Snowbound in Montana by C. J. Carmichael Read Free Book Online Page A

a few weeks. And then he got the idea to go to Nashville and I, well, I quit my job and went with him.”
    “Wow. Impulsive.”
    “My family thought I was crazy. I got a lot of e-mails telling me I was making a big mistake.”
    “But, you went.”
    “Yes. And like my family warned me, it was a mistake. Not just big. Huge.”
    He kept washing dishes, keeping his eyes on his task. “What happened?”
    “At first he was sweet. We hung out together, and he wrote songs. Most of the ones from his first album he wrote when we were—” She hesitated. “—hanging out.”
    By hanging out, he guessed she meant in bed. And the idea of that, well, it bothered him. It made him kind of want to punch the guy. And he suspected she hadn’t even got to the worst part yet.
    “And then John got his record deal, and things started changing really fast. He kept telling me he loved me, but he was gone more and more of the time. I had a job at a restaurant, and at first he would always be there to walk me home after the late shift, but that stopped. He gave me excuses, and I believed him. And then a mutual friend—actually his bass player, so not my friend at all, more like John’s—took pity on me and told me John was sleeping with, like, a dozen different women. And I was the only one who hadn’t figured it out.”
    Marshall swore.
    “Exactly. I asked John why he hadn’t simply broken up with me rather than sneak around behind my back. He gave me some lame story about how I’d always be special, because I was the one he was with when he wrote all those songs. Blah, blah, blah.”
    She was trying to make light of it, but Marshall could see tears gathering in her eyes. She paused, wiping them away with the back of one hand.
    “What an asshole.”
    “I know. I really do know that. But the crazy part is I can’t seem to get over him. I still cry when I hear him singing on the radio.”
    “If that’s true, then why are you here? Why didn’t you stay in Marietta so you could see him again?”
    She took a deep breath. “I left because I’m not strong enough to resist him. Whatever he wants from me, he’ll get.”
    “You’d go back to him? Even after he cheated on you?”
    “I’m afraid I would.”
    “That’s real messed up, Eliza.”
    “I know. But you asked why I’m here. And that’s the reason.”

Chapter Five
    ‡
    I t’s Christmas Eve, Eliza thought, first thing the next morning. She was still lying in bed, eyes closed, snuggled deeply into the covers. It was cool in the room. They’d all been asked to set the heat in the rooms as low as they could possibly manage, so she’d turned hers off.
    The room was so cold, she could see her breath.
    And it was still snowing outside.
    God, how long would this storm last? Last night, after they’d finished cleaning the kitchen and were sipping wine by the fire, she’d asked Marshall if he’d ever known a blizzard to last this long.
    “It’s rare,” he’d said. “But it happens.”
    She couldn’t believe all the things they’d talked about last night. She’d told him everything about her and John. Probably way more than he wanted to hear. And he’d told her more about his family.
    He’d had a twin brother, and when they were nine-years-old that brother had become sick and died. It had happened around Christmas time. Their parents were already divorced, his mother had been tired after a long week at her new job at a bank. When Dean, his brother, came down with a fever, she’d treated it with Tylenol and sent him back to bed.
    The fever continued all weekend long. By Monday, it was clear this was more than a flu and she finally took him to Emergency. She’d been avoiding the trip because she didn’t have health insurance, yet. In another month, she would have been past the qualifying wait period, but at that time, no, she hadn’t been covered.
    That was when they discovered Dean had meningitis. And it was too late. He couldn’t be helped.
    His mom had a bit