Snow Place Like Home

Chapter Thirteen

Shonna

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Shonna was woken out of a deep slumber to the sound of someone pounding on the door while Penny was whining and pacing wildly in front of it.

Shonna was curled up beside Jason on the couch. His arm draped over her shoulder as their bodies were encased in her grandmother's colorful afghan. She tapped him on his leg to wake him, but even with the commotion, the man was still sawing logs.

They had spent the better part of the night talking about YoYo and the Alaskan life she lived. It had been like getting to know her grandmother all over again. With Jason here, in the house where she lived, and the town she loved, it was like having a piece of her grandmother still alive and in the midst.

Jason's strong connection and deep feelings for Yo-Yo were a confusing turn of events, spurring an artificial relationship between him and Shonna that wouldn't otherwise exist. But the way he made her feel safe, the way he looked into her eyes, and the way his lips tasted against hers couldn't be orchestrated.

It was real.

More real than anything she'd ever experienced before.

"Hello? Shonna? You in there?"

She recognized the voice.

Shonna shook Jason by the shoulders, and when he finally opened his eyes, he had a devilish grin on his face.

"Morning," he grumbled.

"We have a visitor," she told him. "Try to look like we didn't have sex."

"We didn't have sex."

"I know, but... still. Wipe that smile off your face. If you look too happy, she'll think we did."

He laughed at her as he threw on his shirt and headed to the door, but she stopped him before he could open it.

"Shonna, I can hear your voice. Let me in!"

After smoothing down her hair and trying to wipe away any smudged makeup from her lips and underneath her eyes, Shonna thrust open the door. There stood her cousin, Veronica Graham, dressed in a huge, white puffy snowsuit that made her look like a giant marshmallow.

"What are you doing here?" Shonna asked her.

"Hello to you, too, cousin dearest."

She pulled Shonna in for a hug and let herself in the cabin.

"Oh, now I see why it took so long to open the door."

Shonna felt herself blush. She didn't know why she was embarrassed. Even if something had happened, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But she was private about her love life and rarely shared the details of it with her friends or family. They were already too damn nosy.

Jason extended a hand. "You must be Veronica. I recognize you from your grandmother's pictures."

"And you are?" Veronica asked, looking him up and down before raising an eyebrow at Shonna.

At least his shirt was on, but his hair was wild and running down his shoulders. Shonna could only imagine what Veronica must be thinking.

"Jason Locklear. I was a friend of your grandmother's."

"Nice to meet you, Jason." She shook his hand before dropping it to walk around the cabin. "So, this is YoYo's house."

"V, what are you doing here? And how did you know I was at the cabin?" Shonna asked.

"After you told your mom where you were, the phone tree went off. She called my dad, who called me and told me you were pulling a YoYo. I have been calling you nonstop, but after your phone kept going to voicemail, I hopped on the first plane available so I could bring your ass back home," she said with a haughty laugh. "I promised your mom I'd confirm you hadn't lost your damn mind, but she doesn't know you like I do. You'd sell your firstborn before you'd ever move to Alaska."