Around dawn, she stirred from her sleep because something was brushing against her.
Something furry.
Massive.
She groped it and startled when she found what seemed like a paw.
What the—
She widened her eyes to get a better look.
A tiger?
She was so surprised she fell out of the bed. She landed on the carpeted floor with a thump.
“Are you okay?” Quinn’s sleepy voice came from above her.
She rubbed her elbow. It took her a second to finally recover her ability to speak. Apparently, Quinn had returned and slept next to her. Why did she think it was a tiger? She must have been hallucinating. Yeah, that was it. It didn’t make sense at all. She was so tired, she started seeing things.
“I… I’m okay.” She got up and joined him in bed.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I think I was just sleep falling.”
“That’s new.” Quinn laughed softly. He spooned himself next to her and nuzzled behind her ear. “Tired?”
She stifled a yawn. “Bone tired.”
“Sleep then.”
She closed her eyes, but she couldn’t sleep right away. She wondered what she’d just seen. She decided it was all in her head.
I must have been dreaming. There’re no tigers in Aspen.
Chapter Four
It was a dull winter morning when Vanessa finally stirred from the bed. She looked at the clock. It was well past nine. Quinn had already left, but his side of the bed was still warm. Vanessa sleepily closed her eyes and scooted to Quinn’s side, sniffing his scent. It was strange how his smell comforted her.
The house was quiet. She didn’t hear any noise from downstairs. However, she could smell the lingering aroma of breakfast: freshly brewed coffee, eggs, and savory bacon. She should get out of the bed, but she didn’t want to give up the warmth the comforters provided. She pulled up the blanket up to her chin and drifted back to sleep for another hour.
When she opened her eyes for the third time that morning, she forced herself out of the bed and took a shower. By the time she went down, it was clear nobody had come home yet. She saw Savannah’s note on the kitchen fridge, saying she wouldn’t be home for lunch. The cleaning crew was going to come around noon, she informed Vanessa, so she wouldn’t freak out when strangers came into the house.
Vanessa had coffee and a light breakfast. She turned the TV on, looking for a weather channel. A snowstorm had arrived overnight. She looked out the windows and saw the flurries coming down. Despite the storm, the temperature hovered around thirty-two degrees, which wasn’t too bad.
She logged into her laptop to do some work, but still couldn’t concentrate. The scene last night played in her mind. She could swear she saw a tiger. In her bed. She must have been crazy to have seen such a thing. It felt so real.
Where was Quinn anyway?
She texted him. No answer. She tried to call, but it was directed to his voicemail. She gave up. She gave up on work too. She decided to take a walk to clear her head. It wasn’t too bad today. Besides, she liked the snow. She put on her parka and meandered into the backwoods.
The landscape was blanketed with fresh, fluffy snow. The ice made crunchy sounds under her boots. The scenery was so pretty, just like in a postcard. Pine trees covered in powdered flakes, quite picturesque. Luckily it wasn’t windy, so the temperature wasn’t too cold for a morning stroll.
Quinn and his brothers seemed to like to walk down the trail. They might be somewhere in the woods. If she followed the path, she might catch them. She needed to talk to Quinn about a work-related problem she had read in her email this morning anyway.
An icy breeze sent her shivering like a wet dog. She should have brought her gloves with her, but she had forgotten about them and left them on the kitchen counter. She thought of going back, but decided against it. She had already walked too far from the house.
She crammed her hands into her jacket pockets instead. She plodded in the snow as she skirted the bend. She dreaded this part of the path. From there, the trail came to an incline. She wasn’t athletic and packed thirty pounds more on her frame than her ideal weight; hiking this section would inevitably make her breathe hard. The view was spectacular, though. She didn’t mind that. She needed the exercise anyway.