Erik was moving around further in the cottage and I followed the sound of his padding footsteps into a small, bright kitchen. It was painted yellow and looked like a burst of sunshine in the greyness of the winter morning.
“Tea?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
He put some bread in the toaster and put the kettle on to boil while I leaned against the doorway. I didn’t feel in the way there, while Erik was busy.
When the toast popped up, Erik put it on a plate and gestured at it. “That’s for you. You must be starving by now.”
I moved forward, careful to make sure I had my balance. The kitchen was so small that I probably could have managed just fine without the crutch, if I’d been allowed to hop and use the counters for support and balance. I leaned my hip against the counter and propped my crutch up against it while I buttered my toast. Real butter, yum.
“I’m afraid I don’t have a table. I tend to eat breakfast standing here but we can go sit on the couch if you like.”
“Nah,” I said. “I’m fine here if you don’t mind.”
I knew that my leg would get tired if I stayed there too long, but I didn’t want to move. I liked this cramped, sunny little kitchen and I was standing close to Erik. He smiled at me, those ripe red lips parting in a fluid motion. I might have stared at them for a second too long before realising that was weird and looking down at my plate.
He leaned against the counter next to me, so close I could feel the heat of his skin even though we weren’t touching.
We stood there together in companionable silence while I ate a slice of toast and then, when I started my second, Erik said, “I called the local doctor.”
I looked at him sharply. “Are you okay? Did you cut yourself on the ice? Shit, I didn’t even ask you!”
Erik put a hand on my shoulder and took my plate from my suddenly shaking hand, placing it on the counter behind me. He ran his palms up and down my arms and murmured, “It’s okay, I’m fine. You didn’t ask if I was cut because you didn’t see any blood and you probably assumed I would mention it if I’d been injured. You had no reason to ask. For the record, I definitely would have mentioned it.”
My deep inhale was shaky but made me feel better. I held it in for a second before releasing it. His hands slid off my shoulders and I missed their warmth.
“I called the doctor to check whether we should take Sonny to the hospital today.”
“And you,” I reminded him. “You went in the water, too.”
There was a slight hesitation before he conceded, “Yes, and me. But I went in deliberately and was expecting it, whereas Sonny wasn’t. And my immune system is really good.”
That seemed like a strange thing to add but I let it go, just relieved it was the case.
Instead, I asked, “And what did the doctor say?”
“She said that there was no need to take him in unless he was injured, which he wasn’t. One of us would have seen any cuts when we undressed him last night. Other than that, she said to keep an eye on him and call back if we weren’t sure of anything.”
“That’s very good of her.”
He gave a rueful shrug. “I know her partner, actually. I might have got a bit of extra time for that. Anyway, I’m glad we don’t need to get Sonny to the hospital because I don’t fancy driving all those country lanes to the town in this snow.”
“Huh?”
I looked out the small kitchen window at the greyness beyond and, now I looked carefully, I could see that it was getting lighter outside as the sun rose, but big fluffy flakes of snow were spiralling down and blocking out the sky.
“How long has it been snowing?”
“I think it started late last night.”
Slowly, I moved towards the window, leaning on the counter. Erik stayed where he was, watching me.
Outside, the world was white with barely-there strips of green which came from the trees surrounding the lake. I couldn’t tell where the garden path ended and the lake began, which would make it dangerous to try and walk without Erik beside me.
“If you want to go home, I’ll drive you. My car can cope with it and it’s not too far to the village.”
Normally, getting from my parents’ house to the lake would take about ten or fifteen minutes. In this, though? Maybe an hour. And I absolutely did not believe that it was safe to be driving in. Visibility was low and the tyres would slip and slide all over the roads without proper snow chains.
