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Kate sighed. “We kissed. Wes and I kissed.”
“That’s great!”
Kate shook her head as her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “I don’t know. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite.”
“Why? Isn’t he a good kisser?”
Kate’s mind filled with the memory of being held in Wes’s arms. “That’s definitely not the problem.”
“So what’s bothering you?”
The problem was that he’d done his job, like he said he would do—fair and impartial. What had she wanted him to do? Lie? That wouldn’t have helped anyone.
Now that she’d had time to calm down, she realized that Wes hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t his fault the candle company had fallen on hard times. And that’s what she’d tell him when they got back to town—
There was a blur of movement on the road ahead. A deer?
Kate stomped on the brakes.
The van started to fishtail. Her heart leapt into her throat. She eased up on the brakes. They were in trouble. She pumped the brakes. The van continued to slide.
With her fingers in a death grip on the steering wheel, her whole focus was on the blur of road whirling by them. She cut the wheel to one side and then the other, steering into the skid.
She felt a bump as the tires went over the berm. The van slid off the road and rolled to a stop in a snowdrift. For a moment, Kate didn’t move. She continued to cling to the steering wheel as her heart pounded in her chest.
Then she turned to her friend, and was shocked to see how pale Carrie looked.
“Carrie, are you okay?”
Her friend nodded, staring straight ahead.
“Carrie, say something. Please.”
Carrie turned to her, eyes wide and mouth open. It took a moment, and then she said, “What happened?”
“There was something in the road. A deer, I think. It all happened so fast.”
“That was scary. Are you okay?”
Kate nodded. “Let’s see if we can get out of here.”
She put the van in reverse and pressed lightly on the gas. The engine revved. The tires spun. But the van didn’t budge. She tried again. And again.
She gave up and put the van in park. “We’re not getting out of here without some help.”
Carrie tapped at her phone. “I’m not getting a signal.”
“Let me try.” Kate picked up her phone. “Me neither. So much for calling for help.”
“I saw a farm a ways back,” Carrie said. “They might have a tractor to pull us out.”
Kate smiled with relief. “I like the way you think.”
She pushed her door open and hopped out, and promptly sank up to her knees in the deep snow. This just wasn’t her week.
Everything was set.
The plan was in motion.
