Tip the Scales (Road Trip Romance Book 1) Read online

  Unable to stand it any longer, I grabbed my phone and pulled up Max’s name. But before I could touch my finger to it, the screen went blank, and the phone died.

  I lit my candles again, hoping they’d produce some heat. Using the light from them, I slipped out of my wet clothing and put on a fresh pair of leggings and warm sweats. Then, I bundled myself up as tight as I could in the tangle of blankets.

  It took some time, but I eventually stopped shivering.

  Max

  I was generally an early riser, but usually only ever woke up this early because I had to get up and go to work. Never have I ever woken up because I was feeling particularly troubled about the well-being of my neighbor. Sure, I felt some level of responsibility to the residents of my community, but none had ever affected me like Eleanor.

  No sooner did I open my eyes when I realized I still heard the distant hum of my generator. I hadn’t expected the power would have come back on, but I was hoping by some miracle it would. And that was all because I knew Ella was right next door, and she was in the cold.

  I bolted up in bed and looked outside. So much snow had fallen and it still hadn’t stopped. I didn’t have to look at the thermostat to know that the temperature outside was well below freezing…probably even sub-zero.

  Knowing that Ella’s generator had run out of gas just before I went over there yesterday, I knew I had to follow through on the promise I made to myself last night. I had to go back over and check on her. I quickly got dressed, layered up, added a hat, coat, and gloves, and walked outside. Almost instantly, I felt the blistering sting of the cold air on the exposed skin on my face. The snow came up to my knees in spots that hadn’t drifted. The depth of the snow made movement difficult, but I trudged through just to get to her.

  It took some time, much longer than I would have liked, but I eventually found myself ringing Eleanor’s doorbell. As I waited for her to come to the door and open it, I turned around and looked out at my neighborhood. It was devoid of any color. Fresh, white snow covered every surface. I had no doubts that clean up would last for quite some time after the storm ended.

  When too much time had gone by without an answer, I pounded my fist against Eleanor’s door several times.

  More time than I was comfortable with passed when I finally heard the deadbolt on the door. A second later, the door opened.

  “Jesus, Ella,” I breathed, my throat tight. One look at her and I knew she hadn’t managed the night very well. She looked exhausted. I pulled my hand out of my glove and touched the skin on her cheek. She felt like ice. “Why didn’t you call me?” I asked.

  Instinctively, her neck craned and she pushed her cheek harder into my hand. “I tried,” she started, her voice just a hair over a whisper. “But my phone died.”

  Without an invitation and knowing this wasn’t the time for a debate, I stepped inside her house, closed the door, and ordered, “You’re not staying here.”

  “Okay,” she immediately agreed.

  “We’ve got to get you warmed up, so let’s get a bag packed quickly. I’ve got everything you’ll need other than clothes.”

  She stared up at me, silent and unmoving.

  “Ella?” I called.

  “Hmm?” she responded.

  “A bag, darling,” I prompted. When she still made no move to do anything, I stepped closer and clipped, “Fuck it, I’ve got clothes. Are the keys to your house in your car?”

  She shook her head and said, “On the island.”

  I moved past her in the direction of her kitchen, snatched up her keys, and came back to find her still standing in the same spot.

  Pulling my hat off my head, I slipped it onto hers and made sure her ears were covered. She was wrapped in a blanket, so her hands were protected, and I saw she had a pair of thick wool socks on her feet. I bent slightly to put one of my arms behind her knees and the other behind her back before I lifted her. As adamant as she’d been yesterday when I arrived to offer her a place to stay, she didn’t put up a fight at all today.

  After I managed to lock her front door, I trekked through the deep snow back to my house. The minute we were inside and I set Ella back down on her feet, she began trembling.

  “Do you like tea, Ella?”

  She tilted her head back to look up at me and whispered her reply. “Yeah.”

  Before I had the chance to turn the tea kettle on, Ella took a step toward me. Her arms were bent at the elbows, her hands balled into tight, little fists clutching the blanket at the front of her chest. She pressed her cheek against my chest and shivered. I did the only thing I could do and ran my hands up and down her arms and back.

  A few minutes had passed when she rasped, “It’s so cold.”

  “I know. We’re going to get you warmed up,” I assured her.

  Her body shook harder. So, I picked her up again, carried her out of the kitchen into my family room. After setting her down on the couch, I covered her with a heavy, wool blanket. Then, I moved to the fireplace, turned it on, and removed my boots. As quickly as I could, I ran upstairs, pulled on a pair of dry sweatpants, and made my way back to her.

  Ella’s teeth were chattering hard and fast while her body trembled uncontrollably; she was still so cold. I lifted the edge of the blanket and was about to slip underneath it when she asked, “What…are you doing?”

  Settling myself on the couch, my body running the length of hers, I answered, “Body heat.”

  Instead of protesting, she immediately shifted her body closer to mine. I held her as she shuddered for a long time until the quakes became less violent, her teeth stopped chattering, and her limbs began loosening up.

