Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

“I think the worst of it is over. I’m going to shovel the snow away from the garage. Then I’ll open the door and start the grill. Are you hungry?”

“Not really.”

“Come on. You need to get your mind off the storm, and we both need to eat.”

Begrudgingly, I got up and followed him to the front door, where he put on his winter gear before going outside. I watched silently as he started creating a path in the deep snow. He cleared an area to the side and called for King to come outside. King looked around skeptically before venturing outside to do his business. He quickly ran back inside and shook snow and water everywhere.

“Thanks, buddy,” I said dryly and went to get a towel to dry King as well as the floor.

It took longer than I thought, but Jake finally finished shoveling and came back inside.

I followed him out to the garage, intending to help with the food, but my head was in such a strange place. While I’d wanted to disappear into the mountains for a few days with no communication, it felt different when I didn’t have a choice. From the sound of it, I could be stuck there for weeks, not days, with Jake. He complicated things even more. I was grateful he was helping me, but I was still so angry with him. Plus, he was easy to talk to, and I didn’t want to talk to him.

I didn’t realize Jake had turned off the grill until he handed me a plate of food.

“That was fast.”

“I just heated up the leftovers from last night,” he explained and gave me a curious look. “You okay?”

“Yes,” I said and cleared my throat. “I was just thinking about what you said earlier. Do you really think I’ll be stuck here for a while?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I expected to lose power, but losing cell phone and radio communication is concerning. Without any means of communication, we have no way of knowing how bad it is out there.”

“So, what do we do? Sit here and wait?” I asked, failing to hide the fear in my voice.

“I have a snowmobile. We can go check things out a little later this afternoon. Will that make you feel better?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” I lied. “I was just wondering.”

“Well, we really won’t know anything until we see what things are like out there.”

He was right, but even without knowing, I didn’t like the feeling of dread churning within me.

It was early afternoon when the snow finally stopped. Part of me wanted to venture out and see what things were like, while the other part of me wanted to stay blissfully in the dark, figuratively and literally.

“Do you want to go check things out now?” Jake asked.

“Sure. Give me a few minutes to change into something warmer.”

“I have plenty of hats and gloves if you need to borrow something.”

“Yes, I do. I didn’t pack for a snowstorm.”

“Do you have boots?”

“Yes, but not the kind you’re referring to.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “I have a pair you can wear. If you layer a few pairs of thick socks, they’ll probably work. Unless you’d rather stay here.”

“No, I want to check on my parents’ cabin.”

Hurrying back downstairs, I found Jake waiting for me in the living room with the pile of items he was letting me borrow. Once I was suited up, we walked along the shoveled path to a detached garage where his snowmobile was parked, along with a UTV, lawn mower, and other equipment I was unfamiliar with.

Jake climbed on first and motioned for me to get on behind him. That’s when I realized I would have to hold on by wrapping my arms around him. Swallowing my displeasure, I reluctantly took my seat.

“You ready?”

“I guess. I’ve never ridden on one of these before.”

“There’s nothing to it. Just sit still and hold on.”

With that, he started the engine and pulled out of the garage.

As we glided along the terrain, I was shocked by the number of trees that had come down during the night. Some were broken, while others had completely toppled over. But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when we reached the cabin. Two large trees had fallen right on top of it, turning it into nothing more than a pile of broken wood.

I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand, but I couldn’t find any words to say. I’d never seen anything like that in person before. My mind couldn’t fully grasp what I was seeing.

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Jake said softly.

His compassion was the fuel I needed to hide my emotions. “I’m sure my parents have insurance.” Turning away from the cabin, I scanned the area for something else to focus on. That’s when I saw it—or didn’t see it. “Where’s my car?”

Jake’s head turned from side-to-side as he looked around. Then he slowly raised a finger and pointed. I followed his finger and saw my car buried in the snow with yet another tree laying on top of it. At that point, I couldn’t formulate words. I just stared at the disaster in a state of shock.

