Cabin Heat: A New Adult and College Romance (The Billionaire Romance Redemption Series Book 1)
Authors: Bella Love-Wins
A Contemporary, New Adult and College Romance
Bella Love-Wins
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or
events are entirely coincidental.
CABIN HEAT
First edition. March 13, 2015.
Copyright © 2015 Bella Love-Wins.
Written by Bella Love-Wins.
~ Do you believe in love at first sight? And can the look in her eyes redeem him from his past?
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Once again thank you, I hope you enjoy Cabin Heat!
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Bella Love-Wins
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ANDREW CARRINGTON stood from his seat in the waiting room when he saw the surgeon approach him.
“I’m so sorry. We did everything. We couldn’t save her.”
The doctor’s words were garbled and foreign to Andrew. How could she have uttered such a forlorn statement to him, a man desperate to hear that his wife was pretty banged up, but would be okay. The room closed in as Andrew digested the words. He reached down to his bandaged forearm. Beneath the bandages, the injured arm throbbed from his quickening heartbeat.
Behind Andrew, his father walked from the only window in the waiting room, to stand beside him. He braced his middle-aged body to support some of the weight of his six-foot-five son. With an arm stretched over his son’s shoulder, he held him steady.
“I’m so sorry,” the doctor repeated. “We tried so hard, but Emma’s gone.”
“Let’s sit down, son.” His father guided him to the nearest chair. By then, Andrew was just an empty shell. His vacant mind shut itself down from the gut-wrenching news that his Emma was dead. He could not accept it. He would not.
“What are the options?” Andrew looked up and asked the doctor.
“Look, Andrew,” the doctor started. She remembered his colleague was probably in shock and raised his hand toward the nurses’ station to summon help. “There are no options, Dr. Carrington. She’s gone. I’m so sorry.”
“There has got to be options!” Andrew shouted so loudly that the orderly on the other end of the hall turned around to stare.
He stood up and stormed toward the operating room, intent on finding a solution if no one else would. He didn’t see the four uniformed police officers walking in his direction. He barely noticed the room go blurry, until he lost his footing. He collapsed with a thump on the bandaged arm and blacked out.
Two years later
ABBY WITTFIELD dismissed her father’s usual concern. He was always this way after every holiday visit from San Francisco to their family home just outside Reno-Sparks. Trying not to lengthen their goodbye, she put her small suitcase and laptop bag in the trunk of her SUV.
“Not to worry, Dad.” She caught a glimpse of him leaving his perch on the bottom step of the porch to come toward her.
“Worrying is what I do best,” he answered, kissing her hair and offering his last hug, for at least a few months. “Have a safe trip, and remember to stop at that lodge in Truckee before dark. The drive can become treacherous at night, this time of year. Those mountain roadways ice up at a moment’s notice.”
“I will, Dad. You take care of yourself, okay? See you in May,” Abby offered. She opened the driver side door and got inside. Any extra attention would extend the farewell ad infinitum. And she had a long enough drive ahead of her.
“Call me when you get there, okay?” he said, holding onto the open car window as he leaned down for a last kiss on the cheek.
“Okay, Dad,” she answered, and started the engine.
“You sure you can’t come back for spring break this year?”
“Not this year,” Abby answered for the fourth time since getting home for Christmas break. “It’ll be too hectic with clinicals. But I promise I’ll be back as soon as school’s out. Bye, daddy.”
“Love you, honey. Be safe!” he shouted.
He waved without stopping as Abby reversed the car down the driveway of the family home. Abby saw in the rear view mirror that her father continued to watch after her, even as she turned from their country driveway onto the main road. She knew he worried too much, but it was understandable. Her mother had died of cancer eight years earlier, and with no siblings, Abby was his everything. He had not remarried or attempted to date anyone after the loss.
Abby let out a sigh and set her mind to her own plans. She was on the way to pick up her five passengers for their return to San Francisco. Her first stop was less than a mile up the main road. The drive reminded her of her best friend Rebecca. They were so close during college. Now all Abby saw of Becca was during these trips to pick up her brother Rob. He was in his last year at SFSU, and would hitch a ride home for the holidays with Abby every Christmas, as well as help out with the driving.
As Abby drove up beside Rob’s house, she noticed a pile of boxes on the sidewalk.
“Hi. What’s all that stuff?” Abby climbed out the SUV.
“Happy New Year to you too,” Rob replied.
“Oh yeah. Happy New Year. So what’s with the boxes?”
“I’ve got to take as many of these with me as I can this trip.”
“Why?”
“I’m staying in San Fran after this semester ends, remember? The more I can get up there this trip, the easier the big move will be.”
