Liz slowly perused the choice of snack crackers at the small grocery store, which was minimal. She picked out a couple boxes and placed them in her basket next to the apples, bananas and cheese she'd already selected. Her task had been snack food. Her husband, Ben, was an aisle over looking for vegetables. They met at the end of their respective aisles and walked over to where their friends, Darren and Carrie, were looking at wine.
"Anything good?" asked Ben.
"Ask the expert here," replied Darren, jerking his thumb towards his wife. "I got the beer."
Carrie smiled and pulled a bottle of white off the shelf. "I've heard good things about this one," she said, glancing over at Liz.
"Whatever you want," Liz replied with a wave of her hand and a smile. "You know me, I'll drink whatever."
Carrie grabbed a second bottle, and then a third. "This should do...for now."
Darren groaned and mimed a sore arm as Carrie deposited them in his basket. "That's about all I'm good for here," he joked. "A pack mule."
"Oh, whatever! What did you play all that football if it wasn't to prepare you to carry groceries for your devastatingly hot wife?" giggled Carrie as she playfully poked him in his firm stomach.
"Besides...," she said, looking over at Liz, giving her a wink. "You've got other skills" Liz blushed and felt her husband put his hand on her back as the two couples walked towards the solitary check-out counter.
"Have we got everything we need?" asked Ben with a glance out the window. Snow had started falling several hours before and according to the weather reports, it wasn't supposed to stop for a while. "We might not get another chance to come back down here tomorrow."
"If we forget anything, we'll just send you and Darren out on the skis," replied Carrie. "Liz and I will just camp out by the fireplace and drink the wine."
"Sounds good to me," said Liz with a laugh.
Liz, being unanimously voted as the most responsible of the group, was in charge of the cash and keeping track of receipts for the weekend getaway so she stepped up to the register. When the young clerk got to the wine, she looked at Liz and said, "I'm going to need to see some I.D."
"I'm flattered," smiled Liz, as she handed it over to the clerk. She heard some chuckles behind her. Liz was still getting carded even though she hadn't been under 21 for about five years. Liz liked to think it was her youthful looks that convinced clerks and bartenders the world over to continue asking for I.D., but she figured that if she was going to be honest with herself it was most likely just her petite frame and the fact she had pulled her brown hair back into a pony tail for the day's worth of travel.
The clerk handed the license back with an apologetic look, "Sorry...you know...rules and all."
"Oh, I don't mind," she replied.
The transaction complete, the foursome left the quaint country store bracing themselves against the cold wind that hit them as they opened the door. They loaded their groceries into Darren and Carrie's SUV for the drive to the cabin they'd rented for the weekend, which was a couple miles further down the road. Darren and Ben climbed into the front seats, while Carrie and Liz hopped into the back. As Darren eased the car out of the lot, Liz noticed the snow was already a couple inches deep and there were only a few tire marks going down the road in the direction they were headed.
Liz let her mind wander a bit as she watched the woods and snow fly by the window of the car. Renting the cabin had originally been Darren and Carrie's idea. Liz had been surprised they had wanted to include her and Ben, as the other couple had been married less than a year. Surely they'd want to have a romantic vacation alone, Liz had thought at the time. But they'd insisted that Ben and she join them and had invited another couple they all knew as well. Unfortunately, the other friends had to drop out at the last minute due to their flight getting canceled. So it was just the two couples heading up the road to the cabin for three days.
She felt a hand on her arm. "Liz...," said Carrie. Liz swiveled her head. She hadn't been paying attention.
"Yes?"
"You awake back there Liz?" asked Darren smiling. "I asked whether you need any more heat."
"Oh no, thanks, I'm fine," she answered. "Just looking at the snow."
"Just checking...," replied Darren.
"We don't want you getting chilly," chimed in Ben, looking in the side mirror trying to see his wife's face behind him.
Liz turned to the window again and pursed her lips. Ben always got a little anxious around Darren, particularly when Darren paid special attention to her. Ben and Darren got along well when it was just the guys, but despite numerous instances of Liz assuring Ben she no longer had feelings for Darren, Ben just couldn't seem to relax. Liz's mind went back to college, when she had dated Darren. There had been some fun times, but she couldn't forget the hurt he'd caused her as well. They'd parted as friends, but she never had any desire to be in a relationship with him again. Ben knew all of this, and had known Darren at the time, but he didn't seem to be able to let it go completely. Liz had made many efforts to show Ben she was unconditionally devoted to him, but she supposed she could never fully convince him.
