Snow Queen (8 page)

“Yeah, but I don’t think she wanted me to spend my college fund on it,” Aubrey replied.

It had actually taken Aubrey a good fifteen minutes to convince her mother that she was
not, in fact, kidding about the pageant. But once she’d been convinced, her mom had told her to get whatever she needed to compete. She’d been so excited she had asked Aubrey to put Rose on the phone and proceeded to beg Rose to film the event. Once Aubrey had realized what the two women were talking about she had grabbed the receiver and told her mother that there was no way she was letting Rose anywhere near a video camera. The last thing she needed was indelible evidence of this insanity.

As Aubrey walked out from between the racks to move on to the next aisle, the bells above the door jingled and Aubrey automatically looked up, then froze. Grayson had just walked into the shop with a very serious look on his handsome face. Aubrey stopped breathing. Her first instinct was to turn around—to completely ignore him—but she couldn’t seem to make her feet move, and it was obvious she had seen him. If she ignored him now it would be, in Christie’s words, immature. So she stayed right where she was, feeling insanely conspicuous.

“Hey,” he said.

Her heart rate quickened at the mere sound
of his voice. He’d removed his knit hat and his hair stuck up around his ears in an adorably unself-conscious way. His face was ruddy from the cold and his eyes bright, if questioning.

You’re mad at him, remember? Mad, mad, mad.

“Hey,” she replied. Only because she didn’t want to seem rude in front of Rose.

“Hi, Grayson!” Rose said cheerily, coming up behind Aubrey.

“Hi, Rose. Christie,” Grayson said, lifting his hat in greeting. “You guys pageant shopping?”

“Yep,” Christie replied.

“Cool. I just overhead Layla and her friends talking about how you’re the one to beat, Christie,” he said.

“Really?” Christie squeaked. “They said that?”

“You’ve got them on their heels,” Grayson confirmed with a smile.

“Wow,” Christie breathed.

“Why don’t you stay?” Rose suggested. “You can give the girls a male perspective on snowsuits.”

Grayson’s eyes flicked to Aubrey. “I’d love to help, but I’m not sure if Aubrey wants me to.”

Rose appeared confused and Aubrey wished she was anywhere but there.

“I spotted you from outside five minutes ago and I’ve been standing out there debating whether or not to come in,” Grayson said to Aubrey. “Wasn’t sure if you’d be up to talking to a lying hypocrite just yet.”

Aubrey’s face flushed red-hot. Christie walked to the very end of the clothing rack and slowly moved one hanger aside at a time, making sure the metal hangers didn’t make too much noise. It was obvious that she was eavesdropping, but Aubrey was too distracted by the fact that she’d just been put on the spot.

“Why would anyone think you were a lying hypocrite?” Rose asked, obviously baffled.

“Huh. That’s a good question,” Grayson said, his jacket making swishing noises as he crossed his arms over his chest and tucked his hands under his arms. He adopted a curious expression. “Aubrey?”

“I…well…it’s because of the thing with his mom the other day,” Aubrey said through her teeth to Rose, unsure of how exactly to explain this. Rose’s brow knit in confusion, but it was
Grayson who spoke first.

“What thing with my mom the other day?” he asked.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Rose said, waving it off.

“No it wasn’t! It was definitely something,” Aubrey replied.

“It kind of was, Rose,” Christie put in.

“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on here?” Grayson asked, his arms falling to his sides.

Rose blew out a sigh and averted her gaze. It was obvious to Aubrey that the woman was uncomfortable and she felt bad for putting her in this position. But then, it wasn’t really
her
who was doing it. Grayson was the one being all demanding. Like he couldn’t take no for an answer. One more reason to be irked with him.

“Well, I suppose you’re going to find out sooner or later, Grayson,” Rose said. “But I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you.”

Aubrey swallowed hard. Was it possible that Christie had been right? Was it actually possible that Grayson knew nothing about his parents’ plans to kill the winter carnival and, by
extension, the Spotted Owl? That she’d misinterpreted what he’d said? Rose seemed to think that was the case.

“Tell me what?” Grayson asked, his voice growing tense.

“Your parents have decided to…scale back their support of the winter carnival,” Rose said finally.

“What?” Grayson said.