“Okay, but just remember we’ve got John, Trina, Barb, and Ruth,
and
all their stuff, to fit in back.” Abby opened the cargo door and removed her laptop bag to make room for Rob’s boxes.
“I’ll hold the laptop in front with me,” Rob said, placing the bag on the front passenger seat and adding a few more boxes to the back.
“By the way, you’ve got a few cobwebs in your hair,” she mentioned.
His strawberry blonde hair was cut low and spiky, so the cobwebs looked like they were intentionally set on his head by a spider.
“Yeah, yeah,” he answered, dusting them out and inspecting his hands. “A few of these boxes were in the attic. Speaking of hair, did you cut yours since the party last week?”
She had become so used to wearing her long, blonde hair down her back, she assumed he was mistaken now that she pulled it up into a high bun for the trip.
“Nope,” she replied. “I haven’t cut it for a while. Hey, is Becca around still?”
“No. Mom took her to the airport in Reno a few hours ago,” Rob answered. “Didn’t you guys talk last night?”
“Yeah, we did,” Abby said. “I offered to give her a ride, but she said your mom wanted to take her.”
Abby knew that the friendship between Rebecca and her was slowly cooling, now that they had chosen to attend different colleges for their Masters programs. She just had not thought it would fade away so quickly. Fewer than three years ago, they were at the same college, sharing the same dorm, and attending a few core courses together. Rebecca had been accepted to do her Master’s in Public Health Policy at George Washington University in DC, and couldn’t turn down the opportunity. Every year they returned home, they seemed to grow more distant. Their conversations began to feel forced.
Maybe some friendships just aren’t meant to last
, Abby thought.
“Okay. Give me a few minutes to get these boxes that can’t fit back inside,” Rob said.
Soon they were on the road, heading along Highway eighty for their close-to-five-hour trip to the City by the Bay.
“Want me to drive once we pick up the kids in Sparks?” Rob referred to the other four passengers as kids, but they were not. They happened to be sophomore students from SFSU whom he coached in co-ed volleyball, just two years his junior.
“How about you take it from Truckee?” Abby replied.
“That’s good too.”
“Dad said we should stay the night in Truckee, to save the drive through the mountains for daytime.”
“Nah, I think we’re okay,” he countered. “I listened to the weather reports all last night and this morning. There’s only a thirty percent chance of precipitation in the area. We’re clear.”
“The mountains are always a little different, Rob. How about we see how it is when we get to Truckee?”
“Sounds like a plan, but I’m positive it’ll be fine.”
Rob had a tendency to obsess over the weather, but that day was different. He seemed rushed to get back to San Francisco. Abby shrugged and kept driving, while Rob searched the radio stations for music they’d both enjoy.
The drive was short and uneventful. They had agreed to pick up Rob’s four friends at the 7-Eleven in Sparks, so they could fill up, grab drinks and snacks for the trip, and get back on the highway with ease.
* * *
John and Trina were waiting as they drove up. Trina wore her platinum blonde hair in a ponytail. John’s hands had played in it during the entire drive from San Francisco. This time Trina’s hand was stretched up and into John’s brown wavy hair. It was somewhat comedic to watch them, as John stood at six feet six inches tall, towering over Trina, who was the same height as Abby, just around five feet eight inches.
“Happy New Year, lovebirds,” Rob called out to them after pressing the button to roll down the passenger side window.
“Happy New Year,” the couple said in unison.
“Where are Ruth and Barb?”
“We haven’t seen them yet. Oh look, there’s Barb.” Trina pointed to the opposite sidewalk.
Barb stepped off the city bus and pulled her suitcase toward them, her long, shiny brown hair flying wildly as a breeze picked up around her.
Rob stared at her, as if in a trance.
“Hey, guys. Am I late?”
“No, we just rolled up,” Rob said.
His nervousness showed when he was around Barb. He almost missed a step climbing out the passenger side to take her suitcase. Abby was almost sure she heard him swear under his breath as he positioned Barb’s luggage in the already crowded cargo area.
“Wonder where Ruth is?” Abby asked, as she finished filling the tank with gas. “I’ll grab some water and snacks inside. Be right back.”
“Me too!” Barb shouted, and ran after her.
Abby noticed that John and Trina had climbed into the back row of seats and snuggled up to each other.
“And no messing around back there, okay, kids?” she joked before heading to the store entrance.
The place was empty inside, so it took only a few minutes to get what they needed and pay the gas station attendant. They returned just as Rob closed the cargo door and stepped up into the passenger side seat.
“Ruth will have to put some of her things in the back somewhere with you two,” he said to Trina and John. “The trunk’s packed. Do either of you have her cell number?”
