“Yeah, I get it.” He paused. “I moved to Fort Worth three years ago.”
Cora’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” Here she’d assumed he still lived in San Antonio. Depending on where he lived in Fort Worth, they could potentially be just minutes away from each other. What were the odds? “Do you not work for your mom anymore?”
“I opened my own store, Defending Yesterday. I focus on firearms, knives, survival and camping equipment.”
“What a great name. It sounds like it totally fits you.”
“It does.” He looked happy as he spoke. “I worked at the store with my family, but just needed to get out there and do something on my own. Grandpa supported my decision, and Mom understood. But Flynn accused me of running away.”
He didn’t say anything specifically about their divorce, but Cora got the impression that was one of the deciding factors when it came to opening his own place. “I had no idea we were living so close to each other.”
“Neither did I.”
They continued walking. Cora had been nervous about getting lost on their way to the main cabin. Now that the snow had stopped falling, however, the visibility was good. And apparently being able to see some landmarks was all Grey really needed to navigate successfully.
He said he’d carry her suitcase for a while, but he never did relinquish it. He handed over his carry-on bag for her to take at one point, though.
Cora’s feet were starting to feel numb from the cold. “How long until frostbite sets in?”
Before they left, they’d both put on extra socks. They’d also found some plastic wrap in the kitchen and had put that around the socks as well to hopefully keep the dampness off their feet. An hour in, though, and it wasn’t doing a lot for the cold.
Grey glanced at her boots in concern. “We should only have a half hour to go at the most. Do you need to rest?”
“I’m pretty sure if I stop moving, I’ll turn into an icicle.”
He nodded his agreement. “We’ve got a good pace going here. We just need to take our minds off the cold.”
“Your feet are bothering you, too?” He hadn’t said a word, so Cora had assumed he was doing okay.
“Oh, yeah. Someone’s going to have to stop me from just sticking them directly into the fire when we get there.” He smiled at her. “So, you know about me opening my own store. What do you do now?”
“I’m a registered nurse. I work in the emergency room at Denton Regional.” She didn’t think Grey would look more surprised if she’d told him she’d become an astronaut. She laughed. “What?”
“Nothing. I mean, that’s amazing. I have no doubt you’re a fabulous nurse. I just never imagined you getting into that kind of a profession.” He paused for a moment to set the suitcases down and flex his hands several times before continuing. He lifted hers a little higher. “What have you got in here? Bricks?”
She hiked up one eyebrow. “What would a nurse be if she didn’t take her medical bag everywhere she goes?”
He nodded slowly, and it was clear he approved of her being prepared. “So, what made you decide to go back to school?”
Cora sobered. “After my surgery, everything was so overwhelming. The loss. The pain—physical and emotional. It was a lot. There was a nurse that night named Josie who took care of me. Instead of just checking my vitals and giving me medication, she talked to me. She’d had a miscarriage herself and said she knew what we were going through.” All of it came back as though it’d been yesterday. The bags she was carrying were getting heavy, and she shifted the straps on her shoulders. “I didn’t really talk much, but just knowing that she understood made a difference. And it made me feel like a person in there instead of just another number. I thought about that a lot, and when we got divorced, I decided I needed a purpose.”
“You wanted to be that person for someone else.”
Cora nodded silently. “It’s not an easy job, but it was worth every minute back in school.” She pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck now, having used all her savings on tuition, but she was making it on her own. After relying on her parents and later Grey, it was a big thing for her.
Grey turned his head to look at her. “I’m proud of you, Cora.”
There were a lot of things he could’ve said, but those words sent warmth from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. There was a time when they would’ve talked about everything, and to know he approved of what she’d been doing with her life meant a lot. She gave him a shy smile as they continued their trek.
Ten minutes later, Grey stopped walking and nudged her with his elbow. “Check it out!” He set a suitcase down and pointed to the sky.
Ahead, smoke slowly rose from a point in the trees.
“Is that the cabin?”
“It’s got to be.”
They grinned at each other. They couldn’t quite see the building itself, but it couldn’t be too much further. If it weren’t for the trees, they could probably spot it now. With renewed energy, they picked up the pace and speed walked through the snow that seemed to get thicker and heavier with each step.