“Not scale back,” Aubrey corrected. “They’re stopping everything. They’re not going to run their shuttle to the carnival or even tell any of the guests about it.”

“I guess that’s why no one put it on the calendar in the lobby,” Christie added, biting her lip.

“They know that if the carnival goes south, then Rose and Jim won’t be able to make repairs to the Spotted Owl and they’ll go under,” Aubrey said in a rush. “They’re trying to put the Owl out of business.”

Grayson snorted a laugh. “Please. No. That’s not possible.”

He turned and walked out of the tight aisle, which finally gave Aubrey some room to breathe. She followed him and hooked a left to
join Christie on the other side of the snowsuit rack. Rose went after Grayson, who paused near a row of wooden benches set up in the center of the store for trying on shoes.

“Grayson,” Rose said in a placating tone.

“They wouldn’t do that,” Grayson said, turning to face her, his jaw clenched.

Rose hesitated. She folded her coat over her arm and held it in front of her. “I don’t know what to say, hon. I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but it’s the truth.”

Grayson’s gaze flicked over to Aubrey and Christie and he looked angry. Aubrey’s heart all but stopped. Was he mad at Aubrey for bringing this up, or mad at his parents for what they were doing? Aubrey had no idea. Either way, he did seem shocked at the revelation. Maybe he
hadn’t
known about his parents’ plans.

“I have to go,” Grayson said.

“Grayson, don’t be upset. Maybe you should just talk to them about this,” Rose suggested kindly.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Grayson replied, turning on his heel. Then, without so much as a “see ya” for Aubrey and Christie, he
stormed out of the store, shoving the door open with the heel of his hand.

“See? I told you he didn’t know,” Christie whispered.

“But his parents are obviously evil,” Aubrey replied. “How can he not see that?”

Rose turned around slowly, looking suddenly tired. “No one wants to see the bad in their family, Aubrey. That’s why I wanted to keep him from finding out until we could find a solution.”

Aubrey gulped. Rose had been trying to protect Grayson and she had totally ruined it.

“I’m sorry, Rose,” she replied.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Rose replied. She looked at the door. “What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.”

Aubrey couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Grayson’s glare and she couldn’t stop obsessing. Had he been angry at her? If so, why? So she had assumed he knew about his family’s plans for the Spotted Owl. Big deal. He was the one who had been all mysterious
and cagey that night when they were working on the carnival signs, which, of course, she was now even more curious about. Besides, where she came from, people knew what was going on in their families. They didn’t assume their greedy parents were perfect role models and their bitchy sisters were little angels. Grayson couldn’t go through life being so entirely naive. When it came down to it, she had done him a big favor.

So why did her stomach hurt every time she thought about him?

“Forget this,” Aubrey muttered under her breath.

She got up and grabbed her coat, her hockey stick, and the sleeve of pucks she had bought at the sporting-goods store, and headed downstairs. There was a patch of iced-over concrete behind the inn where the garbage dumpsters were housed. If she wasn’t going to sleep, at least she could get in some practice shots for the hockey shot competition. On her way to the stairs, she stopped at the drink machine next to the ice maker and bought two bottles of iced tea, figuring she could set them up as markers
and shoot between them.

Down in the lobby, a young couple cuddled in front of the fireplace with mugs of hot chocolate. Jonathan was working the counter, and she gave him a quick wave as she headed for the door, but before she could get there, the door swung open toward her and Grayson stepped inside. Aubrey froze. Why, why, why had she left her hair in these two childish braids? And why had she simply shoved her feet into her snow boots while still in her thermal pj’s with the smiley faces on them instead of changing into jeans?

“Oh, hey,” Grayson said uncertainly. He looked her up and down and a smile lit his eyes. Aubrey’s face burned. “That’s a good look for you.”

“What are you doing here?” Aubrey asked. All the paraphernalia she had cradled in her arms started to slip and she had to grip it tighter to keep it from crashing to the floor.

“I…uh…I came to apologize, actually,” he said, pulling his knit cap from his head.

“To me?” Aubrey asked.

Grayson blinked. “Uh,
no
” he replied,
stepping past her toward the center of the lobby. “To Rose and Jim. I talked to my parents and it turns out you were right. Apparently they are trying to run the Spotted Owl out of town.”

