Stranded: A Christmas Story by Fiona Wilde Read Free Book Online Page A

gotten a wonderful gift.
    But best - and most terrifying of all - she felt like she was starting to fall in love.

    Chapter Five
    It snowed again on Christmas night. Lydia and Mason watched it fall from the sofa, where they enjoyed cups of mulled wine, another surprise she wasn’t expecting. He showed her his sketch book and a few paintings he was working on - all scenes from around the cabin. One was of a bull elk bellowing in a frosty meadow. The other was of deer drinking from a stream. There were landscape shots and detailed studies of flowers.
    Lydia didn’t have any hobbies other than shopping, and felt a little inadequate with nothing more to show him than snaps on her cell phone. But Mason seemed interested about her life in Middleburg and her job as an IT specialist.
    “This must be like withdrawal for you, being here without a computer,” he said.
    Lydia looked at him, surprised by the epiphany generated by his words.
    “You know, it’s weird, but I haven’t even thought about it,” she said. “That’s crazy, huh? I mean, so much has happened with the crash and then just being here in such an unusual situation. Before I couldn’t get by without Facebook or email and I don’t even miss it, at least not now. At some point I will…”
    “Yeah, the novelty of living like this wears off pretty quickly if you’re not prepared for it,” Mason agreed. “I’m too far off the beaten path to get wireless service. When I go to town I check my email, but that’s just once every couple of weeks. I sometimes order things online, cooking ingredients, art supplies, stuff like that. I have a PO Box in town.”
    “Do you ever socialize in town?” she asked.
    “Oh, when I go I hang out for the day to remind myself how to talk to people. There’s a little artist guild in town. A couple of older men and a really cute girl.
    “Oh..” Lydia felt herself growing jealous, and then feel silly for feeling jealous.
    “She and her lesbian partner moved here two years ago.”
    That cheered Lydia up somewhat.
    “We discuss art, and then I go to get hunting supplies and we discuss hunting, gardening, whatever at the general store.”
    “At least you get to talk about what interests you,” Lydia said. “I go out almost every weekend and we talk about the same stupid stuff - who’s dating who, fashion, stuff like that. Sometimes I feel like I’m back in high school.”
    She looked at him. “You know, Mason, my conversations with you have been the first real conversations I’ve had in months. Being here these past couple of days have made me think about a lot of things.”
    “Thinking is good,” he said. “Everyone should do it.”
    “Even women? Even submissive women?” She laughed.
    “Submissive women have done more thinking than most other women,” he said. “Imagine the pressure…well, you don’t have to imagine. You know what the pressure is like in modern society for women to be ball busters. So any woman who has submissive tendencies and decides to live as the feminine yin to her man’s masculine yang probably knows herself a lot better than a woman who resists what she secretly wants to fulfill societal expectations.”
    Lydia stared at him and then laughed. “My god! Who are you? Are you a backwoodsman, an artist or a philosopher?”
    “I’m all of those,” he said. “I can be whoever I want. And so can you, Lydia. You just have to ask yourself the Big Question.”
    “And what is that question?”
    “The question is ‘What do I want?’ Not, what do I need to do to fulfill everyone else’s expectations of me, but what do I, Lydia St. Clair, want?”
    “What if I don’t know?” she asked.
    “Then you have to do some soul-searching. I think we all know down deep what we know. We all have different motivators, different drivers, if you will. But sometimes we’re afraid to be guided by them for fear of how others will react. If you’re someone who seeks validation and approval, then it