Snowbound Summer (4 page)

The silence between them felt oppressive—fed by Kara's frustration at how Ron had let his parents manipulate the room situation and Ron's obvious feelings of guilt for not standing up to them.

As they started up the front steps to the lodge, Ron finally broke the silence. “I'm sorry.”

“I know.” Kara told him. She didn't want to act like a bitch, but she also needed for Ron to understand how disappointed she was. The weekend would have been so much more bearable if they didn't have to spend the whole time with Howard and Hanna.

Ron shrugged. He wasn't trying to be cute, just to make peace between them, but her normally perceptive boyfriend hadn't figured out the best way to do that yet. “I just couldn't think of any way around this,” Ron explained.

Kara wasn't going to let him get away with that kind of blatant self-serving falsehood. She wheeled about on the steps and poked her finger in his chest. “Yes, you could! You could have simply said:
we're still going to get our own room
.”

Ron sighed. “Yes, I could have,” he admitted. “But we didn't come out here expecting to have our own room. We expected to be staying in a cabin with my family and that's all we're doing. So what are you really mad about?”

Kara couldn't believe how insensitive Ron was being. In the past eight months, he'd always been so concerned about her feelings and her needs. Why wasn't he worried about her now? “And don't you think the whole weekend's going to be a lot more difficult if we have to spend the
whole
time with your crazy family?”

“Of course it is!” Ron agreed. The volume of his voice edged higher and a little color flushed his handsome white face. “We knew it was going to be hard the moment we heard my mother's invitation. Anne's all right, Kitten is weird, Mom is downright difficult and Dad's insane. But honestly, Kara, is it that much harder to be here with them than it is to get together with your family? Liz is pretty cool, but Ruth is an honest-to-God bitch most of the time and I don't think we even want to start on describing what your mother is.”

Ron's attempt to turn the tables on her and point out the deficiencies in her own family only served to stoke Kara's growing anger. “Don't you get started on my mother!” she shouted. A couple of people glanced in their direction, but at this particular moment, Kara really didn't care. She'd been a damn good girlfriend so far and kept Ron pretty far away from her mother for most of the past eight months so he had nothing to complain about—not that Mama was anywhere near as bad as Howard Miller. And Kara's sisters were nothing compared to Ron's family. He had no good reason to bring them into this argument.

“She's just as bad as my Dad!” Ron snarled back.

“No, she isn't!” Kara insisted. “My mother is in Michigan and your Dad's right here!”

She stopped suddenly as she realized what she had said. Mama wasn't really as bad as Ron's Dad, was she? There had to be something good she could say about her other than that she was far, far away.

Ron stopped arguing also, visibly considering Kara's point. His natural sense of humor cracked the surface of his defensive anger. A smile crept its way onto his cute face. His eyes began to twinkle as he spoke again. “You're right,” he told her. “My Dad is closer, and I'm willing to agree that distance is the deciding factor in whose parent is harder to deal with.”

Kara felt a desire to smile with Ron, but she wasn't prepared to give up her temper yet.

Ron must have read amusement in her expression anyway because he began to tease her a little more. “I mean, what's the worst that your mother can do this weekend? Call us a few dozen times? In fact, to be fair, she's being pretty good so far. After all, she hasn't called us since we left the airport in Detroit.”

Kara's lips betrayed her and quirked upward at the corners. “She probably hasn't been as good as all that,” she said. “I might have
accidentally
turned my phone off in Detroit.”

“Oh really?” Ron asked. “What's your Mama going to say about that?”

He stepped closer to her and slid his arms around Kara's waist. It felt good to have him stand so close to her that her breasts brushed against his muscular chest—not that she'd stopped being angry or anything.

“She's probably said quite a lot already,” Kara admitted. “We could find out if you want to listen to my voice mail...”

Ron leaned closer and began to nuzzle Kara's neck, sending a thrill of pleasure coursing through her body. “I'll pass,” he said. “Let's limit our pain to one crazy parent at a time.”