“It’ll be okay, Sarah,” Jake said reassuringly. “Let’s head back to my house. It’s probably not safe for us to be out and about yet. I don’t know how stable the other trees are.”

“Okay,” I agreed and wrapped my arms around his waist on autopilot.

He told me there was a chance a tree would fall on the cabin. It was the reason I agreed to stay at his place, but I never really thought it would happen. And my car. I couldn’t believe my car was also crushed. I was truly stranded and completely dependent on Jake.

Another loud crack filled the air.

“Fuck!” Jake shouted and hit the gas, causing us to lurch forward.

“What?” I shouted while I held on tightly and tried to scan our surroundings. Seconds later, a large tree branch landed and shook the ground around us.

“That!” he answered without looking back.

Jake expertly maneuvered the snowmobile back to his cabin within a matter of minutes. He pulled into the garage attached to the cabin and quickly closed the door.

“Holy shit!” he breathed.

I opened my mouth to agree with him, but to my horror, I leaned over and vomited instead. It was a stress response. One that I hated.

I’d barely wiped the remnants from my mouth when Jake scooped me into his arms and carried me inside. He placed me on the couch and returned moments later with a damp cloth, crackers, and a Coke. I hated that he still remembered the things that made me feel better.

“This isn’t because I’m upset. It’s probably food poisoning from the eggs you cooked.”

“You cooked the eggs, Sarah.”

And that was it. It was all too much, and I snapped.

“Seriously, Jake? You couldn’t have given me that one?” I yelled. “I know I made the fucking eggs. But holy shit! I’m up here because my life has fallen apart. Then a fucking snowstorm rolls through and destroys my family’s vacation home, and my car, leaving me stranded here with the last person I’d ever want to be stranded anywhere with! So, yes, I puked. It happens. And then, you have to go and be all sweet about it. Just be the fucking asshole you were when you broke up with me!”

“What did you just say?”

“If you weren’t listening the first time, I’m not going to repeat it.”

“Oh, yes, you are,” he insisted. “What the fuck did you say about me breaking up with you ?”

“I said you should be the asshole you were when you broke up with me.”

“What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull? I didn’t break up with you! I thought you were coming up for part of your winter break. I was here waiting for you, and you never showed up. I tried calling and texting, but nothing would go through. Then I got the text message from your college friend breaking up with me for you because you couldn’t do it yourself. She said not to bother trying to contact you because you had blocked my number.”

If growing up with social media taught me anything, it was to keep receipts for anything and everything. I refused to let him gaslight me. I knew what happened, and I had the screenshots to prove it. In less than a minute, I handed him the phone with his text message on the screen. “Who’s the one trying to pull bullshit now?” I’d never wanted to stick my tongue out at someone as much as I did right then.

“That doesn’t prove anything. It’s probably fake for all I know.”

I took my phone and brought up the image information before handing it back to him. “Note the date, time, and description of the image. It’s not fake.”

“Okay, let’s say it is real. I didn’t send it to you, so who did?”

I didn’t even need to think about it. “My best guess would be Ashley. Were you with her that day?”

His face paled as soon as I said her name. “Yes, I was. We were both working at my dad’s shop that day.”

“And my friend that texted you on my behalf. Do you know who it was?”

“She said her name was Dana. The message came from an anonymous number, so I didn’t have any way to call or text back.”

“I don’t have a friend named Dana, and I didn’t back then either.”

“So, you think Ashley orchestrated this whole thing?”

“It makes sense. She could have texted me from your phone, deleted the message, and blocked my number. It wouldn’t have mattered if I blocked you or not, because you can’t call or text a number you yourself have blocked,” I explained. “You knew her better than I did, but I think it seems like something she would do. She was not shy about her feelings for you, and her dislike for me.”

“Oh, it’s definitely something she would do. Lying and manipulating are right up her alley.”

