Chapter 1 #3
Sticks, I need all the sticks. I begin to scrounge around on the ground, feeling around with my feet.
The rain is hammering down, and I look up at the sky.
"Are you kidding me?" I cry to the heavens.
I find a branch and I drag it around and put it behind the back wheel.
I find another and another. I'm saturated.
I put them down as I scrounge around on the ground. As I stand and step back, I roll my ankle, fall and slide down the hill and end up on my back in the mud.
"Oww."
"Easy, Miss," I hear a deep voice.
Huh?
I look up through the rain to see a man in a raincoat with a flashlight. "Are you hurt?" he calls.
I shake my head. "No, but I crashed my car."
"I saw you go off the road from my place, so I came looking for you," he calls.
"Oh," I pant in relief. "Thank God."
He walks over and holds his hand out to help me up. I take it and he pulls me to my feet. I put pressure down on my foot and wince.
"You are hurt."
"It's just my ankle." I try to put it down again and pain shoots through my foot.
He picks me up and opens the car door and places me on the seat.
"Stay in here while I check on your car.
" He slams the door shut and he walks around and looks over the car with the flashlight.
He gets down on his knees and looks underneath the car and then comes back and opens the door.
"You aren’t going anywhere; the axle is broken. "
"Oh." My face falls.
"I can take you into town if you want?" he asks. His voice is deep and I can hardly see his face. His huge raincoat with his hood is hard to see through the rain.
"Thank you. That would be..." I shrug as I try to search for the right word. "Great."
I grab my handbag and he holds out his hand and I take it and step out of the car. I wince again when I put pressure on my foot and without warning, he bends and picks me up like a bride.
He begins to march up the hill toward the road as if I'm light as a feather.
The rain is really coming down and his step doesn’t falter as he navigates where to walk. I cling to him, my two arms around his neck.
This is hellish.
We get to the road and I see a large SUV parked at the side of the road. Jeez, his car is nearly a truck it's so big.
He opens the passenger side door and places me on the seat. "You okay?" he asks as he does the seatbelt up around me as if I'm a child.
"Yes." I give him a lopsided smile. "Thank you."
I watch him walk around to his side of the car and get behind the wheel. He starts the car and pulls out onto the road.
"Thank you so much."
He nods and keeps his eyes on the road. I don’t think he's made eye contact with me at all.
"I missed my flight and I had to drive to Anchorage and then my navigation system wouldn’t work and, oh my God, it's raining so hard," I stammer.
He nods but stays silent. His focus remains on the task of driving. I look between him and the road. He's not very friendly...is he? Why would he be? God, poor bastard, I bet this is the very last thing he wants to be doing on a night like this.
"You saw my car crash?" I ask.
"I saw your headlights veer off the road."
"Oh." I watch him. "It was really scary, could have been a lot worse though."
He nods once.
I twist my hands in my lap as I think of the right thing to say. "How far away is town?"
"About twenty miles."
I nod as I listen. "And you live out here?"
"Yep." His eyes stay on the road.
Okay, it's quite clear he doesn’t want to talk, but for some reason I feel like I need to. "Thank you again, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come."
His eyes flick over to me. "That was a good plan."
I frown, not understanding.
"The sticks under the wheels, that was a good plan."
I smile, feeling proud of myself. "Thanks."
"It wouldn’t have worked in these conditions," he continues. "But a good plan, just the same."
"Oh." I shrug. "I had to try something at least."
He remains silent.
"I'm Holly, by the way."
His eyes flick over to me. "Hi, Holly."
"Do you have a name?"
"Jack."
"Hi, Jack." I twist my fingers some more, his lack of polite conversation is unsettling. The rain is still coming down hard and I think about what could have happened if he hadn’t come along. "This weather is horrendous," I say.
He keeps driving.
"If you hadn’t come along..."
"I did though." He cuts me off.
Okay, shut up. Shut up now. We drive in silence until we get to a sign that says:
Welcome To Cantwell
Thank God, civilization.
"If you could just drop me at a hotel, that would be great."
He drives without saying a word. Unbelievable, he borders on rude. It's just awkward.
We turn a corner and then he pulls into a parking lot and I see the hotel sign. Relief fills me and we both peer through the windshield at the deserted-looking hotel. No lights are on and nobody seems to be around.
"Is it open?" I frown.
He shrugs and gets out of the car. The rain is blowing sideways from the wind and I stay put as I watch him approach the front doors. He reads a sign and turns back and gets in and starts the car. "What are you doing?" I ask.
"It's closed."
"What?"
He pulls out onto the road.
"Okay, just take me to another hotel."
"That’s it."
I frown. "What do you mean, that’s it?"
"There's only one hotel here and they’re closed for the Christmas period. I remember now that they went interstate."
"Well…. what will I do?"
"You'll stay with me."
"What?"
"You'll stay in my cabin."
"No." I shake my head. "That’s not a good idea, no offense, but I don’t know you and I don’t feel comfortable doing that."
"Okay." He turns the corner.
My eyes flick between him and the road. "What do you mean …. okay?"
"Okay, I'll just drop you back off at your car."
"You want me to stay in my car in the forest?" I gasp.
"No. You want to stay in your car."
"I didn’t say that," I snap.
He turns his attention to me. His eyes are hard and cold. "I'm not in the mood for this shit. You stay at my cabin or you go back to your car. Make your decision because I'm going home."
"Well…. where will I stay at your house?" I stammer.
"In my bed."
My horrified eyes hold his.
He rolls his eyes. "I'll be on the couch, don’t flatter yourself."