The Ghosts of Christmas Past – Chapter 4
15 minutes later
Erin raced down the street without considering the gruesome weather circumstances. She was driving too fast, the snow crystals hit the windshield, the wind was tearing at her car. It didn't matter. She was close to commit a murder. Her rage had found a new boiling point and snow wouldn't cool her off. Rossi had actually dared to lure her into a cabin in the middle of nowhere to play her a fool. He had even convinced Jason to play along! And why? Because he was a coward. A pathetic, ruthless excuse of a man who didn't have the guts to ask the questions he should, if the answer really mattered to him. On the contrary. He had the nerve to fake a manuscript in order to provoke her to confirm what had already become an inevitable truth to him. But she wouldn't play along. She wouldn't tell him what he wanted to hear. Not even if he held a gun to her head.
Right now she sincerely hoped he was dying from shame and ignorance or because he had caught the plague. She hoped it hurt. Deeply. As much as she was hurting right now. She wiped a tear from her cheek and bent over to search her purse for a handkerchief.
The deer in the middle on the street appeared bored as it noticed the flashlights of her sliding car. Hypnotized by the light it remained where it was. It didn't even blink when Erin tore the steering wheel around to avoid it.
Colorado – 17 years earlier
Pissed with herself and the rest of the world, Erin lay in the bathtub and stared grimly at the ceiling. She was trapped in an unbelievable nightmare. She had never kept it a secret that she hadn't been happy with the idea to attend the conference so shortly before Christmas. And she certainly hadn't been happy when she had realized that instead of Jason Gideon, David Rossi would go with her to Colorado.
And tonight Murphy's law had given her the rest. On their way to the hotel, Rossi's damn rented car had been stuck in the snow and they had had to walk. They had stranded in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but trees and snow. Her feet had never been so cold and she had never been so angry with him. A deadly combination. The cherry on the cake had been a so called shortcut (his idea) that turned out to be a dead end. The result had been that they had completely lost their way.
Rossi had detected the cabin after they had walked for almost an hour. Hidden in the woods the small house looked abandoned and after a short, but heated discussion that Rossi had won, they had broken into it like ordinary criminals. Fortunately, the cabin was much cozier and more comfortable than it had looked from the outside, but the next problem was the less than comforting supply situation: aside from some old cookies there hadn't been any food left and the dust bunnies gave away that the building hadn't been used for quite some time. At least the heating system worked and they had hot water.
Now she was in the tub and Rossi was just one door away. One damn door whose lock desperately missed a key. She felt defenseless as always in his nearness and could only pray he would leave her alone. It was an open secret that after his first marriage had badly failed (his fault), he was now engaged again with a tall dark-haired vixen called Sheila (her fault). But divorced, engaged or widowed, David Rossi would always be David Rossi, a ladies man. Erin was sure it was only a matter of time, before he would make one of his passes at her. And there was her problem.
Though most of the time she did her best to deny it, she had to admit to herself that David Rossi was still one of the most attractive men she had ever met. The fact that they shared a past of sorts didn't make it easier for her not to think of him as her ex-lover who just happened to be the best lover she had ever had. The random lack of intimacy in her own marriage didn't ease the situation one bit for her.
"I found some wood in the back of the house and lit a fire," he announced briskly, as he nonchalantly entered the bathroom. Erin froze, then she cursed him lowly.
"Don't you ever knock?" she asked annoyed and sank deeper into the tub, hoping the cream and the bubbles would cover her body.
"If you don't want anyone to come in, lock the door."
"There's no key."
"Oh."
"So you found wood, but no telephone, right?" she asked.
"No. Seems the guys who own this place want to be undisturbed when they're here," he said and sank on the edge of the tub. His eyes lay attentively on her and she felt the blood reaching her face. She told herself the reason was the warm water, not his presence. The first buttons of his shirt were open and the sleeve of his shirt were rolled up, revealing the muscles on his lower arms.
"Tomorrow morning we'll go back to the car and try to find a way to get back to our hotel. Don't worry, you won't have to spend Christmas with me. It's hardly my favorite holiday and it would annoy you when you had to sing your Christmas carols on your own and without a tree."
"I'm not worried," she lied.
"Just unhappy with the situation." He grinned and she scoffed back. The man and his way for conclusion never ceased to amaze her.
"I have children at home. Children that I promised to be home tonight to bring them to bed."