“Told you so,” Aubrey said, before she could stop herself.

Grayson turned and looked at her, incredulous. “Did you just say ‘told you so’?”

“Well…I did!” Aubrey replied. In her righteousness she lost her concentration, and all her stuff—hockey stick, pucks, and iced-tea bottles—tumbled to the floor. The cuddling couple looked up as one of the bottles rolled under their love seat.

Grayson laughed and dropped down on one of the couches near the center of the room. “You are something else, you know that?”

Aubrey didn’t know what to do. Go after the errant iced-tea bottle, or just pretend it had never happened? She crouched and picked up the stick and pucks, at least, and placed them on the bench near the door.

“Something else good or something else bad?” Aubrey asked, walking over to hover
near the end of the couch. She zipped up her coat so at least some of the smiley faces were covered up.

Narrowing his eyes as he studied her face, Grayson sighed. “It’s tough to say.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “So…before I apologize to Rose and Jim…was there anything
you
wanted to say to
me
?” he asked, looking up at her with a teasing glint in his eyes.

Aubrey’s heart skipped in nervousness. This felt like a test, but she had no idea what the answer was. What was she supposed to say to him? Stalling for time, she walked over to the second couch, on the other side of the low coffee table, and sat, reaching underneath the table for one of the bottles. Grayson simply followed her with his eyes. He wasn’t going to give her a hint.

“Like what?” she said finally, clutching the iced tea in both hands.

Grayson’s laugh filled the lobby. Even the cuddling couple turned to look. “Like an apology of your own.”

Aubrey blinked. She rarely, if ever, apologized. Apologizing meant admitting she was wrong—something she found very difficult to do. “For what?”

“For calling me a lying hypocrite!” Grayson replied, still amused. “Obviously I didn’t know what my parents were doing. Therefore, no lying, no hypocrite.”

“Oh.” Aubrey’s face turned the color of boiled crab shells. “That.”

“Yeah. That,” Grayson said, draping his arm over the couch and letting his legs fall open wide. He obviously felt at home here, even if his parents did hate the place and wanted to see it torn down. “Well?” he prompted.

“It wasn’t my fault!” Aubrey protested. “The other night you started to say something about the Spotted Owl. Like you were going to miss it when it was gone or something. So I just assumed.”

Grayson’s jaw clenched and he looked away. “Oh. That.”

“Was I right? I knew it! So what was that all about?” Aubrey asked.

Grayson sighed. “Fine. If you must know,
that was about college.”

“College?” Aubrey asked, her brow furrowing.

“Yeah. College. I’m thinking about going next year, and what I was going to say that night was that I was going to miss this place when I was gone,” he explained, keeping his voice down. “But I haven’t told the Howells yet and I didn’t want them to find out from you, so I stopped myself.”

Aubrey swallowed hard. “Oh.”

“So. Apology?” he asked.

Wow. He really wasn’t going to give this up, was he? Suddenly it felt as if the fireplace, which was at least twenty feet away, was right behind her neck. She glanced over at Jonathan, half expecting to find him listening in, but he was busy with some kind of paperwork. The couple had returned to their cuddling. She took a deep breath. She knew she should admit she was wrong. She knew it. But she felt so stupid. Why did apologizing make her feel like such a loser?

“Look,” Grayson said, shifting his feet and leaning forward again. “If you don’t take back
the lying-hypocrite comment, I can’t ask you out,” he said. “Because, really, what kind of tool would it make me to ask out a girl who thinks I’m a lying hypocrite even when it’s already been proven that I’m not?”

Aubrey looked up at him. Had he just said what she thought he’d said? “Ask me out?” she repeated.

“Yep,” he said, pressing his lips together. “But I can’t do it unless I get an apology.”

“Okay, fine! I’m sorry, okay?” Aubrey blurted.

Grayson’s teasing smile turned into a grin. “I knew you wanted to go out with me.”

Aubrey felt as if her face was going to explode. “Shut up!” she said, even though she couldn’t stop grinning, either. Her insides were tied into a zillion tiny knots as she tried to decide if he was just messing with her or if he really was going to ask her out—or both. After this she was really going to have to shoot some pucks. Maybe a thousand. It would take that long to work off all this nervous tension.