“No, but hasn’t she called or texted you before? She’s been after you long enough,” Trina teased.
John and Trina looked at each other and smiled as Rob found Ruth’s number in his phone, then held it out.
“Yeah, yeah,” Rob answered. “Abby, can you phone Ruth? The last thing I want to do is give her the wrong idea.”
“She’s not here yet?” She looked around to see if Ruth might be on her way. Rob shook his head. “Okay, what’s her number?”
Rob handed his phone to her. “The number is in here. She’s called me often enough. Help me out, will you? I’m trying to minimize contact; otherwise she might feel I’m coming around.”
Abby auto-dialed Ruth’s number from Rob’s phone contact list and waited. There was an answer on the third ring.
“Hello, Ruth? It’s Abby.”
“Hey, Abby,” Ruth answered.
“Are you on your way? We’re waiting up here at the 7-Eleven as planned. ”
“I’m still at home,” she replied. “Can you guys come and get me? I don’t have a ride right now.”
“Sure,” Abby answered. “Look, just give the address and directions to Rob, okay? I’m passing the phone to him. Hold on.”
Rob glowered at Abby when she passed the phone to him, shaking his head frenetically. He took the directions from Ruth politely, but every response was guarded until he hung up.
“Whose idea was it to have Ruth join us, anyway?” He looked at Trina in the back seat and rolled his eyes. Ruth and Trina took several courses together and were close friends.
“You could have said no, Rob,” Trina shouted back. “By the way, do you realize how far south she lives? Her house is all the way down behind Arrow Creek Country Club.”
“That’s almost an hour south,” Abby said. “We better just get going now. And we’ll definitely need to stay in Truckee tonight.”
They loaded into the SUV and turned onto the highway. There was little traffic getting to Ruth’s place, and not much small talk to be had in back. When they arrived, it took them a few extra minutes to get from the main road and into the gated community where Ruth lived. Her home was the last on her street. It was a large, secluded mansion at the end of a long driveway. Ruth was sitting on the front steps, reading from her tablet.
“Thanks for coming to get me, guys,” Ruth said.
She stood up and rolled her suitcase to the back, smiling seductively when she stopped at Rob’s door. “Hi Rob. Can you help me with this?”
Rob had already been getting out of the car to take her things to the back.
“Hey, Ruth,” he answered shyly and opened the side door, “we’ve got a lot of stuff, so you’ll have to fit this somewhere in the cab.”
“Let’s hurry and get back on the road,” Abby said. “We may be able to make it to Truckee before dark, if we’re lucky.”
“Hold on.” Ruth stopped her. “Why would you go all the way back north when we can just go a little farther south using Mount Rose Highway, then go west to get us to Truckee? We take that route all the time to get to San Fran. Let me show you on the map on my phone.”
She pulled up the map and showed it to Abby. Abby passed the phone to Rob. “I’ve never taken this way. It looks like it’s a good distance through the mountains. What do you think, Rob?”
“It should be okay,” he answered. “I’ve taken this route a couple of times in the summer. The roads are fine, although there are some winding spots. And you may be right, Abby. The elevation is higher so it’s possible there might be snow. But I doubt it.”
“Well, we’ve already lost an hour,” shouted John. “Let’s just do it and stop in Truckee tonight.”
“Okay, I’m in,” answered Abby. “I hope you guys are right. Rob, as shotgun, you have to navigate. Ruth, keep an eye out, as you’re familiar with the roads.”
* * *
The next hour of driving was quiet. The highway whittled down to two lanes; one in each direction. With the narrowing of the roads, the surroundings went from suburban to rural farmland to curved mountainous roads that were sparsely lined by a few homes every several miles. As they made it over the Mount Houghton ridge, the weather changed. They could see the darkened clouds hanging over the mountain pass, and all the way across the horizon for as far as they could see.
“This does not look good,” Abby said.
“It’s not,” Rob answered. “Those are nimbostratus clouds we’re looking at. It’s going to rain. Probably more like snow, with the temperature and our proximity to Lake Tahoe. Whatever is coming, it’s coming soon, and we’re going to get lots of it.”
“Nimbo-what clouds?” Ruth shouted from behind him. “I didn’t know you were into meteorology.”
“Shit,” Barb interrupted the two as she looked out her side window. “We should’ve gone back north.”
“It couldn’t be too bad,” said Ruth. “And worst-case scenario, we can stop at my grandparents’ cottage at Incline Village.”
“Well, we can’t go back north,” Trina piped up from the back seat. “We’ll lose three hours. You’re driving an SUV, Abby. Just take it slow and we’ll make it.”