Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 24016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
It doesn’t help that I’ve never driven in snow before and I’ve been trying to stay off major highways. It’s taken longer, but it feels safer. Now that I’m in the middle of nowhere with only darkness, I’m not sure this was the best idea. I can’t recall the last car that passed us and how long ago it was.
Slowing down, I decide to pull over to the side of the road so I can search better on my phone.
As I pull off, the SUV suddenly starts to slide, and I press the brake as hard as I can. The ground must be frozen because the SUV doesn’t stop, and we begin to slip down into the ditch. It only takes a second before my vehicle is completely off the road, and when it finally comes to a full stop, I turn around to check on Mina.
She’s still sleeping soundly, and I breathe a sigh of relief that she’s always been so good about sleeping through anything.
“Damn it,” I curse when I press the gas and my tires only spin. “Oh my god.” I bury my face in my hands, wondering what the hell I’ve gotten myself into. I can feel how hot my face is inside my hands, and I know I’m going to have to call for help. I’ve only been sitting here for a minute and already there’s a layer of snow covering the white SUV.
Taking my seatbelt off, I grab my phone that fell onto the floor. When I see I have no service, a wave of defeat threatens to take over.
“What am I going to do?” I say to myself and to Mina as I close my eyes and pray for a Christmas miracle.
CHAPTER 2
FRASER
“I don’t like you out in this weather,” my mom says, and I can almost imagine the look she’s giving my dad right now. “And you haven’t told us if you’re coming for Christmas.”
“I’m fine. You know I do this for a living, right?” I completely skip over the Christmas comment because I don’t feel like having an argument.
“You know while we’re on the subject of your career choice—”
“All right, that’s enough for one night.” I cut her off before she has a chance to start. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“We love you, Fraser. We all do.” There’s a sadness to her voice, and I hear something that sounds like a toy firetruck in the background.
“Love you too,” I say quickly before I hang up.
It’s no shock to my parents that I’m not planning on coming for Christmas because the past five years I’ve done as much as possible to avoid it. When my brother Aspen died, time stopped for me and I can't imagine celebrating a holiday without him. My parents don’t get that same luxury because they have to think about Aspen Junior, or AJ as they call him. AJ came to live with them after my brother’s accident. For them, it’s not about the pain of the loss but the love they choose to remember. It’s just not like that for me.
AJ was a baby when my brother and his wife were killed in a car accident. It’s not like I know anything about how to take care of babies, so what do they expect? I talk to my parents often enough, but visiting is too hard. AJ looks just like Aspen did at that age, and it makes me miss him all over again. It’s almost impossible to go into my parents’ house and not be swarmed with grief.
So here I am in a snowstorm trying to avoid my feelings.
Search and rescue wasn’t my first choice of career paths, but it’s where I ended up. My parents think it’s because of Aspen, and technically they’re not wrong. After Aspen and his wife were killed, I closed my law firm in the city and moved back to my hometown.
Brightberry is a town nestled between a couple of mountains with a few ski lodges nearby. Sometimes I’m called to go with teams to retrieve lost skiers, but mostly I pull cars out of ditches because city folks think they can drive in the snow.
At night when I can’t sleep or during holidays when I can’t stand to be home alone, I drive around and check the roads that lead in and out of town. Every once in a while, I’ll find a lost tourist and I point them in the right direction, but mostly I just drive around.
There was a lot of traffic earlier, but since the storm hit, people must have reconsidered driving anywhere. Even with a heavy truck and chains on my tires, the visibility is shit. It won’t do me any good if I’m the one stuck on the side of the road tonight.
Deciding that I’ll do one more quick pass before I head home, I slow down at the edge of town and go to make a U-turn. Just as I’m about to leave, there’s something on the side of the road that catches my attention. It’s the oddest thing, but it’s like the snowbank is lighting up. The colors under the snow are flashing blue, then green, then red, then yellow. I watch it for a second more and see it cycle through the colors again.