Page 24 of Chase the Storm

As I started to do that, I tried not to keep my eyes pinned on her. It was clear she was struggling enough as it was, and I didn’t want to make this any more difficult than it already was.

It was foolish of me to think Indy would never recover. The moment I pulled my shirt back over my head, she said, “This is really cute in here.”

I spun around and was disappointed to see she was no longer looking at me. Her eyes were roaming over every surface of the camper.

“Cute?”

Indy finally returned her attention to my face and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ve never been inside a camper before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. This is adorable.”

“I’m not sure if I should be insulted by this reaction or not,” I told her.

“Insulted? Why would you be insulted? I think this is great. You’re so lucky to have this,” she declared.

I shrugged and teased, “Well, I guess since you like it so much, I’ll do my best not to be offended.”

She bit her lip, and I moved to grab my bibs. As I was pulling them on, I asked, “So, you need to get something out of your car then?”

When I had gotten them up to my hips, stood up straight, and started slipping my arms through the holes on either side, I found myself being completely captivated by the change in her.

Indy was smiling brightly at me as she clasped her hands in front of her and bounced on her toes. “I just found out that there’s a shower in the lodge. The locker rooms have several shower stalls, and I’m desperate for one. I just need to grab some things out of my car before I can do that. I looked out the window nearly all day, hoping I’d see you come back at lunchtime, so I could ask to borrow your shovel.”

“Oh, Indy, I’m sorry,” I lamented, trying not to think too much about her being naked in the shower. “I packed some food today and took it out on the mountain with me, so I wouldn’t need to waste time by coming back to eat here. If I had known…”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. Honestly. I’m just glad I saw you when you got back here.”

Reaching for my jacket, I smiled back at her. “Yeah. I am, too.”

Heat hit her cheeks again, and she looked away from me. I thought she was adorable; it was really nice to see this side of her.

A moment later, I had my sneakers on and was opening the door to head outside. I walked down the steps, made it to the ground, and turned back to hold my hand out to Indy’s. She hesitated briefly, but ultimately placed her hand in mine. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“It’s slippery.”

As soon as she made it off the stairs, Indy pulled her hand away, and I closed the door to the coach. Then the two of us moved to the back of the camper, so I could dig out the shovel.

When I bought my camper, I didn’t just buy it and load it up with things like food or clothing before each trip I took. I knew I needed to be smart about what I was doing. Since I was generally only ever here in the winter, and Colorado usually got a lot of snow, I had outfitted the camper with emergency supplies. Having a shovel was crucial. And though it was too small to be a shovel someone would use to take care of snow that had fallen at their house, it was perfect for the camper. It easily fit in the back of the camper, and it would do the job if I ever got into a situation where I needed to dig myself out of some snow.

Evidently, it was also going to be perfect for helping to shovel out a beautiful woman’s car. I thanked my lucky stars I’d decided to be smart and have emergency supplies on hand.

With the shovel out, I walked beside Indy as we made our way to her car.

“I feel bad about you doing this,” she said when we got there. “As long as you’re okay with allowing me to borrow it, I can shovel my car out. I promise to bring it back to you as soon as I’m done.”

I shook my head, stuck the shovel in the snow, and advised, “Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to do it for you.”

“This is really nice of you to do for a stranger, though,” she noted.

“What can I say? I’m a nice guy. In fact, if you want to go inside, where it’s warm, I’ll come in and grab you when I’m finished.”

“No. No, I can’t do that. That would be rude. Besides, I was inside all day today, anyway. I think being out in the sun and fresh air for a little bit will be good for me.”

At that, I got to work. For the next little while, I shoveled out the snow packed around Indy’s car. Since the shovel was on the smaller side and so much snow had fallen, it took a lot longer than I had expected.

But I eventually got it done, and it was worth it, because Indy couldn’t have been more appreciative.

“This is going to be amazing, Griffin. Thank you so much for doing this for me.”

I was surprised at how much I liked hearing her say my name when she wasn’t so down in the dumps. It seemed that she’d found a reason to be happy and make the most out of this predicament.