He nuzzled her again, planting light kisses on the soft dark flesh beneath her long beautiful hair.

Kara's knees went weak with desire. “Stop that,” she whispered. “I'm still angry with you.” Ron ignored her, his kisses making her heart thump wildly and her pulse pound just beneath his warm lips.

“Oh, I see,” Ron murmured. It was a little hard to hear him because he didn't exactly stop kissing her when he started speaking. “I wouldn't want you to stop being angry. You get so
passionate
when you're angry.”

Somehow in the past few moments, Kara's arms had found their way around Ron's waist. Contradictorily her voice tried to deflect his attention even as her hands pulled his body closer. “People are watching us,” she warned him.

Ron broke off his kisses just long enough to answer, then returned to gently tasting her flesh—this time nipping at her ear. “I think you should know by now that I really don't care if other people see you're with me. You're so utterly beautiful that every guy out there right now wishes he was me.”

The sound of Ron's voice stoked the heat growing between Kara's legs and her nipples began to swell, pushing out toward his hard chest through her clothing and her ski vest. “What about your parents?” she asked.

Ron froze. “Well that's a splash of cold water on a good mood,” he said.

As much as Kara enjoyed Ron's touch, she really didn't want his parents to catch them making out—especially on the front steps of Snowline Lodge. She stepped away from him so that a barrier of air physically separated their bodies. “They'll be following us to lunch soon,” she said. “What are you going to do about this mess?”

Ron sighed again and appeared to accept for the moment that they had to stop kissing and return to dealing with more serious business. “I guess I'm going to do what I should have done from the beginning and go get us our own room.”

Kara looked at him as if he'd lost his damn mind. “You can't do that now,” she said. “We agreed to stay in their stupid cabin!”

Ron shrugged. “So what? We agreed to do that six weeks ago at the Fourth of July barbecue when my mother first mentioned she'd rented a place.”

“But we...”

Kara let her words trail off. She didn't like being reminded that she was technically in the wrong in this fight.

Ron began to smile again—teasing her—and knowing him, probably thinking about makeup sex.

Kara decided to make one last effort to get her way, even though she was also half fighting against that goal. “But they—”

“If you really can't stand the thought of staying in the same cabin as my parents, I'll get us a separate room,” Ron assured her.

“But you don't think we should?” Kara said.

“No, I'd actually really like to,” Ron said. “I think it would ultimately make this trip a lot easier for everyone if each family could stay in their own hotel room.”

“But?” Kara prompted him. She knew there was a
but
coming. If it were really that simple they wouldn't have started arguing.

“
But
it will really upset my mother if we do. It's not as simple as she doesn't want to be alone with my father. She obviously has a really clear vision of how she wants this weekend to proceed, and I don't think it's going to make your and my lives together any easier if we piss her off by messing up her anniversary plans.”

He slipped his arms around Kara's waist. “So what do you say? It's your call. Do we get a place in the lodge or do we stay at the cabin?”

Now it was Kara's turn to sigh. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hanna walking briskly toward them while her husband ambled an increasingly far distance behind her. She really didn't want to start arguing with Hanna again. “I don't think it's fair that you just pushed the whole weight of the decision on to me,” she said, “but I guess we have to stay in the cabin.”

“Thanks,” he said as he spontaneously hugged her one more time. When he finished, he released her and let his hand slip down to the small of her back as they turned to face his parents.

“Try and look at the bright side,” Ron whispered.

Kara honestly couldn't see anything good about this weekend. “And just what would that be?”

Ron's fingers slipped lower so that he could surreptitiously squeezed Kara's ass. “At least we've secured a little privacy. That means we can have sex tonight.”

He squeezed her rump again and then started down the steps to greet his mother before Kara could tell him just what she thought of that idea.

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Chapter Four

Hanna liked to monopolize the conversation, so lunch consisted mostly of listening to her as she regaled Ron and Kara with stories of the latest charity that had proved trendy enough to attract Hanna's volunteer interests. Kara had listened to enough of these stories that she was fairly confident in her belief that Hanna's charity work had nothing to do with a desire to help the needy, and everything to do with feeling important and prestigious.