  Eventually, she pulled her face, which had been buried in my chest, away and tilted her head back to look up at me. Keeping her wrapped in my arms, I smiled at her. Ella’s eyes dropped to my mouth for a split second before she murmured, “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” I asserted. When she said nothing else, I declared, “It’s breakfast time. Does French toast work for you?”

  “Yeah.”

  With that, Ella and I got up off the couch and moved out to the kitchen. While I worked to get the food made, she asked, “Can I do something to help?”

  “The coffee is on a timer, so that’s good to go. You can grab mugs in the cabinet above the pot. I’ll take cream and one sugar. And if you want to turn on the tea kettle, knock yourself out. Otherwise, have a seat.”

  “If it’s okay with you, I think I’d prefer the coffee this morning,” she shared. “I didn’t sleep much last night.”

  Guilty was the only word to describe how I felt. She spent the night freezing, shivering, and awake, while I slept in my bed, warm and comfortable.

  I turned toward her and insisted, “Help yourself, darling. There’s more than enough.”

  Ella made quick work of pouring and serving coffee. Once she was seated at the island, I noted, “So it seems like you decided not to listen and write my number down.”

  “I did,” she argued.

  “So why didn’t you call?”

  She looked at me in disbelief. “I told you my cell phone died. With my generator not running, I had no power to charge it. How would I have called you?”

  “Landline?”

  Shaking her head like I was speaking a foreign language, she challenged, “You’re joking, right? Who has a landline these days?”

  I twisted my neck and looked in the direction of the phone sitting on the end of my countertop.

  Ella’s eyes narrowed and she blurted, “Exactly how old are you?”

  My head jerked back in surprise. Given how reserved she’d been since I first met her, I hadn’t expected that from her.

  She looked mortified.

  “Oh my God. I’m so sorry,” she lamented. “That was rude of me.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from doubling over with laughter. Once I managed to pull myself together, I flipped the toast on the griddle and teased, “I didn’t realize having a way to c
ommunicate with the outside world made me old.”

  “It doesn’t,” she tried to convince me. “It’s just that there aren’t a lot of people who still have landlines these days. I mean, I’ve convinced my mom that she doesn’t need one anymore, but my father’s holding on to it for reasons I can’t comprehend.”

  My brows shot up, silently questioning her. “Uh, I’m just going to point out that had you had a landline, you could have called me. Though, I guess if you had come here with me the first time I came over there, you could have avoided this whole mess.”

  She sighed and shook her head in disappointment. “That was so foolish of me,” she admitted. “It didn’t take long for me to realize how big of a mistake I made. By the time I made the decision to take you up on your offer, it was just before ten o’clock last night. I walked outside and only took a few steps before I realized I’d never make it over here. It was too icy, too dark, and I couldn’t see anything. After I slipped and fell a few times, I knew I was taking a big risk. I didn’t want to freeze to death in the snow. So, I went back inside my house and pulled up your number to call you, but just as I was about to touch your name on the screen, the phone died.”

  Fuck.

  She needed me last night. She had reached her breaking point hours before I came back to check on her.

  Guilt speared through me again.

  I stood there, staring at her beautiful face, feeling grateful I didn’t walk into something worse than I did this morning.

  “Max?” she called.

  The sound of her voice calling my name snapped me out of my thoughts. My eyes went to hers and I noted the tension in her body. Once there, she asked, “Is everything okay?”

  “Hours,” I stated.

  “What?”

  Shaking my head at the disgust I felt in myself, I explained, “You needed me for hours, and I had no idea. Do you know how many times I talked myself out of walking back over to your place last night so I could drag you back here where you’d be warm?”

  Her shoulders fell as she relaxed again. “I’m good now, though. Besides, like you said, I could have accepted your help the first time you showed up on my doorstep.”

  My gaze dropped to the French toast. I slipped the spatula under the last two pieces and put them on a plate. Truthfully, I needed the distraction. Because if I allowed myself to think about it, I’d become even more consumed with regret and guilt than I already was.

  I slid a plate, syrup, and powdered sugar in front of Ella. “Eat, darling,” I ordered.

  Once I was seated next to her and we’d both taken a couple of bites of our breakfast, she said, “I have a bit of a problem.”

  “What’s wrong?” I wondered.

  “Well, it’s just that you carried me over here, so I have no shoes,” she explained.

  “You don’t need shoes right now if you’re just going to be in my house,” I pointed out.

  “I know that, but I need to go back to my house,” she argued.

  I gave her a look that I hoped conveyed the message that she absolutely would not be going back to her house until the power was back on or, at the very least, her generator was up and running again. Ella didn’t seem the least bit fazed by my look, so I warned, “You’re not going back to your house.”

  “Excuse me?” she challenged, turning her body on the stool toward mine.

  “Ella, I’m not trying to hold you hostage here, but you can’t stay there until the storm passes and you at least have working heat again.”

  When she didn’t respond, I turned my head in her direction and found her looking at me. “What?” I asked.

  She nervously bit her lip. “Nothing. I think you misunderstood me, though. I’m not looking to go back home to stay there right now, but I need to get my phone and charger so I can call my parents.”

  “I’ve got a phone you can use,” I offered.

  “Okay, but I don’t have any clothes here either,” she noted.

