Mason said, glancing at Gabriela and Ana for a moment. “Snow will be too deep if we go too much farther.”
Gabriela twisted to look out the back window. The narrow road they were driving on was flanked by trees on both sides, and they’d already driven far enough that the main road was out of sight.
“That’s it. We’re lost,” Ana announced.
“Not lost,” Mason corrected, another faint smirk lifting his lips, “but we could wind up stranded.”
Gabriela stared at him.
His brows rose, and he chuckled. “We’ll be fine. If the truck gets stuck, I can push it out.”
Now Ana was staring at him, too.
Shaking his head, he shifted on his seat, reached down, and tugged his phone out of his pocket. “Also have this.”
A minute or two later, the road opened into a small clearing.
“Hold on to something,” Mason said.
Gabriela arched a brow at him as she reached up for the oh shit handle on the doorframe. “Sit back, nena.”
As soon as Ana had leaned back, the engine rumbled, and the truck put on a burst of speed.
“Oh my God, what are you doing?” Gabriela breathed, tensing and slamming a hand onto the dashboard. She was almost certain that had all come out of her mouth as a single, prolonged word.
Of course, Ana was giggling in the back seat.
Mason turned the wheel, guiding the truck into a turn that whipped its back end around. Snow sprayed in the air all around the vehicle, and Gabriela could feel the tires sliding, and though that adult, maternal side of her said she should panic…she couldn’t deny the thrill.
She hadn’t done anything like this in years—not since she was a teenager, when everyone would mess around in the snow trying to drift around turns and make their pickups fishtail.
The truck came to a smooth stop, rocked very slightly on its shocks, and was still. It was now facing the road they’d just come down.
“Again, again!” Ana cheered.
Mason turned his face toward Gabriela, grinning. “You all right?”
Gabby’s heart was pounding, and her stomach still felt like it was down by her feet, but she grinned back at him. “Yeah.”
For an instant, his grin took on a wicked slant, and heat danced in his eyes. Then he turned his attention forward, shifted the truck into park, and killed the engine. “We’re here. Coat on, Ana.”
“Yay!” Ana threw off her seat belt and grabbed her coat, jamming her arms through the sleeves.
Gabriela unbuckled her own seatbelt and picked up her coat, which was bundled on the wide armrest between her and Mason.
“And what are we doing here?” she asked as she pulled her coat on.
Ana bounced on her seat. “Are we going to build snowmen?”
Mason tugged on his own coat and zipped it closed. “I guess if you show me how.”
She gaped at him. “You’ve never built a snowman? Mom, we gotta teach him.”
Gabriela chuckled. “I think we do. But we’ll do that at the house.”
“Awwww, but Mooooom.”
“How can we make a snowman without a carrot for a nose?”
“Okay, fine.” Ana placed her hands—now bundled in gloves—on the front seats and leaned forward again. “So, what are we really doing?”
“It’s Christmas in four days,” Mason said. “We need a tree, right?”
Ana’s face lit up. “We’re getting a tree?”
“Here?” Gabriela asked.
“Tree lots in town packed up already.” Mason shrugged. “Figured there are plenty of trees out here.”
“Don’t you need a permit to chop a tree down?”
Mason’s brow furrowed, and he tilted his head. “A permit? What do you mean?”
“You know, like a piece of paper from the government or whatever that says you have permission to cut down a tree. I’m pretty sure they sell Christmas tree permits from the forest service that have certain parameters for what you’re allowed to cut down and all that.”
The crease between his brows deepened, and his lips fell into a frown. He swept his gaze over their surroundings, over all the trees at the edges of the clearing, before looking back at her. “There are millions of trees here. Why do I need a piece of paper to say I can cut one down?”
Gabriela tilted her head. Mason was genuinely perplexed by this. It was no different than a fishing or hunting license, which most people who lived in this area had. How did he not know what a permit was?
“Because…it’s the…law?” she said, wondering if she was the crazy one.
“Is there someone who will come count the trees and notice one missing?”
She laughed. “No, but someone could see us.”
“Then we