By the venom in his voice, I knew, but I had to ask. “It was her, wasn’t it? The woman you married.”

“Yeah, it fucking was. I cannot believe that cunt. What was the point of any of it?”

“It sounds like the same old story. She doesn’t want the toy, but she doesn’t want anyone else to have it.”

“Is this why you’ve been so hostile toward me?” he asked.

“Hostile?” I asked, pretending to be affronted. “I thought I’ve been downright pleasant, all things considered.”

“You accused me of serving you tainted eggs,” he said flatly.

I raised my hands in surrender. “That wasn’t my finest moment.”

“I’m glad we got some of this figured out, but the rest is going to have to wait. If you’re feeling better, I need to take care of a few things around here.”

“Like what?”

“I’d like to get the generator going, and I want to bring some more firewood into the garage. Then I need to clear some of the snow off the roof.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“With a roof rake,” he said simply.

“I don’t know what that is or how it works, but it sounds dangerous.”

“It’s not. It’s designed to make clearing the roof easy and safe.”

“Is there something I can do?” I asked.

“You can keep the fire going and make something for us to eat once I get the generator running.”

While he went to work on the generator, I decided to occupy myself by clearing the snow off the deck. It turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I was out of breath and covered in a light sheen of sweat when I came back inside.

As I was stripping off my coat and gloves, I noticed the overhead lights and smiled. “Looks like we have power,” I said to King. “What should we make for lunch? Or is it dinner?” I laughed. “I don’t know what time it is, and I’m talking to a dog.”

Walking into the kitchen, I checked the refrigerator and pantry to see what my options were before deciding to make potato soup. It was one of the few things I knew how to make without a recipe, and we could keep the leftovers warm in the crock pot to eat later.

By the time Jake came back inside, the soup was done, as well as the dinner rolls I’d warmed in the oven.

“Something smells good.”

“It’s potato soup. Are you ready to eat now?”

“Yes, I’m starving.”

I filled a bowl for each of us and brought them to the table. Then I went back for the rolls.

Jake brought a spoonful to his lips and blew on it before putting it in his mouth. “Mmm. This is good.”

“Thanks,” I said and focused my attention on my bowl. “Did you get the roof cleared?”

“Not completely, but I got enough off that it won’t be an issue.”

“Is there anything else that needs to be done?”

“Not at the moment. Tomorrow, I’ll take the snowmobile and check out the road leading up the mountain. I’m sure there’s a tree blocking it somewhere, but we won’t know for sure without looking.”

It didn’t really matter to me at that point. I wasn’t going anywhere without transportation, and I couldn’t arrange a vehicle until the lines of communication were restored. It was frustrating to say the least, but I reminded myself that I was warm and had plenty of food, even if it was thanks to Jake.

When we finished eating, I cleared the table and hand washed the dishes while wondering what I was going to do for the rest of the day. Doom scrolling and watching pointless videos online was out of the question. Working was an option, but I really wasn’t in the right frame of mind to work. I also didn’t want to talk about my profession with Jake.

“I have a pretty decent DVD collection. Do you want to watch a movie?” Jake asked.

“Sure. Anything but horror is fine.”

“I know.”

Of course he did. Apparently, he remembered everything when it came to me. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

As we watched the movie, I couldn’t stop thinking about what my life might have been like if Ashley hadn’t interfered with my relationship with Jake. Would we still be together? Would we have gotten married? Would we live in Atlanta or Willow Ridge? Would we have kids?

“Have you already seen this?” Jake asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Uh, no, why?”

“Because that part was hilarious.”

“Oh, sorry. I guess I zoned out for a few minutes. Rewind it a little, and I’ll pay attention this time.”

“I know you’re worried about your situation, but everything will be fine in a few days. The snow will melt, the roads will be cleared, and you can get a rental car to drive home.”

“I guess you’re right,” I agreed with a tight smile and turned my attention to the television.