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“Sure! Can I have your ID, please?”
I handed over my license and credit card and waited while she clickety-clacked on her keyboard. Checking my watch again, I sighed. I hated to show up at my friend’s house so late even though his mom had promised to feed me leftovers no matter what time I arrived.
Jake and I were both professional snowboarders and had been friends for over a decade. He always spent Christmas with his parents and sisters in Winter Falls, where he grew up. Despite living in a town that basically celebrated Christmas all year long, my parents had never been big fans of the holiday...or any others, really. They always went somewhere warm. It wasn’t as if they didn’t invite me to go along, but I’d chosen to spend most of them with my best friend’s family. The Mistletoes were the “the more, the merrier” type and went all out for Christmas.
However, this year, I hadn’t wanted to impose on any of the brothers and their new wives. So when Jake invited me back to Winter Falls, and his parents hopped on the line to insist, I’d agreed. Jake warned me that his mother would try to set me up with his sister, Raven, but that had only made me laugh.
I hadn’t been interested in a woman in a long, long time. Probably because I traveled so much and wasn’t a temporary kind of guy. I’d been focused on my career anyway. Although, I’d been doing some serious thinking about my future lately. I had a dream job, but I was starting to dislike the nomad existence. Settling down in one place sounded pretty good. Maybe I could be an instructor.
“Um, Mr. Granger?” Cindy’s overly bright voice interrupted my train of thought, and I gave her my attention. I was surprised to see that her smile had dimmed just a bit.
“Yes?”
“Unfortunately, we can only guarantee a reservation for four hours after the requested pickup time. The storm rolled in earlier than expected, so we had a lot of people needing...we don’t usually have this happen. I’m sure we can get you taken care of, though.”
My brow furrowed, and I frowned. “What are you trying not to tell me, Cindy?”
“We no longer have the SUV you reserved. But—”
I interrupted, hoping I’d heard her wrong. “You gave my car to someone else?”
“Well, it’s just—”
I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Fine. Please tell me you have something else for me to drive?”
“Of course!” She brightened considerably, but there was a falseness to it that made me wary. “Let’s see.” Her eyes scanned the screen, and her smile began to dissolve the longer she stared at it. “Well, we have…” She rattled off a list of sedans and compact cars, adding in little tidbits about how reliable they were and the other useless features that wouldn’t help me drive in a blizzard.
“Cindy,” I said, my voice sounding as tired as I felt. “Do any of the cars have four-wheel drive?”
“No, but—”
“Do they all have chains on the tires?”
“Of course.”
I chose the heaviest beast of a sedan they had available and tried to bite my tongue when she put on her overly sugary attitude again. Somehow, I managed to hold in a “Bah humbug!” as I walked away and headed to the garage to collect the car I just might die in.
After driving the highway at a crawl, I made the hour drive to Winter Falls in two. However, by that time, the weather had only grown worse. I could barely see any of the road in front of me. The headlights shone on a curtain of white. Squeezing the steering wheel, I remained alert and kept going, determined to make it to my hotel.Come on, Santa. I need a Christmas miracle.
Unfortunately, Santa didn’t appear to be available to grant my wish. It was weird, though. I could have sworn that I heard a ho ho ho of laughter, but it must have been my tired mind tricking me.
My GPS started acting up then, and I realized the cell service had most likely been knocked out. So, with no guide, I drove around for another twenty minutes looking for the right address. But it was useless because I couldn’t see the street signs. There were specks of light that blinked in and out, but none of them were helpful, just told me I wasn’t lost in the middle of a barren wasteland.
The car shook from a lusty gust of wind. Even with chains, the car had no fight against such an intense storm. The wind had nearly blown me off the road a few times on the way to town. Seconds later, the car hit a patch of ice and slid, turning in a full rotation before it came to a stop.
My heart pounded, and I decided to stop being such an idiot and just give up searching for the hotel. Carefully, I eased the car to the side, hoping there were no cars I would crash into. After a few feet, I felt the tires gently bump into something solid. Assuming it was the curb, I threw the car in park and pulled the emergency brake.
I sat there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the wall of white and contemplating what to do next. I had a half a tank of gas, so one option was to stick it out in the car until the storm lightened up enough for me to get back on the road. However, blizzards like this could last for days. Even if I didn’t run out of gas, I only had a single bottle of water and a half-eaten bag of chips I’d grabbed from the vending machine at the airport.
Option two was to ditch the car and try to find the nearest house. The problem with that scenario was if I got lost and froze to death, only to be buried in a mountain of snow until spring. That was one way to retire… Maybe if I froze to death, I could come back as a snowman. Abominable preferably. I couldn’t see myself as a Frosty.
Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my duffel from the back seat and set it on the passenger side. I had to be beyond exhausted to be comparing snowmen reincarnations.
Usually, leaving the car was the stupidest decision one could make. All the rules for a stranded vehicle ran through my mind, but like a complete asshole, I hadn’t stopped to make sure I was prepared before taking off from the airport.
The only reason I was considering it, beyond the possibility of starving, was because I’d seen glimpses of light again. All my years of experience with snow gave me enough expertise to gauge a general idea of the distance between me and those flickers.
Also, before the GPS kicked the bucket, I’d made it to the edges of the town center, and I knew there were houses everywhere. I was bound to walk face-first into one of them.
