Free Snowed In by Sarah Title Page A

getaway.
    â€œMaureen—”
    â€œI’ll see you,” she said as she tumbled out of the car, hoping that she wouldn’t. But also hoping that she would.

Chapter 14
    Two weeks. Two damn weeks since he’d seen Maureen, and Gavin was going crazy. He could barely focus on business. It was a good thing Dave had doubled down on work. Gavin told him he didn’t have to prove himself, that he could keep his job. Of course, when Dave refused to give Gavin Maureen’s phone number, he almost reconsidered.
    Gavin had established a new nightly routine: first, case the grocery store parking lot to see if her car was there. Then consider the possibility that she could have gotten a ride, or a new car. Then mope around the frozen foods until a store employee asked if he needed help, then go home with his tail between his legs. Pathetic. And maybe a little too stalker-y for his liking.
    So that was it. He was done. It was Friday afternoon, he’d sent Dave home early, he would go out to the Cold Spot, get rip-roaring drunk, pass out on Brick’s couch and wake up when it was summer.
    His phone rang just as he was convincing himself that he might be a little low on milk.
    â€œMarv is coming over and none of my cookbooks have low-carb recipes,” Pippa barked in his ear.
    â€œI don’t have any cookbooks, Pippa. Can’t you find something online?”
    â€œOnline! You can’t trust those recipes online! The last time I used a recipe online I made cupcakes that tasted like paperweights. I need a cookbook.”
    Gavin had never used a recipe online before, but he was pretty sure they were as trustworthy as the ones in the books.
    But then he had a burst of genius.
    â€œI’ll take you to the library.”
    Â 
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    Maureen was glumly typing up her monthly report in her office. The monthly report was not a thrilling project—lots of statistics and enthusiastic descriptions of circulation numbers and program attendance. But she welcomed the distraction. It was hard to think about Gavin while she was tallying up the number of people who had asked for the bathroom key. It was hard, but she was still managing to do it.
    â€œHey, Maureen.” The head librarian stuck her head in Maureen’s office. “Can you help out at the reference desk? There’s a woman with a question.”
    Maureen looked at the desk schedule tacked next to her computer. Technically, it was the head librarian’s shift.
    â€œI know, I know,” her colleague said sheepishly. “It’s just that, well, she’s, um, a lot to deal with. And I have this raging headache. And I’ll finish your monthly report and let you leave early.”
    It would be impossible to think about Gavin while dealing with a difficult patron.
    â€œSure.”
    â€œYou’re my hero. Thanks, Maureen.”
    As Maureen headed past the stacks toward the reference desk at the front of the library, she noted a few patrons browsing the shelves and heard the ending strains of a story time song coming from the children’s section. She got to the desk and barely looked up before the patron started in on her.
    â€œListen, I don’t know why you put all of these things on a computer, but I can’t find the damn cookbooks.”
    Maureen knew that voice. She looked up, straight into the eyes of the lipsticked, leathery face of the strange old lady from the grocery store.
    Maureen vaguely remembered promising to kiss her. That didn’t seem like such a good idea now.
    â€œUm . . .”
    â€œHey, it’s you! The girlie from the grocery store! Did you do what I told you? Did you f-”
    â€œYes! Yes,” Maureen interrupted her.
    â€œGood girl! I’m proud of you. But why do you look so miserable? You do it wrong or something?”
    â€œNo, we did fine. We did great, actually, it’s just that—”
    Her explanation died on her lips. Coming out of the stacks with his