“I hadn’t planned to spend the night here, Dane. I had merely thought I could quickly pack things and leave.”
He nodded. “Okay, I’ll get the snacks from your car while I’m outside checking on some wood we’ll need for the fire. The power is still on, but I can’t see that lasting too much longer. I wished I would have gotten that generator fixed.”
Her eyes widened in alarm. “You didn’t?”
“No. So you might want to go around and gather up all the candles you can. And there should be a box of matches in one of these drawers.”
“Okay.”
Dane turned to leave. He then turned back around. She was nibbling on her bottom lip as he assumed she would be. “And stop worrying. We’re going to make it.”
When he walked out the room, Sienna leaned back against the closed refrigerator thinking those were the exact words he’d said to her three years ago when he had asked her to marry him. Now she was worried because they didn’t have a proven track record.
Chapter Seven
After putting on the snow boots he kept at the cabin, Dane made his way out the doors, grateful for the time he wouldn’t be in Sienna’s presence. Being around her and still loving her like he did was hard. Even now he didn’t know the reason for the divorce, other than what was noted in the papers he’d been served that day a few weeks ago. Irreconcilable differences; whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.
Sienna hadn’t come to him so they could talk about any problems they were having. He had come home one day and she had moved out. He still was at a loss as to what could have been so wrong with their marriage that she could no longer see a future for them.
He would always recall that time as being the lowest point in his life. For days it was as if a part of him was missing. It had taken a while to finally pull himself together and realize she wasn’t coming back no matter how many times he’d asked her to. And all it took was the receipt of that divorce petition to make him realize that Sienna wanted him out of her life, and actually believed that whatever issues keeping them apart couldn’t be resolved.
A little while later Dane had gathered more wood to put with the huge stack already on the back porch, glad that at least if nothing else they wouldn’t freeze to death. The cabin was equipped with enough toiletries to hold them for at least a week, which was a good thing. And he hadn’t wanted to break the news to Sienna that the meat in the freezer wasn’t chicken, but deer meat that one of his clients had given him a couple of weeks ago after a hunting trip. It was good to eat, but he knew Sienna well enough to know she would have to be starving before she would consume any of it.
After rubbing his icy hands on his jeans, he stuck them into his pockets to keep them from freezing. Walking around the house, he strolled over to her car, opened the door and found the candy bars, chips and…Girl Scouts cookies, he noted, lifting a brow. She hadn’t mentioned them, and he saw they were her favorite kind, as well as his. He quickly recalled the first year they were married and how they shared the cookies as a midnight snack after making love. He couldn’t help but smile as he remembered that night and others where they had spent time together, not just in bed but cooking in the kitchen, going to movies, concerts, parties, having picnics and just plain sitting around and talking for hours.
He suddenly realized that one of the things that had been missing from their marriage for a while was communication. When had they stopped talking? The first thought that grudgingly came to mind was when she’d begun bringing work home, letting it intrude on what had always been their time together. That’s when they had begun living in separate worlds.
Dane breathed in deeply. He wanted to get back into Sienna’s world and he definitely wanted her back in his. He didn’t want a divorce. He wanted to keep his wife but he refused to resort to any type of manipulating, dominating or controlling tactics to do it. What he and Sienna needed was to use this weekend to keep it honest and talk openly about what had gone wrong with their marriage. They would go further by finding ways to resolve things. He still loved her and wanted to believe that deep down she still loved him.
There was only one way to find out.
Chapter Eight
Sienna glanced around the room seeing all the lit candles and thinking just how romantic they made the cabin look. Taking a deep breath, she frowned in irritation, thinking that romance should be the last thing on her mind. Dane was her soon-to-be ex-husband. Whatever they once shared was over, done with, had come to a screeching end.
If only the memories weren’t so strong…