Page 27 of Forever Yours
“You think we’ll have time for ice fishing?” Prudence leaned forward between the two seats. “I love ice fishing.”
The drive to The Bee was as brief as her list of reasons why she loved ice fishing, which consisted only of getting to wear her cute winter gear to not having to use live worms as bait, with a long pause in between.
As they pulled into the parking lot, he could see Devlin getting out of her car. Greyson parked beside her, hitting the button to lift the rear gate.
Prudence and Gabe got out of the SUV at the same time. “Good morning, Devlin!” Prudence chirped, going to help Devlin with the coffee.
“Devlin, where are your bags?” Gabe questioned. “I can grab them for you.”
“I just have the one in the back seat, thank you.” Devlin smiled at Gabe.
“You continue to amaze me,” Gabe quipped.
He made quick work of the small bag and had just gotten back into the car when Sebastian pulled into the parking lot, followed by Annabelle. She parked and hustled around to the back door where Devlin and Prudence were already settled in the back seat of the warm SUV.
“Move over, ladies,” she commanded, reaching for the door handle. The telltale sound of the locks engaging was her only response. Annabelle reached out and tugged on the door handle. “Prudence Marie, you would not do this to your best friend since grade school. Open this door right now!”
Gabe realized what was happening when he spotted Sebastian leaning against the back end of his SUV, the lift gate open. Prudence rolled down her window. “Sorry, friend, full here. Good thing Seb decided to come too. It would’ve been too tight of a squeeze.”
Annabelle growled low in her throat. “Did you just call him Seb?”
Prudence extended her arm, handing Annabelle a coffee. “Here, you may need this.”
“No way, Prudence.” She grabbed the coffee then pleaded with Gabe. “You have to ride with him.”
“Bye.” Prudence smiled. “See you guys at the cabin!” As Greyson backed out and shifted into drive, Prudence smirked. “And the student has become the master.”
“You did that on purpose?” Gabe asked.
“I sure did. Annabelle meddles in everyone else’s affairs, it’s time she got a taste of her own medicine.”
“You know there’s a good chance she goes back home,” Devlin chuckled.
“You know as much as I do that she’s been looking forward to time off and out of town. She’ll forgive me as soon as she gets out of the car there and breathes in the mountain air.”
“We’re not in the mountain air yet and the wind is already picking up,” Gabe commented. “I wonder if the forecast for snow might be right this time.”
“It should clear up when we get out of town,” Greyson advised. “I hope,” he added with a grimace.
With that they fell into comfortable chatter as they drove the two and half hours out of town through the snow-covered countryside of Massachusetts. Gabe kept his mind off Devlin, following the conversation, nodding and chiming in in all the right places. As they pulled up to the cabin, he was brought back to his youth and the time spent there with their parents. Gabe took in a lungful of cool fresh air when he stepped out of the car. Not that they lived in a big city or anything, but mountain air just hit different out here, and he did believe Annabelle would forgive all once she got there.
“Will you ladies please go in, turn up the heat and start uncovering the furniture?” Greyson asked. “No need for all of us to bear the cold, we’ll bring all the stuff in.”
“You bet, babe.” Prudence kissed his cheek.
Greyson and Gabe were making quick work of the boxes and bags when Sebastian and Annabelle pulled in. Sebastian had just stopped when Annabelle jumped out of the car.
“Never again, Sebastian!” Annabelle slammed the car door shut. “Argh!” She let out a melodramatic yell, then opened the door, grabbed her bag, and slammed it again for apparent good measure before storming up the walkway to the cabin. “Prudence! Friendship off!” she bellowed as she opened the door.
“I have no words.” Sebastian made his way to the door to where Devlin was peeking out.
“Need more help?” Devlin asked. “We’re all set up inside.”
“Last box here,” Gabe responded, and the three of them followed Sebastian inside to the kitchen where Annabelle was unpacking the food. She was slamming items on the counter when she did a double take at Sebastian. He noticed Greyson and Prudence were already missing.
“You do have some actual outerwear, don’t you?” Annabelle asked, clearly unimpressed by Sebastian’s hiking boots and windbreaker. “These winters are no joke, and the wind outside isn’t letting up—that tells me a storm’s coming.”
“Iamalways prepared,” Sebastian promised. “Besides, the last two months of forecasted snowstorms, other than the little bit we had this morning, haven’t happened. I have no faith the weatherman is right about this one.”