She closed her eyes, wishing she could relax, but she deep down inside, she was sure this nightmare would never end. There sat an attractive man on the edge of her tub, while her husband and her kids were sitting at home, waiting for her, probably worried why she hadn't shown up by now. She felt like scum, because she couldn't force her brain to think of Max instead of David Rossi, but she didn't dare to open her eyes either. They could speak out an invitation she would only regret later on.
Still watching her, David crossed his arms over his chest.
"They have a father as well. I'm sure Max can take care of them."
"Max is the kind of guy who thinks the kids don't need to be covered by blankets, because no one dies in a house with central heating. They'll catch a cold and sneeze under the Christmas tree and when annual Christmas madness is over, they'll be fine again and I'll sneeze."
Dave chuckled. "Sounds promising. I guess that's the reason I don't have children. They make our life unpredictable… or too predictable. It's a matter of perspective. Maybe you should really stay with me."
She frowned. She didn't like where this conversation was heading. When she heard him moving she opened one eye to steal a glance of what he was doing. He had his back turned on her and she couldn't quite see what he was doing. And then… she didn't want to know.
"If you don't mind…" she started.
"I do mind and now get up."
"Excuse me?" With both eyes open now, she stared at him, gasping. He was standing there at the tub, his arms spread, holding a white, big towel.
"The water is getting cold. The perfect time for a bath is between 13 and 21 minutes. You've been in there for almost half an hour. I thought you don't want to catch a cold?"
"Where did you get that from?" she asked, trying to buy time while she tried to think of something to get rid off him.
"The cold or the perfect time for a bath?" He asked and smirked, when she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Let's say I had the chance to read a lot of stupid magazines that try to tell women that they are only beautiful when they are 90/60/90. And now get out of this tub!"
"No."
"Do we really have to do this yes-no discussion?"
"Get out of this bathroom!"
"No."
They were staring at each other, both unwilling to give up, but the water she was sitting in was indeed getting cold and she knew he was a pain in the ass when he wanted something. He was persistent like a bulldog and had the patience of a snake that had carefully picked its victim and waited for its surrender. Why couldn't she be the snake just for once?
When she rose, she looked him straight in the eye. She didn't blink, didn't smile, didn't blush.
"That's my girl," Rossi mused proudly as he wrapped the towel around her body. He was very close his hands moved up and down her back, rubbing the soft fabric over her heated, sensitive skin.
The erotic fantasy that inevitable developed within her head made her breathless and put an instant stop on every rational refusal that somewhere had to exist within her. With every inch he touched the glass walls around her crumbled. He dried her body as if he was celebrating a holy ceremony. He made sure the towel and his hands found their way to all her right places until she was willing to lose herself completely with him.
5 Minutes later
"And you're really surprised that she throw that book into your face?" Jason asked. "After you described your little escapade in this cabin and several others in all their epic glory? She was married back then… and knowing her she wasn't proud of herself for what she did!"
"Proud or not," Rossi barked angrily. "I have the right to know, if Bridget is my daughter or not."
"Why didn't you ask her when you first heard she was pregnant?"
Jason already knew the answer, but hearing it from Rossi was necessary. The guy needed to realize that he wasn't as innocent as he claimed to. Indeed he was a little sheepish when he finally answered Jason's question.
"Sheila and I got married shortly after Christmas and after that we went for an extended honeymoon… When I returned Erin had been transferred to another unit. Her idea, as someone told me years later. I only learned about her pregnancy shortly before she gave birth to Bridget… I was in shock."
"And you never asked her, if maybe, possibly…."
David shock his head. "Sheila and I met Max and her in the theater some weeks after Bridget's birth. They looked so genuinely happy that the idea I could be the father appeared suddenly pretty ridiculous to me."
Jason didn't comment that. He leaned back in the couch and looked into the fireplace. Outside the wind became stronger and the snowfall increased. The flames flickered vividly. He thought of Erin and became worried.
"I'll call her… Look at the snow. The street must be a mess." He pulled out his cell and dialed her number.
"Busy," he mumbled. "I guess that means she's fine…" He looked up to Rossi who wrinkled his forehead.
One door away on David's night stand, on the screen of his cell phone the name Strauss was blinking. He had cautiously turned off the sound, because tonight he wanted to be undisturbed. After one minute the blinking died…
~tbc~