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“Where were you?” she says, her hands thumping my chest even as she falls into me. “Where—”
“I was getting us more firewood,” I say, holding her tightly. “You shouldn’t be out here dressed like this, Laney, it’s freezing.”
She nods against my chest as she buries her face in the musty wool flannel I’m wearing. “I thought you’d left,” she mumbles. “I thought…” she trails off, not finishing her sentence as she wraps her arms around my waist.
I pull back a little, cupping her face in my hands. “I’m not going anywhere. Neither of us leaves without the other, got it?”
She blinks quickly and I notice the shine of tears in her eyes as she nods.
I lean in and kiss her forehead as I ask, “How are you feeling?”
“Really fucking sore,” she mumbles.
“Yeah, me too,” I reply. “I’m guessing we both got pretty battered coming down that mountain.”
Delaney nods again, biting her bottom lip as she says, “You need any help?”
Chuckling, I pull back further and give her an exaggerated once over. “Dressed like that? No way,” I tease. “Why don’t you go whip us up some breakfast and I’ll bring this wood inside. Maybe boil us another pot of water so we can wash up.”
She groans. “Oh god, how are we going to shower?”
I squeeze her once before letting go and walking backward toward the pile of wood I’ve chopped. “I don’t know,” I say, grinning as I give her a wink. “But I’m not opposed to getting a sponge bath.”
Delaney rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling as she waves a hand at me. “Go get me some wood,” she says, blushing when she realizes how her words sound.
Letting out a loud laugh, I give her a quick salute as I say, “Your wish is my command, Laney. Your wood is coming right up!” Then I blow her a quick kiss before turning and hurrying back to grab it, already freezing my nuts off.
4
DELANEY
Igrab a couple of pots from one of the cabinets and fill them with snow, carrying them inside to boil on the potbelly stove. Without the snow, we’d be fucked. Working in an industry where there is always a possibility of being stranded and all the backcountry skiing Zoey and I have done, it’s a general rule of thumb that a person can only survive for three days without water. Food isn’t as critical, but in our case, we have no idea how long we’ll be out here, so maybe it is.
My head is such a fucked up mess, filled with confusion and fear and worry, and a million other things that I can’t even begin to process. Boiling water feels easy, mindless but still helpful. Alex is being helpful. Outside chopping wood in the freezing cold, snow falling all around him. If it keeps snowing like this, we’ll be buried out here, unable to be found.
The thought causes tears to pool in my eyes, making everything around me as blurry as my head feels. It’s only been a day, one day. I need to keep reminding myself of that and understand that finding us isn’t going to happen in a day. We have no idea where we are or how far we are from Badger Creek; we basically know nothing. And if we know nothing, I’m finding it hard to believe that anyone looking for us knows more than we do.
I take in the room, realizing that a refrigerator needs electricity to run, or at least a generator which has to be around here somewhere.
I grab the boots I found in the closet earlier, shoving my feet into them, even though they’re about five sizes too big. I run out the door, calling to Alex when I don’t see him right away.
“Alex! Where are you?” I yell and he comes running out from the side of the house. “There has to be a generator! Look for it!”
I’m yelling so loud that a part of me can’t imagine that someone can’t hear me. In this vast emptiness, one sound has to sound like a million.
“Where might it be?” Alex calls back, rushing to where I’m standing on the porch. “Inside? Outside?”
“Outside. Probably on the side or around back.”
“Do you think it would work?” Alex asks. “There’s only one light in the house. What good will it do us if it does?”
I feel my excitement fade almost instantly. It leaves my body in a rush, the sagging weight of defeat returns, nearly crushing me with disappointment. He’s right. Who cares if there’s a generator? We don’t need a refrigerator. We have nothing to keep cold and if we did, we’re fucking surrounded by a giant freezer.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, covering my face with my hands, so desperate to find some normalcy in this mess. Like suddenly finding a generator in this fucking shanty will make it bearable. It won’t; I know that, but I’m clinging to a false sense of hope as if it’s my last dying breath.
But Alex doesn’t hear me. He just begins digging through the snowdrifts, pushing it aside. With each shove of the snow, he lets out an exhausted grunt. He’s been chopping wood and now I’m asking him to search for the fucking holy grail. But just as I’m about to call out to him, he yells out.
“Delaney!” His voice echoes in the wild emptiness, startling me, as if he’s calling out for help, but then I hear him laugh.