Still, listening was an easy way to get through the meal, so she quietly ate her Caesar salad while Ron played footsie with her under the table.

“Right here,” Ron said to the waitress when the meal ended and she brought the check.

Howard surprised Kara by reaching out unexpectedly and plucking the piece of paper from the waitress’ hand.

“Dad, I've got it!” Ron told him. “This is part of our present to you and Mom.”

“No, you don't,” Howard told him. His voice sounded even firmer than his son's. He held his hand out to his wife who took a pen from her purse and gave it to him—a strange act of cooperation compared to their usual simmering hostility.

“Dad!” Ron said again with just a little less emphasis than he'd used the first time.

“I don't want to hear any more about this,” his father told him.

“You know we're not going to let you pay for the meal,” Hanna added.

Much to Kara's surprise, Ron conceded, as if when his parents laid down the law he was used to giving in to them. He didn't even look that upset about it.

Kara shifted her weight in her seat trying not to actually squirm. This was a side of Ron she didn't see very often and it reinforced in her mind how young he was. Not that she and her sisters never gave into
her
mother when the old woman laid down the law.

While Howard signed the check, Hanna put the matter of the check behind them and began to look ahead to the rest of the afternoon. “So what are your plans for this afternoon? Skiing?”

Ron looked to Kara before answering, but the sudden grin on his face told her everything she needed to know about his inclination. He loved skiing almost as much as her sister did.

“Sure!” Kara agreed. “But we still have to rent our equipment.”

“Great!” Ron said. He stood up and took out his wallet just as the waitress had a chance to notice the measly tip his father had just written onto her bill. Generous with his son, Kara noted, but not with the female staff. Somehow that fit her overall impression of Howard.

Ron pulled out a ten-dollar bill—definitely too much in Kara's opinion even though she was pleased to see him bucking his parents on the issue— and handed it to the waitress. “Your service was great,” he said. “Don't mind him—he's in a bad mood.”

“I am not in a bad mood!” his father objected.

“Well, not in
relative
terms,” Ron agreed, “but it's a bad one just the same.” Somehow he managed to say all that with a twinkle in his eye and enough tease in his voice that his father didn't get angry.

The waitress thanked Ron and disappeared.

Kara and Hanna stood up at the same time and Ron stepped closer to his girlfriend to give her a hug.

Neither Hanna nor Howard appeared to like that, which added just a bit to Kara's enjoyment of the embrace.

“I guess we should
all
get our skis,” Hanna said. It was a not too subtle reminder that there would be a third wheel on the coming date.

“I think I'll get a pair, too,” Howard announced.

“Howard?” Hanna asked as Ron simultaneously said, “Really, Dad?”

“Sure,” Howard said, “unless you're trying to tell me I'm not invited.”

Kara was surprised at how delighted Ron looked at the idea of his father joining them. It was obvious that Ron loved his father, but just as plain that he found the relationship difficult. Still, the older man's suggestion had clearly pleased Ron. “Of course you're invited,” he said. “This will be great! I don't think you've been skiing with us since I was ten years old.”

Howard Miller patted his paunch and laughed. “That's when I stopped being able to keep up with you,” he said.

It was the first time Kara ever remembered seeing him expressing any mirth and it totally changed his appearance. He remained a balding, overweight, sixty-year-old man, but for a brief few seconds there was life in his eyes and she got a glimpse of a fun loving stranger inhabiting an aging body worn out by too much hate.

Ron laughed, too. “That doesn't mean you should have stopped. This is going to be awesome!”

Hanna's look of surprise had transformed into one of suspicion and cynical calculation, causing Kara to wonder what she thought was happening here.

Ron had no such concerns on his mind. He clapped his dad on the shoulder and then slid his arm back around Kara's back. His enthusiasm continued to bubble forth. “This is going to be great!” he said again.

For his sake, Kara hoped Ron was correct.

* * * *