  I couldn’t help but laugh again. “I’m not sure if you remember this, but I tried to get you to pack a bag before I brought you here. You were a zombie. Actually, that’s wrong. Zombies move. You were like a statue.”

  Ella dropped her gaze to her lap briefly. “I was so cold,” she whispered when she looked back at me again.

  My fork clattered to the plate, and I reached out to curl my hand along the side of her neck. My thumb stroked along her jaw as I returned just as softly, “I know, baby.”

  I noticed Ella’s breathing had changed. Short, quick, nervous breaths were all she seemed to be able to manage at that moment. Sensing what was happening, I pulled my hand away and conceded, “There’s supposed to be another break in the storm around lunchtime. If you want to give me a list, I can run over and grab your things.”

  “Um, well, I’m not exactly sure we’re at the stage in our relationship where I should be letting you root through my undergarments. I mean, I just met you yesterday,” she reasoned.

  I cocked an eyebrow. “But you are saying we might get to that stage at some point?” I teased.

  Shock registered all over Ella’s face. “I did not say that!” she shrieked.

  I loved seeing her like this. She might not have wanted to admit it, but I was clearly seeing the attraction between us wasn’t just one-sided. She felt something, too.

  “Right,” I said, my tone indicating I didn’t believe her. “Fine. If you want to call your parents sooner, you can use my phone. We’ll keep our eye on the snow and when it slows down a bit, I’ll carry you back to your place so you can grab your things.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Standing from my seat, I reached over and grabbed her empty plate. “Don’t mention it,” I insisted.

  Ella and I worked together to clean up the breakfast dishes. As soon as we finished, I got my phone and held it out to her. “If you want to call your parents now, you can use my phone,” I offered.

  She took the phone and tapped on the screen. I started to walk out of the room to give her some privacy. But it wasn’t before I heard her say, “It’s me, Mom. I’m okay.”

  Ten minutes later, Ella came in and sat down on the opposite end of the couch where I was sitting watching the news. She set the phone down on the coffee table and said, “Thanks for letting me borrow your phone. I just turned thirty-one, but my parents worry about me like I’m still ten.”

  I grinned at her.

  “What’s that look for?”

  “You just turned thirty-one,” I repeated her statement.

  “Yeah.”

  Still grinning, I slowly shook my head and stated, “You’re just a baby.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “Thirty-one hardly makes me a baby. Though, I guess it really all depends on you, old man.”

  “I’ll be thirty-seven this year,” I told her.

  “Really?” she asked, her shock clear as day.

  My eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure how to take your obvious astonishment right now.”

  She shrugged. “You don’t look anywhere close to thirty-seven. You act your age, maybe even older, especially considering the landline, but you definitely don’t look it.”

  Chuckling, I approved, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  After a moment of silence, I asked, “Your parents were worried?”

  Nodding, she explained, “Yeah. They live in Florida, so they’re not unaccustomed to bad storms. It’s just that they’re used to the ones of the high wind and rain variety, not the ice and snow kind. That combined with the fact that I’m so far away they can’t get to me in a situation like this makes it hard for them.”

  “Did you grow up in Florida?” I questioned her.

  “Yeah, I lived there all my life,” she shared.

  I lived here all my life, so I couldn’t imagine why she’d ever leave. Before I had a chance to ask her why she left, she went on, “But I wasn’t happy there. I love my parents and my friends, so it was difficult to leave them behind. What about you? Have
you always lived here?”

  The more she spoke, the more intriguing I found Ella to be. And I was discovering that the more she shared, the more I wanted to know. “Born and raised,” I replied with a nod of my head. “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you leave Florida? If we’re talking about climate, you couldn’t have chosen a place to move to that was any less similar to what you were used to.”

  Ella took in a deep breath and sighed, “I wanted some solace. We lived in West Palm Beach. Miami wasn’t far away, and it’s a huge tourist destination. I have my friends, but I honestly didn’t like the crowds.”

  “And you were able to relocate here without an issue for work?” I asked.

  She let out a small laugh and answered, “Pretty much, considering I’m my own boss.”

  “No kidding?” I marveled. “A fellow entrepreneur then? What do you do?”

  “I am an app developer.”

  I blinked my eyes in surprise. “I’m sorry?”

  “Mobile apps,” she semi-repeated. “You know, like you’d find on smart devices, like phones and tablets.”

  I reached over to the coffee table and swiped my phone from the top of it. Holding it out to her, I wondered, “Do I have any of your apps on my phone?”

  Ella’s entire demeanor changed. She suddenly seemed very nervous as her eyes shifted to anything other than me. The next thing I knew, she shot up from her seat on the couch and gasped, “Look! The snow has stopped. We should probably head over to my place to grab my things before it starts falling again.”

  Sure enough, I looked outside and saw that we were, in fact, experiencing a lull in the snowfall.

  “Looks like it,” I affirmed as I stood and moved toward her. “Before we head over there, do you know what you need? It’s still very cold out there, and I just got you warmed up. I’m more than happy to do it again, but I’m thinking it’s not great that we keep putting your body through that kind of trauma.”