Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
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.
I pulled out all of my ski gear, including a thermal shirt and pants. Changing into them was an interesting experience, but I managed it with only a few honks of the horn and a couple of knee bangs against the steering wheel.
A quick search of the car produced a flashlight, an extra gas can—dry as a bone—and a snow scraper.
“You’re a fucking idiot for considering this, Granger,” I muttered. Great. Talking out loud to myself.
Once I’d donned all my gear, white and red with a multitude of reflectors so I was easily seen, I zipped my bag and opened my car door. My goggles kept my eyes open, and my scarf protected my mouth, but my nose and cheeks immediately froze. Good thing they were weathered from years of being sprayed in the face with snow.
I turned on the flashlight and kept the beam pointed at the ground, then looked around until I locked on those faint lights again. Slowly, I made my way through the blizzard, stopping every few steps to check for obstacles on the ground, then gluing my eyes to the lights again before moving on.
Finally, the lights were only a few feet away, but with the snow falling and swirling in the wind, I still couldn’t make out what they were. Then I kicked something and looked down to see a bump in the snow that sloped upward. Steps. Let it be steps. Using my boot, I cleared the snow as much as I could and exhaled a relieved sigh when I spotted the wood. I toed across the surface with my arm out until it hit the railing. Quickly, I shut off the flashlight and stuck it in a pocket of my parka. Holding the railing tight, I dragged my legs through the snowdrift until I reached the porch. A blue door flanked by bright outdoor lights was just about the best thing I’d ever seen in my life.