Blizzard

Written for the Take My Phrase, Please contest. Prompt: used the phrase 'timber for your fireplace' somewhere in the story.

Lynsey gave a start when she heard the knock at the door. She wondered if she had imagined it. Perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her.

Who would be out in this blizzard, she wondered, before dismissing the sound as a figment of her imagination and turning her attention back to the book she was in the middle of. She snuggled further into the large, stuffed chair and pulled her blanket closer. She was reading a ghost story and had just reached a good part. The tension was staggering.

She almost screamed when the knock came again. Lynsey was normally a rational person, but her mind was still with her book, and for the briefest moment, she thought that maybe it was a poltergeist knocking things about.

The knock sounded again. More insistent, this time.

Lynsey forced herself to throw off her heavy blanket and get to her feet. She shivered at the chill in the air. I really should have grabbed more firewood before this blizzard hit, she worried as she passed the fireplace. The hearth lay dark and cold and Lynsey was starting to think that camping out in her grandfather’s cabin this weekend hadn’t been the best idea she’d ever had. But how was she supposed to know that the biggest blizzard the northwest had ever seen was going to appear?

She had been enjoying herself, though. A good book, a nice warm cup of cocoa…the only thing that was missing was the crackling roar of a warm fire.

She sighed as she trudged to the door. She tried peeking out the window, but blowing snow made that impossible.

“Who is it?” she called, instead. She was now convinced that someone stood on the other side of the door.

“Lynsey? Let me in!”

It was hard to tell over the sound of the storm, but that voice sounded familiar. Lynsey frowned and unlocked the door. A pile of snow drifted in when she opened it and together, she and her uninvited guest struggled to push the door closed again. Then, her guest pulled off his cap and gave her a lopsided grin.

“Jesse!” Lynsey’s mouth dropped open. “What are you doing here?”

“My meetings were cancelled when this blizzard was announced,” he said before sweeping her into his arms and pressing tiny kisses to her neck.

She gave a delighted laugh.

He set her back on her feet and gestured to the bag he had set down upon entering the cabin. “And I brought some timber for your fireplace.” He kissed her brow affectionately. “I know how scatter-brained you can be.”