DaneOutside the inn, my snowmachine wouldn’t start. Incredible. I gave the back tread a swift kick, which did nothing but stub my toe. My first order of business was to repay Rika and tell her to leave Trudy alone. Then I’d seek Trudy out and try to make things right between us before I left town. I bent over the snowmachine engine again, trying to figure out what was wrong. My skill was solving financial problems, not mechanical ones.
Fuck this. I couldn’t concentrate on fixing the machine. I had to pay Rika back and see Trudy. The first thought gnawed at me, and the second was like a fire under my skin. I’d never felt so agitated before in my life.
I stripped out of my clothes, tossing them in a heap inside the empty inn. I stepped outside in the falling snow, barefoot. My toes dug int
