A Kiss in the Snow - Rosie Green Page 0,38

and I start putting things into my case, wincing at the squeak of the wardrobe door. I’ll leave a note for Ronan on the kitchen table, telling him I’ve had an emergency at home. Hopefully I’ll have gone before he wakes up.

As I collect my things from the bathroom, though, a bottle of perfume slips out of my grasp and crashes into the bath. I freeze, my heart banging against my ribs. But mercifully, there’s still no sound from Ronan’s room.

I finish packing, give the room a final check and hurry downstairs – just as the front door opens and Ronan appears.

He closes the door on the icy blast, and we eye each other. His dark hair is slick with moisture, and snowflakes cover the shoulders of his black puffer jacket. The tense look on his face tells me he’s still wary of me after last night’s embarrassing encounter.

‘Morning.’

‘Morning.’

We exchange an awkward smile, and he pushes a hand through his damp hair. He looks at my case and frowns. ‘Were you planning on leaving?’

‘Er, yes. Emergency. At home,’ I blurt out, as my face flushes a tell-tale scarlet. ‘My sister. I have to go.’

He shakes his head. ‘I’m afraid you can’t.’

I stare at him. ‘What do you mean? Of course I can. I have to.’

‘Take a look outside.’ He pulls the front door open. Puzzled, I march through the hallway and stand on the threshold.

The sight that confronts me makes my mouth drop open.

Snow is still coming down heavily, and the garden has vanished under a thick blanket of white. It must have been snowing steadily all night long for the world to have been transformed into this incredible winter wonderland.

‘I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere today,’ murmurs Ronan, as I gaze beyond the garden at the road. The roof of my car is piled at least a foot high with snow, and more is arriving by the minute.

‘I walked as far as the bridge. No cars will be able to get through until the snow ploughs have done their work. The village is completely cut off.’

I stare at him in horror. ‘Really? Are you sure?’ Pulling on my wellies, I step out into the swirling snow globe beyond the front door.

‘Your coat,’ calls Ronan, handing it to me.

I thank him and shrug it on, pulling up the hood. Then I start ploughing my way self-consciously through the snow to the gate, feeling as clumsy as a baby elephant. Ronan’s recent footprints across the garden are already growing fainter under the relentless snowfall. I stare out over the green, at the snowed-in houses circling it. The track around the green is impassable and I can’t imagine the main road through Silverbells being any better. My heart sinks into my wellies. Ronan is right. I won’t be driving anywhere today.

I glance back at the cottage. Ronan has disappeared inside.

My insides are swirling ominously, just like the snowflakes.

We’re well and truly cut off from the world beyond Silverbells. We’ll be stuck here for as long it takes for the snow ploughs to get through. But that could be days. Weeks, even, if it keeps on snowing like this.

Jeez Louise. Merry Christmas to me!

Could things get any more complicated?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Later, trying to avoid Ronan, I’m reading in the living room, but I keep getting distracted by strange noises outside. Ronan got dressed in his work gear and went out into the front garden to clear the path to the gate, but the sound of his shovel hitting snow stopped a while ago, and now it sounds as if he’s sawing?

Eventually, curiosity gets the better of me and I cross to the window and look out – but I’m still no wiser. He’s made a large circle in the snow and he’s kneeling in the middle of it, bending to some task or other.

He catches sight of me hovering by the window and beckons to me, and since it’s clear my concentration for book reading is non-existent this morning, I get myself muffled up and join him outside. And as soon as I see the blocks of hard-packed snow he’s cutting out with a large knife and a handsaw, it clicks what he’s doing.

‘An igloo?’ I laugh in delight.

‘Yup.’ He stops sawing. ‘I was thinking now that we’re snowed in, I might as well do it. How often do we get snow like this in the UK?’

‘True. You should make the most of it.’

‘I stamped it down to compact it first. It won’t