AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’ll just be a couple of hours, though, right?” I asked. “Once it stops, they’ll be able to clear it with the plows, won’t they?”
The man shrugged. “I can’t say for sure, but based on the size of that thing, I’m guessing it’s going to take more than a few hours.”
My lips parted in shock. This was awful. I was going to be stuck here at the resort, and I’d be forced to either get a room I couldn’t afford in the hotel, or I’d have to sleep in my car. Considering the temperatures were dipping into the single digits at night, I didn’t know if I’d survive.
But what other option did I have? The resort rooms were easily three or four hundred dollars a night for the cheapest option.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the sounds dissipated, and the snow began to settle. I was in a state of shock, and my horrible situation had just taken a devastating turn.
“What am I going to do?” I asked myself.
Or, I thought I had.
The man beside me must have heard me, because he suggested, “Well, I’m guessing you’ll be spending the next few nights here.”
My brows shot up. “The next few nights?”
He shot an incredulous look my way. “You do know that there’s a monster snowstorm headed this way, don’t you?” Lifting his hand to point toward the spot where we’d just witnessed the avalanche, he explained, “Between what that did and the amount of snow that’s supposed to fall tonight, I’m going to say that anyone who had planned to come here to ski or snowboard later today, tomorrow, or even the day after that is going to have to change their plans. Consider yourself lucky. You’re already here, so at least you can take advantage of it.”
If I wasn’t feeling so distraught about the whole situation, I might have shared that I didn’t know the first thing about skiing or snowboarding. Maybe it seemed strange that there was a Coloradoan who didn’t know the first thing about winter sports, but that’s who I was. Both skiing and snowboarding were far too risky for me.
“Is everyone going to have to get a room?” I asked.
The man started to walk back away from the overlook and behind me to the opposite side. He came to a stop beside a camper and grinned. “Not everyone.”
“Lucky,” I blurted. “There isn’t much I wouldn’t give for a house on wheels like yours right now.”
He let out a laugh. “What’s your name?”
“Indy.”
The man extended his hand to me. “Griffin.” I shook his hand as he explained, “They probably have a couple of empty rooms, so you should be able to snag one.”
“I wasn’t exactly prepared to get a hotel room tonight. Do you know if there is another way down the mountain?” I asked.
“There isn’t. You can certainly take different routes off the mountain, but you have to take that access road first,” Griffin informed me.
“Crap. Okay, well, I guess I better figure out what I’m going to do,” I replied.
Griffin gave me a nod and smiled at me. “It was nice meeting you, Indy.”
“Yeah, you too, Griffin.”
At that, I turned and moved back to my car to grab my clothes and laptop. I was so caught up in my worry over what I was going to do that when I made it there, I never even noticed Griffin hadn’t taken his eyes off me.
FIVE
Griffin
I’d always considered myself to be a very focused and determined man. I believed it was the reason I had made it to where I was in my life and had found the success that I did.
I’d pushed myself to accomplish my goals, and that determination had helped me tremendously in my career as a professional surfer. When I set out to do something, I did it.
That was precisely what I had expected would be the case this morning, too. I woke up in my camper, looked out the window, and confirmed the weather forecasters had been right.
The storm had arrived, and a ton of snow had fallen. From what I could see, this was going to be an incredible day of snowboarding.
I was determined to be riding down the mountain the minute the lifts were open, so I didn’t close the blind and rest my head back on the pillow. Instead, I hopped out of bed and started getting myself ready.