She was jolted from her thoughts as she felt the car slip and fishtail a little on the snow covered road.
"Nice one hot shot," joked Carrie as she playfully hit her husband's shoulder from behind.
"Not while I'm driving, woman!" Darren grinned and slowed the car down to turn off onto a side road that led to their cabin. There were no tire tracks in the snow here and the road was only wide enough for the SUV. Trees hemmed it in on either side.
"Looks like we've got the place to ourselves," commented Ben.
"Yeah, the girl I talked to on the phone said the other cabin up here hadn't been rented this weekend," replied Darren. "So we're it."
"Lovely," said Carrie. "I'm actually glad it's just us." A couple hundred yards later as they pulled up to where they'd be staying, Liz realized that "cabin" was really an understatement. It looked more like a comfortable, mountain home from the outside. Darren parked the car and they climbed out, waded through the snow that had accumulated and made their way to the porch. Carrie found the key where the rental agency had told her it was and unlocked the door.
It opened into what looked like a mud room, with a clothes washer and dryer and a place to hang their coats. Carrie kicked off her boots. "Hey, let's get the car unloaded," Darren said. He looked at Carrie, "Why don't you and Liz stay in here and unpack things while Ben and I bring the stuff in."
"Sounds good to me," said the women, almost in unison. So while the guys traipsed back outside, Carrie and Liz took off their coats and boots and began to explore. The mud room led to a large room which contained the kitchen, a small dining area and a larger open space with a fireplace and a couple expansive couches and comfy chairs. A hallway led to three bedrooms in the back of the house. Two bedrooms shared a bathroom and the other, larger bedroom had a bathroom all its own.
"This is quite a cabin," said Carrie sarcastically, putting air quotes around the word cabin.
"Totally," said Liz. "Come check out this bathroom," she called from the main bedroom. Carrie joined her and saw a large jacuzzi-style tub against one wall.
"Nice!" she exclaimed. "Who gets this room?"
"Oh, you two can have it...you planned all this," said Liz sweetly. "Just as long as I can use the tub at some point," she added laughing.
"Deal! Let's go help the guys."
***************************
Darkness descended earlier than the couples were used to because of the clouds and higher latitudes, but they'd brought in plenty of firewood from the pile stacked in a shed behind the house. A fire was crackling in the fireplace and the dinner dishes had been cleaned up. "Excellent work you two," said Carrie as she flopped down on the couch beside her husband, her back to his side and her legs up over the arm of the couch. She took a sip of her wine from the glass she held carefully.
"Oh, sure thing," said Ben. "Ya'll are on dinner duty tomorrow night, and we expect excellent things," he chided. After the couples had gotten their bags and food stowed in the house, Ben and Liz had set out exploring what the kitchen had to offer in the way of cooking implements. Like most rentals it was pretty sparse, but they had done what they could with the limited cookware and had prepared some pasta in a white wine sauce with mushrooms.
"Challenge accepted," said Darren with a grin. "I noticed a pair of snowmobiles in the shed out back when Ben and I were getting firewood. We should get those out tomorrow if the snow lets up."
"Definitely," said Ben. "It's still coming down pretty hard though now." As if to reenforce his words, the wind blew strongly, rattling something outside the window and pushing a cold gust down the chimney, making the flames flicker. Liz snuggled closer to her husband.
"I sure hope it dies down. I want to get outside tomorrow...can't stay cooped up in here all day," said Darren. "I'd go stir-crazy."
Carrie reached up and touched his cheek with her finger tips, "Oh, I don't know honey...I could think of a few things we could do to keep you from going crazy...". She winked at him and then looked over at Ben and Liz.
Darren grinned. "Aw, well, you know I can't say no to you. Guess it wouldn't be all bad, eh Ben?" asked Darren rhetorically.
Liz saw Ben smile awkwardly. He chuckled, but Liz could tell it was forced. He never did well even joking about these sorts of things with other people. She smiled a much more natural smile and played along. "This place definitely has a romantic feel to it...you two shouldn't have invited us in the first place. You could have had it all to yourselves."
"Oh, we'd get bored up here all by ourselves," said Carrie. "Believe it or not, there's only so much of Darren I can take." Darren mimed a hurt look and then chuckled at the double entendre.
