Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 22991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
A stop in Winter Falls wasn’t part of Laurel’s travel plans, but that was where she ended up when the storm hit. Luckily, Hayden Douglas pulled strings to get her the last available cabin at the town’s ski resort.
When they wind up stranded together, Hayden used the time to show Laurel all the reasons why she should stay. But will it be enough for her to finally put down roots?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
LAUREL
“Nice van.”
The compliment from a random woman at the gas station made me grin. “Thanks.”
I was really proud of my ride since I’d done almost all of the work myself.
The woman shot an exasperated look at her husband, who was putting gas into their SUV at the pump next to the one I’d just used. “If you’d listened to me last year, we could’ve had one of those right now. Then we wouldn’t be rushing home because it wouldn’t matter that there aren’t any rooms available for miles. We could just stay in our van.”
I had no interest in getting in the middle of their argument. Luckily, I’d already gotten my gas, so I ducked into my van and started the engine. She was still ranting at him as I pulled out of the parking lot, and I shook my head at the thought of them spending every day and night together confined in a small space.
Van life wasn’t for everyone, but it had been perfect for me over the past two years. Growing up in the foster system meant that I didn’t really have roots anywhere. So when the social media algorithms started showing me all the videos about people transforming vans into their living space on wheels, I found myself quickly intrigued by the bohemian lifestyle. Especially when so many of the influencers shared posts about how little they spent each month.
Money had been tight for me when I bought my van. It took me an entire year to save up for my used Dodge Grand Caravan, and it needed a ton of work before it was safe for me to hit the road. I’d come a long way since those days when I pinched every penny by living in the van with only the basics. Back then, I spent my nights in a sleeping bag on the back seat, used cheap sun shades to block the windows, and stored my stuff in plastic crates. To supplement the discounted meals I got at my waitressing job, I had a power inverter strong enough to make tea in an electric kettle and cheap stuff to eat like ramen, eggs, and soup in a mini cooker that had a five-inch skillet and hot pot.
I’d made improvements to my sleeping setup first since I could learn that from videos online. Wanting to feel a sense of community that had been sorely lacking in my life, I started a social media account dedicated to the changes I was making. My following had grown by leaps and bounds as I posted each upgrade I made, from ripping out the back seats so I could put in a mattress to the swivel table I installed when I first started to get serious about becoming an influencer.
My social media accounts had gotten so big that last year I was able to quit my waitressing job to hit the road on a permanent basis. My needs were pretty simple, so the money I brought in between affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and creator funds more than covered my expenses.
One of the downsides to traveling by myself was that I didn’t have anyone to turn to besides the map app on my phone when I took a detour. And there wasn’t anyone else to take the wheel in bad conditions, like the heavy snow that started only thirty minutes out from the gas station.
Patting the dash, I murmured, “C’mon, girl. We gotta make it to our next stop before the worst of the storm hits.”
I grew up in Florida, so I didn’t have any experience driving in the snow. Luckily, my van was old enough to have the all-wheel drive option that was phased out twenty years ago, which helped a little as I slowly navigated streets with lessening visibility and increasing slickness beneath my tires.
After another half hour, it got bad enough that I got completely turned around, and my map app kept updating the route. I breathed a deep sigh of relief as I rolled past quaint storefronts, happy to know that at least I wasn’t in the middle of nowhere even though I had no clue how far off track I’d gotten.
Spotting an open space in front of a hardware store, I pulled into it. Once I was safely parked, I realized the snow wasn’t coming down as hard as it seemed while I was driving, but it was still pretty bad. Hopefully, I could find someone to point me in the right direction before it became impossible to drive. But first, I needed to call Gwynne so she wouldn’t freak out thinking something horrible had happened to me.
Grabbing my phone from the holder mounted on my dash, I pulled up my call history and hit her name. My best friend answered before the first ring even finished.