“Holy shit,” he mutters as he lifts them one after another.
“I packed my extra heavy dildos.” I laugh, giving him a hard time. He doesn’t say a word. I’ll try my best to go easy on him, but he’s making it difficult with his glares and groans.
After a few trips, all the food is loaded. At least three more boxes, plus a cooler with frozen meat are left. While we’ll only be staying a few days, I bought food for us too so we wouldn’t have to dip into Cami and Eli’s stash. I made sure to get all of my best friend’s favorite snacks and more pasta choices than she can handle.
“You do know the cabin has a pantry full of items like this, right?” Ryan tells me as he stacks the final box on top of the others.
“And what’s your point?” I glare at him.
He opens the top and pulls out a glass jar of marinara, Alfredo, then sees the vermicelli, angel hair, and spaghetti noodles. “The point is you probably didn’t need to purchase all of this. How much can two people realistically eat in that amount of time?”
“And this is why they didn’t ask you to go shopping,” I snap.
“Damn. There’s enough alcohol in here to open a bar.” He studies me.
“All of it was highly requested. If you keep it up, I might have to open a bottle and drink it on the way there.” I turn and walk back inside, not giving him the opportunity to respond.
I grab the strands of lights I want to wrap around the staircase along with the mistletoe for the entryways. Cami had conveniently mentioned a ten-foot Christmas tree and ornaments were stored in the basement, so I didn’t buy one. By the time I’m done decorating the cabin, it will look like a winter wonderland escape. She’s going to be so excited, and the thought makes me smile.
When the Range Rover is loaded, I notice a small duffel bag on the floorboard. Knowing that’s all Ryan packed makes me snort. He’s so damn efficient that he probably only brought one change of clothes for tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ve got enough outfits to last me three weeks. I often allow my mood to decide my clothing choice and I never know how I’m going to feel. So, options. It could be a legging type of day with running shoes or a pair of expensive slacks with heels. I never know.
After I make one last look around to make sure I didn’t forget anything, I grab another bottle of wine because I’m going to need it, set the security alarm, then lock the door. Ryan’s waiting inside the SUV, and once I climb in, I turn on the heated seat. A chill runs through me as he backs out of the driveway. His GPS is already set for Roxbury, and it says we should be there around three as long as there aren't any accidents or issues.
Once we’re out of my neighborhood, I suck in a deep breath realizing I didn’t bring any snacks with me. It’s a total fail on my part.
I turn to Ryan and put on a sweet smile. “Do you think we can stop and get some coffee before we leave civilization?” I’m already mentally making my order of a skinny mocha with extra whip cream and a pumpkin loaf just in case I get hungry. My mouth waters thinking about it.
“Absolutely not.” Ryan doesn’t even look at me.
“Wait, seriously?” My mouth falls open because I can’t be without coffee, especially on a trip this long. Plus, it’s cold as fuck outside, and a hot drink makes it all better.
“We’re not stopping, Kendall,” he says flatly without hesitation, and I realize he’s not joking. If I had known he was going to be this much of an asshole, I would’ve just driven myself. I’m so frustrated I bite my tongue before I say something I regret. Trying to calm down, I force myself to stare out the window but I can’t stop drinking about mochas and warm bread.
This might be the most painful three hours of my life.
When he turns on the radio, and I hear a bunch of doctors discussing medical procedures in full detail, I’m convinced I’m living in my own personal hell.
It’s times like this I wished I carried a corkscrew in my purse, because if I had one, I’d open that wine I packed right now.
Chapter Two
Ryan
Kendall can whine all she wants, but she should’ve come fully prepared. One of my biggest pet peeves when traveling is stopping. If it takes thirty minutes, that’s too much time wasted, and I just want to get to the cabin so I can get this weekend over with.
The only reason I agreed is because my best friend Eli asked me to join Kendall so she wouldn’t be alone in the big house by herself. It was important to him, and I want my sister to be happy on her honeymoon, so I said yes. I should’ve known Kendall was going to go overboard with her shopping, but I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt.
After we’re out of the city, Kendall reaches over and turns off the radio. I glance over at her, and she gives me a death glare. “I can’t handle listening to this for the next two hours, so we’re going to have to compromise.”
I turn it back on. “Trust me when I say this is compromising.”
She lets out a growl, and I wonder if she’s going to knock the shit out of me by how angry she becomes. Reactions like this aren't new for me. Considering Kendall and Cami have been best friends for as long as I can remember, I’m used to her temper tantrums. They’re each other’s ride or die and growing up she was always around. If Cami wasn’t at her house, Kendall was at ours, and they’re still just as close.
Somehow Kendall was able to stay out of the eye of the paparazzi. Cami wasn’t so lucky and basically had her teenage years documented in photos. It’s another reason I was so adamant about breaking away from the glitz and glam of being a St. James. While I could’ve lived off my parents' money for the rest of my life, I’m wired differently than most who grew up in a family like mine.
An underlying current has always streamed between us, and it’s why I’ve kept my distance. I never wanted to become a wedge between her and Cami’s friendship, plus we’re completely opposite. I want to be with someone who aspires to do more in life than look pretty. I need substance in a relationship and she’s too vain to understand that.
The rest of the drive we ride in silence. Eventually, her breathing slows and I glance over noticing how peaceful looks sleeping. The closer we get to Roxbury, the harder the snow starts to fall and we drive into a whiteout. I change the radio to the local weather station to get an update.
“Massive snowfall happening in Upstate New York. If you’re on the roads, be careful. We’ll be right back after this message from our advertisers,” the announcer says.
“Great,” I mutter. I turn it off and focus on the road. I knew it would be snowing, but I thought we’d miss most of it. Kendall stirs and her eyes flutter open. Immediately, she repositions herself in the seat and her mouth falls open.
“How long has it been like this?” she asks, looking at me.
“About twenty minutes. It’s progressively getting worse, but I’m not pulling over because I don’t think we can wait it out. Want to look at a radar for me?”
She sarcastically laughs. “Uhh.”
I hand her my phone and unlock it then tell her which app to open. She does and shows me the screen once it’s loaded. All I see is pink and blue which means heavy snowfall. “Great.”