Finders Keepers by Nicole Williams

me. “He’s
asleep. He successfully got his daughter through her teenage years without her
getting knocked up, so he sleeps a lot more soundly. He wouldn’t even hear a
herd of cattle run through the dining room.”
    “Does he still sleep with his shotgun under his pillow?”
    Josie smiled at me. “Only when he’s expecting you to show
up.”
    “Comforting. Thank you.” I smiled back before forcing myself
out of the cab. After all of that warmth, the frigid air almost knocked me
over. Hurrying toward the barn, I was stopped halfway there.
    “Where the hell are you going?” Josie stepped in front of
me.
    “The barn. Preferably before I freeze my ass off.”
    Her whole face except her eyes was covered up, but hell if
those eyes weren’t the most expressive things I’d ever seen. “You’re not
sleeping in the barn. It’s probably a whole two degrees warmer than your
truck.” Grabbing my arm, she turned me around and steered me toward the house.
    “Hey, two degrees can mean the difference between losing and
keeping one’s toes.”
    I wasn’t fighting her, but she didn’t stop tugging on me
until we were at the front door. “And seventy-five degrees can mean the
difference between chattering yourself awake all night and drifting off into a
peaceful sleep.”
    If Josie thought peaceful sleep was an option for me, she
was living in a state of disillusionment.
    Putting her mittened hand up to her mouth, she opened the
door quietly and slipped inside. I followed her, half expecting to find Mr.
Gibson in his favorite chair with his shotgun aimed between my eyes. Like most
of the homes around there, the Gibsons’ place was an old farmhouse that they’d
done a nice job of keeping up. It was more updated and modern than the Walkers’
home but just as inviting. Well, inviting for anyone who hadn’t been threatened
with death if they ever showed their face around it again.
    The guest room was on the main floor, across the hall from
Josie’s parents’ bedroom. The old wood floors creaked with every step, and I
hoped Josie was right about her dad sleeping heavily. I was just about to take
off my boots and continue toward the guest room when Josie shook her head and
tugged on my arm again. She wanted me to follow her up the stairs. Only two
rooms were on the second floor. One was a bathroom. And another was Josie’s
bedroom. The one time I’d been in her bedroom, I managed to sleep with my best
friend’s girlfriend. If that was the kind of disaster I could expect from
entering Josie’s room, I would not be making a return visit. No. Way.
    Like the wood floors, the steps creaked, and I didn’t stop
wincing until we reached the second floor. Josie looked as relieved as I was
we’d escaped detection. Keeping her hand wrapped around my arm, she pulled me
down the hall, past the bathroom, and stopped outside of her . . . I pulled my
arm out of her grasp and shook my head. Hell, no. I wasn’t going back in that
room. Not only because of the bad memories, but because of the good ones, too.
That night had been a combination of extreme highs and lows.
    Josie rolled her eyes, opened the door, and managed to grab
my arm and pull me inside before I knew what was happening. She flipped on the
light and closed the door before I could escape. “Afraid of a girl’s room? It’s
not like you’ve never seen one before.”
    That was true. I’d been in my and a dozen other men’s fair
share of girl’s rooms. That wasn’t what had me all but breaking out in a cold
sweat. I was in Josie Gibson’s bedroom. That wasn’t just another girl’s
bedroom. “Yeah, um, why don’t I just take the guest room tonight?” I hitched my
thumb over my shoulder as Josie peeled off the layers of winter wear.
    “Sure. Be my guest. But just so you’ve been warned, expect
my dad to crawl in beside you in a couple of hours because that’s normally when
my mom kicks him out for snoring up a storm.” Josie kicked off her boots and
waved me