Читать книгу Melting Snow - Leora Gonzales - Страница 7

Chapter 1

“Winnieeeeeee!”

Winter rolled over in her cozy bed and squinted at the alarm clock.

“Go away, Jasmine!” she yelled, her voice still groggy with sleep. “And stop calling me Winnie!”

“Winnie!” This time the yelling was followed by a solid thump to the cheap door holding her roommate at bay.

“What did you do? Run into the fucking door?” Sliding from her fuzzy blankets, Winter stumbled to the door and swung it open.

“You don’t have to be a bitch. I wanted to bring you dinner in bed and give you your Christmas present before I left for my mom’s,” Jasmine grumbled as she pushed past her roommate to drop a bag of takeout Chinese onto the bed.

“I’m sorry, Jas. I guess I just napped harder than I thought I would.” Winter slapped her cheeks lightly to help herself wake up.

“Winnie, you need to take it easy.” Digging into the bag, Jasmine pulled out an eggroll. “These part-time jobs are gonna kill you if you keep it up.”

“I told you to stop calling me that.” Winter snagged the eggroll out of Jasmine’s hand and took a bite. “If you keep calling me that, I’m gonna start calling you Minnie. Then we’ll be Minnie and Winnie,” Winter threatened with her mouth full.

The women had been instant friends from the moment they’d met. Winter was older than Jasmine by five years but seemed to be behind her in life. When Winter had answered an ad for a roommate one year ago, it had been one of the best things she’d ever done. Jasmine was only twenty-two but extremely dependable and hard-working. Going to nursing school during the day, she had the help of her well-off family to take care of her living expenses as long as she did well in her classes.

Winter’s situation was completely the opposite. She’d been working full-time since she graduated high school. College had been put off since she didn’t really know which direction she wanted to go in. After working in an office for years and getting passed up for promotions, she knew the time had come to get a degree or find herself treading water for the rest of her life. Unlike Jasmine, Winter didn’t have a wealthy family as a fallback for help. Living off school loans, a small scholarship and part-time jobs, she made ends meet. Having sold her car, she rode the bus. Instead of living alone, she found an apartment with a roommate. It actually was working out amazingly well except that she was exhausted all the time. Going back to school at twenty-seven was going to possibly kill her if she didn’t catch a break soon.

Winter was startled out of her thoughts when Jasmine tossed a fortune cookie at her chest.

“Do not call me Minnie! I’ll stop. I promise.” Jasmine glanced around Winter’s room as she spoke. “This place is a mess. Are those all dirty clothes?” Jasmine seemed horrified at the size of the fabric mountain in the corner.

“Don’t judge me! I haven’t had time to do laundry in two weeks. Finals kicked my ass.” Chewing for a moment, Winter scanned the large calendar on the wall by her door. “I have Christmas off so I’ll hit the laundromat then.”

“That’s fucking depressing.”

“Gee thanks.” Winter shrugged. “I decided to quit my job and go back to school. Welcome to my new reality.”

Jasmine passed over some more food from the bag, giving her a sad look. “I still wish you could’ve taken a few days off. You need a break and my mom would’ve loved to have you come home with me.”

“I know, and I really appreciate the offer.” Winter settled in with her noodles and enjoyed the treat of restaurant food. “The mall gig is offering time-and-a-half this week which means I can put even more into savings than I planned. Plus it gives me the excuse to bail out on picking which parent to visit. If I chose my mom then my dad would pout and vice versa. It’s easier this way.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to leave my car for you? My brother can come by and pick me up on his way home,” Jasmine offered.

“Jas, he lives two hours away!” Winter admonished. “Don’t you even think of having him drive all the way here in the snow just so I can borrow your car. I’ll ride the bus to work and then see if Enrique can give me a ride home at the end of my shift if that makes you feel any better.”

“If you’re sure…” Jasmine appeared hopeful Winter was going to change her mind.

“I’m sure.” Wanting to change the subject before her roommate got weepy, Winter pointed at the package on the bed. “You said something about a present?”

