A Late Thaw Read Free Page A

need—”
    “Yeah, yeah. I get it. You’re a superhero , and I’m a Neanderthal for wanting to see you home safe.”
    “ Arrghh! I didn’t say that!”
    “Then will you please get in the truck?” He was almost begging.
    Kiley always reduced him to a bizarre mix of desperation, adoration, and annoyance. He barely remembered a time he wasn’t trying to impress her. It had taken a long time for him to understand what that need meant about the true nature of his feelings for her. But the day he’d figured it out, he acted on it. Cole had bought a bunch of bright red roses from the pharmacy. Holding them out like the proverbial heart on his sleeve, he’d asked his best friend to the prom. She’d turned him down flat.
    “Please,” he repeated quietly.
    She looked away, her back straight, jaw lifted. She was going to argue again. Instead, Kiley walked over, opened the passenger-side door, and stepped up into his truck without another word.
    Cole exhale d for the first time all night.

Chapter Five
    KILEY BUCKLED HER SEATBELT and stared down at her knees while Cole climbed into his seat. At sixteen, she’d have found his behavior charming. For years she’d thought his protectiveness meant he had feelings for her, real feelings. She knew the truth now. Cole thought of her as his kid sister. Lately, he thought of her as the kid sister who disappointed the family.
    She was so lost in thought she didn’t notice when he turned out of the parking lot in the wrong direction. Realizing that they were heading away from her mom’s apartment, she frowned. “Cole, I’m staying at my mom’s place—by the library.”
    “I’m aware.”
    “Then you know we’re heading the wrong way?”
    “We’re gonna stop by my place.”
    Cole’s family’s farm was a solid twenty minute drive out from Barrett’s town center. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, Cole, but I’m not in the mood.”
    He kept his eyes on the dark road in front of them but arched a single eyebrow. “If you don’t know what I’m thinking, how can you be sure you’re not in the mood?”
    The dashboard lights threw a faint, flickering illumination over the plains and angles of his face. A new hardness there pulled at Kiley’s heart despite her best reason. He wasn’t a boy anymore. Her former best friend had grown into a man while she wasn’t looking.
    His current antics pissed her off, but Cole was a good man. He was only trying to help in his special stubborn way. If Kiley told him that being near him broke her heart, he’d stay away. Telling him was impossible. Even imagining the look of pity he’d give her tore her insides to shreds. She rubbed her hand over her heart. Hell, it already stung.
    She didn’t answer his question. Kiley watched the familiar landscape pass by through the window and let some of the better memories comfort her. They passed a cornfield and the packed-dirt lot folks parked at to access the best spot for swimming on the river that threaded its way through town. Her breath hitched when they hit the acres of neatly lined firs, spruces, and pines grown by Cole’s family for decades. The trees had started as a side business for the Thomas’ dairy farm, but by the time Cole had arrived, the focus had switched.
    As a child, Kiley thought their farm was the most magical place on earth. She remembered twirling amidst the trees as an early snow coated them with glistening white crystals. That moment, that snow, was the reason she’d ended up studying weather. Magic is cooler when you know how the tricks work.
    The sound of gravel churning beneath the truck’s tires alerted her to their arrival. It was one of her favorite sounds. For years, her mom had gotten a little extra work at the Thomas’ farm each winter to help pay the high winter heating bills and put a few presents under their own tree at Christmas. Kiley had always tagged along. She’d helped Cole finish his chores early, and they’d had the entire afternoon to