perhaps Mason would let her borrow his truck for a bit so she could at least get stocking stuffers and a gift or two for her daughter. He’d insisted on buying everything else for them, but Gabby had to do at least that much.
“Mom, will you tell me?”
“Sorry, Ana. I don’t know either.”
“Come on, I know he told you.”
Gabby glanced at Mason just as his eyes flicked toward her. For a moment, they held each other’s gazes, sharing a smile.
“He didn’t tell me anything,” Gabriela said as she turned her attention to the window. “That’s why it’s such a surprise.”
They were currently driving through downtown McCall on their way to wherever it was Mason was taking them. The streets were lined with piled snow, and the light posts along the sidewalk were adorned with garland and lights and big snowflakes that would shine after dark. Even if this town got a little crazy when it was full of tourists, especially during the Winter Carnival every January, and even if this part of it was designed to cater to those tourists, there’d always been a charm to it.
“Can you at least turn down the heat?” Ana asked. “It’s hot.”
“You can take off your coat,” Mason said. “Going to be driving for a bit.”
Ana didn’t waste any time in tearing off her heavy winter coat, filling the cab with those swishy sounds for several seconds as the material rubbed against itself.
It wasn’t long before they turned off Third Street and left downtown behind them. Gabriela tried to take in the scenery as they drove—though she’d lived in the area for her entire life, it seemed there was new construction she hadn’t known about everywhere she looked—but her eyes kept creeping back to Mason. He was just as sexy in profile as he was head-on, especially with that gleam in his eye.
She really didn’t know where he was taking them. He’d told them to bring their big coats, snow boots, gloves, hats, and scarves, so she knew they’d be outdoors, but that was it. And though she wasn’t necessarily the biggest fan of the cold, she was glad to get out of the house after that awkward breakfast—during which Gabriela had been unable to look at Ana without nearly dying of embarrassment, whereas every time she’d so much as glanced at Mason, memories of what they’d done in his bed had sparked that flame in her core anew.
But she was an adult and didn’t feel shame for what she and Mason had shared. She was allowed to…enjoy herself, to have sexual relations with a man, to feel pleasure, to feel like a woman again.
To be more than just a mother.
Though she could have done without her daughter popping in and interrupting them. Gabby had been so close. So close.
Looks like I’m going to have to have The Talk with Ana sooner than I expected.
As they drove on, the homes and cabins on the sides of the road became sparser, and the pine trees that dominated the region filled in the gaps. That was always one of the things Gabriela had loved about living up here—drive five or ten minutes in almost any direction, and you’d find yourself surrounded by nature.
They passed a sign declaring that they’d entered the Payette National Forest not long afterward. Gabriela’s gaze wandered a little more easily out here. She’d always loved the way the forest looked in the winter, with the ground blanketed in white and clumps of glistening snow clinging the boughs. When the sun hit the snow just right, it set all the ice crystals aglow like they were countless glittering diamonds. She’d never seen anything quite like winter in these mountains.
Mason turned onto a side road, and the truck jostled as it left the pavement and rolled onto packed snow. Ana grasped the two front seats and pulled herself forward to look out the front.
Shimmering white dust fell from branches overhead, melting as it hit the windshield. Snow crunched under the tires, as loud as it would’ve been had the truck been driving over loose gravel.
“So what are we doing out here?” Ana asked.
Gabby chuckled, though she was quite curious herself. “It’s a surpriiiiiiise.”
Her daughter rolled her eyes.
“We’ll stop soon,”