“This house is way too big,” Charlie said.

“What? Who cares?” Hailey asked, walking in behind Charlie and dropping her purse on the floor by the door. “Get inside all the way, Charlie. I need to close the door.” She laughed.

“Why did we rent this place, again?”

“Because it’s where you told me you had feelings for me, and… honestly, it’s also where you caught me masturbating about you, so it holds a special place in both our hearts.”

Charlie moved farther inside and dropped their joint bag to the floor, allowing Hailey to close the door behind them and lean back against it. Charlie turned to face her.

“There’s a freaking blizzard out there.”

“Well, we didn’t know there was going to be a snowstorm when we booked it a month ago, did we?” Hailey suggested. 

“I’m not sleeping in the room with the haunted dolls, Hails.”

“No, baby, you’re not.” Hailey smiled at her girlfriend of a year. “You’re sleeping with me in one of the rooms meant for a couple, like the one Ember and Eva slept in last time, or the one Hannah and Alyssa slept in. You get to pick, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Charlie said.

“Hey, do you want your anniversary gift early?”

“No, I want to wait until after dinner,” Charlie replied and began removing her winter clothing. “You realize we have no food here, right? And we barely got the car up the driveway just now – we won’t be able to go back out again to go shopping.”

“Charlie, you packed two bags of groceries. Besides, I have my cereal. I’m good for days with cereal.” Hailey removed her own winter wear, and after everything was hung up, she turned to see the living room with the fireplace. “Remember when we were here talking that night? It was awkward, but we still talked.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said with a smile and wrapped her arm around Hailey’s waist to pull her against herself. “I was so worried I was about to lose my best friend.”

“You didn’t,” Hailey replied. “And now, we’re in a beautiful house on the lake, and we can hardly see anything outside because it’s all snow-globy around us.”

“Globy is not a word.”

“Don’t worry about this for me,” Hailey said with a laugh. “It’s going to be four days and three nights of you and me. No friends who stop by sometimes without texting first getting in the way. No Thursday coffee this week for us because we’re having coffee by the fire if we want.”

“I thought we’d be able to go for romantic walks and stuff, but it’s both snowy and icy out there. I think it’s going to get up to-”

“Hey, Charlie?” Hailey interrupted.

Charlie looked over at her.

“You’re missing the point.” Hailey removed herself from Charlie’s embrace and pulled her hoodie over her head. 

Well, it was Charlie’s hoodie that she’d borrowed, but she still pulled it over her head. Charlie just watched her. When Hailey’s shirt followed the hoodie, though, Charlie seemed to get it.

“We have this whole house to ourselves. We have old memories here, where I held you when you were cold, and you were being stubborn, and when we talked about books, and you were worried you’d lose me. Now, we get to make new memories.” Hailey removed her bra. “And we’re trapped here because of the snow.”

Charlie’s eyes moved quickly to Hailey’s chest and then farther down as Hailey unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans.

“You get it now?” Hailey asked.

“Yeah, I… I get it.”

“Good. Want to pick out a bedroom now?”

“Why wait?” Charlie asked and moved into Hailey, pressing her against the front door and kissing her hard. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”