Jasmine clapped her hands together in excitement. “I almost forgot.”

Winter took the gaily wrapped box from her, not liking the wicked glint in her roommate’s eye.

“What is this?” She shook the box, hearing a thump come from inside it.

“Winter Snow, it would ruin the surprise if I told you.” Jasmine arched her brow, evil-villain style. “But I can give you a hint. Let’s just say I got my favorite holiday-named friend her very own icicle.”

“Jasmine Kingsford!” Winter yelled, shocked. “Tell me you did not buy me a vibrator!”

“Hey, I can’t help that you get loose lips when you’re drunk. You said you haven’t had one since yours broke last year.” Holding up a pillow to defend herself, Jasmine continued, “Plus, you’ve been a cranky bitch. The relaxation effects will help calm your ass down.”

Winter let her head drop down to her chest in embarrassment. “Remind me never to discuss my sex life with you again.”

“Don’t you mean lack of sex life?” Jasmine giggled, dodging the swat from Winter.

Deciding she didn’t want an audience when she opened her present, Winter tossed the package down onto the bed. “I cannot believe you went into a sex shop.”

“It was interesting for sure.” Jasmine started cleaning up their dinner containers. “I didn’t realize the place would smell so much like rubber.”

When Winter started to snicker, she got pelted with another fortune cookie. “Hey, you said it,” she defended herself.

“I lucked out though. They were having a sale. It was buy one, get one half off.”

“Wait, did you get me two?” Winter asked.

“No, silly. I got me a matching one.”

At Jasmine’s confession, Winter couldn’t hold it back any longer. Huge belly-shaking laughter came pouring out of her.

“What’s so funny, bitch?” Jasmine grumped.

“You got us matching vibrators?” Winter wheezed out, trying to control her tears of mirth.

“It’s not like we’re going to use them together or anything, you big pervert. They were having a sale and I wanted to get out of there quickly so I just grabbed two of the same thing,” Jasmine defended.

“Jas, friends normally get matching necklaces or something. You got us matching vibrators,” Winter cackled.

“Jesus, I never even thought about it like that.” Jasmine started to chuckle too.

Winter stood to hug her friend. “Thank you for the present. I promise I will not think about you while using it,” she said seriously, causing Jasmine to burst into a fresh bout of giggles.

Jasmine hugged Winter back, squeezing hard. “I’m only gone two weeks. Stay out of trouble, and don’t forget to turn in the rent. I left the check on the counter.”

“I’ll put a reminder in my phone,” Winter promised as she followed Jasmine out into the living room. “Have fun, and drive carefully.”

Jasmine picked up her luggage from the doorway and blew an air kiss. “I promise to be careful. I’ll text when I get home.”

Winter glanced at the clock. She had only an hour to get ready and make it to the bus stop if she wanted to be on time to her night job. Even though she had to work over the holiday break, she was still grateful she had the job. Winter had been lucky when she had answered the ad for a night custodian at the local mall. The job was fairly mindless and gave her time to listen to her class lecture notes when she needed to. Her coworker, Enrique, was a great guy and had been excited to have someone who actually did their share of the work. When he’d first seen her, Enrique had not been pleased. After a week of her busting her ass, he had realized she wasn’t there to slack off on the job, and they had become friends.

Getting dressed quickly, Winter threw her straight hair up into a bun and turned off all the lights. She wrapped herself in her snow gear before making her way to the bus stop. Riding the bus had been a new experience for her. When she’d been working full-time, she’d been able to afford her high car payment. After she’d decided to go back to school, however, it was an expense that had quickly stretched her too thin. With her car payment being more than half her rent, she knew she needed to trade her ride in or get rid of it altogether. After finding out students qualified for a cheap bus pass, her decision had been made for her. Not having to pay for car insurance and tags had been the icing on the cake. Jasmine had also insisted Winter borrow her car when she needed to work late or run errands. Winter always felt bad when she needed to take it but insisted on giving Jasmine gas money as often as possible.

She was very lucky she had Jasmine. That bitch was crazy, but she was a great friend.