4. Grey

Grey

M ost Valuable Player. Again.

After showering off the blood, the grit and some of the soreness that came with every game, I dressed under the vulgar jokes as to what the Bruins could do after their loss. A few of my teammates slapped me on the back, congratulated me on my latest title.

"Why don't you retire, old man?" joked Sammy. "Let us have a chance at MVP."

"Shit, Sammy," Dole protested. "We need Aldine until he wins us the Stanley Cup."

"Even then you won't get rid of me," I snapped, mock punching Sammy's nose. "I'll retire when I'm good and ready."

"Or he makes babies with that foxy chick outside," called Steve. "She's a hottie."

My anger at Steve's reference to Ellie tempted me to knock him on his naked ass. Still, punching him out would cost me the next game as punishment. Instead, I stared meaningfully at his paltry dick dangling from his crotch, forcing him to look down.

"What will you make with that?" I inquired. "Kittens?"

The locker room roared with laughter as Steve turned beet red. After cursing me out, which I ignored, Steve yanked his boxers on and hid the evidence of his limitations.

In the midst of the hoots and howls, Coach Brendan Hunt strolled into the locker room. He waited, patient, as the team saw him and shut up. I tossed my coat over my shoulder, ready to leave, but stayed to hear what he had to say.

"The weather has gotten bad," Hunt said. "Really bad. There's a blizzard warning all through New England, and our flight will likely be cancelled."

Mutters and swearing filled the fresh silence. I swore under my breath, unable to decide what to do. Stay or go. I had my car; I didn't need to wait on the flight home. But what about Ellie?

I'm responsible for her. I must keep her safe.

"I'm arranging for hotel rooms," Hunt went on. "We'll stay the night, head home when the weather clears. A bus is enroute to pick us up."

"How long before it gets really bad, Coach?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Reports say it won't really deteriorate for a few more hours. If you're thinking of driving in it, Aldine, don't."

"Fuck," I muttered.

Half listening to the talk of the bad weather, I fumed inwardly. Stay or go. If Coach was right, and this storm encompassed all of New England, there's no outrunning it. Maybe we should stay the night. Play it safe. Except in hockey, playing it safe didn't win games. Or MVP titles.

Leaving the locker room, I found Ellie frowning at her phone. She looked up as I walked to her, then back down at her cell.

"I can't reach Colton," she said, clicking letters on the screen as she texted.

"He's out of range," I explained. "Camping in the woods, you know?"

"No. The trip was supposed to end at noon, then they were going home. He should be at the apartment by now. Tomorrow's a workday."

A chill wormed its way through my gut. "You broke up. Maybe he doesn't want to talk to you."

Ellie sent me a look that clearly stated I was being stupid.

"Look. The radar?" She displayed the cell screen for me. "Deep purple all over southern Vermont. The storm's heart is right over them."

An image of Colton and his friends sliding off the road in the blizzard shot through my head.

I seized her arm. "All right, we're headed out."

"We can't help him if we're stuck in a ditch, too."

"Do you want to stay here then?"

"Well, no."

"Then come on."

The security guard held the door open for us. A thick blast of cold and snow struck us full in the face as we staggered out, leaning against the raging wind. I knew it was stupid to go on. Only an idiot would drive into a blizzard. I tucked Ellie under my arm and fought the snow and wind, my fears over Colton urging me to perform the impossible.

As only a few vehicles remained on the lot, finding my car wasn't difficult. I opened the door for Ellie, then quickly brushed the snow from the windshield, and got in behind the wheel.

"We shouldn't do this," I muttered, starting the engine. "It's lunacy."

"I still care about him," Ellie said softly. "I can't help it. I need to know he's okay."

"So do I." I drove the car through the snow-covered lot, the wipers barely able to keep up with the blowing snow. A headache developed behind my eyes as I squinted to see the road ahead. "Keep trying. If he answers before we get too far, we'll turn around."

"I have been," Ellie snapped. "Lindy, too. Jen. Tommy. None of them are answering their cells."

"Shit."

This was bad. If Colton and his friends were stuck at that cabin, would they be able to survive a blizzard? Would Ellie and I even be able to find it to help them? The drive under normal conditions took at least five hours. Double, even triple, that in a blizzard. I glanced at my watch.

"Nearly ten o'clock," I growled. "We won't get there until dawn."

"If we even make it."

I looked at her. "Should we stay?"

"I can't make that call," she retorted. "The towers might be down. There're perfectly reasonable explanations as to why I can't get through. If I say we go on and we get killed, what then?"

"My coach will kill me for dying before we win the Stanley Cup."

We stared at one another in the dash lights.

"Let's chance it," I said quietly. "If it gets really bad, we'll find a motel and stay the night."

Ellie studied her weather app's radar. "It looks like it's moving away from us. I think we'll be fine."

"Okay. We can do this."

Famous last words…

***

Whether the radar lied, or the storm shifted, the further we got from Boston while heading northwest, the thicker the snow became. Massive snowplows cleared the interstate to nearly bare asphalt, but seeing where I was going soon grew problematic. The front-wheel drive bit deep into the ice and kept us going.

Yet, I saw little beyond the car's headlights.

"I can't see the road," I muttered, my gut as tight as a coiled spring.

Ellie leaned forward as though that would help her to see through the sheet of white outside. "I think I see the edge of the road."

"As long as we don't go past it."

A few headlights, unseen until the last moment, blurred past my car. I knew this escapade was a bad idea. No way can we get back to Montpelier in this storm. Shit, we may get buried in a drift, and without supplies, we'll be dead before we're found.

"We have to get out of this," I said. "Does your cell have any signal?"

"Not much but yeah."

"Pull up the GPS, see if there's a motel somewhere close by."

Her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, a sight that tempted me to take my eyes off the road far more than I should, Ellie clicked her phone. She peered at it, clicked again, then the fake female voice intoned, "Continue north on Interstate Ninety-Three for four miles."

"Four miles," I groaned. "We're gonna die."

"Don't say that," Ellie ordered. "We've come this far, haven't we?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Aren't we close to the New Hampshire border?"

"Maybe."

As the road signs were either invisible in the whiteout or covered in snow, I saw none to inform me just where we were. The occasional yellow reflector at the highway's verge gleamed in my headlights. My car's digital direction said we were still headed northwest.

"At least the road is plowed," Ellie commented brightly. "That means it's open and we're not that far from civilization."

"We're screwed if the states close the highway."

"Try to be optimistic."

"I'm optimistic we're screwed."

The GPS voice counted down the miles. It suggested I exit the highway soon, but without seeing the sign, I might dump us in the ditch by accident. My headache intensified and my sore body grew sorer as tension kept my muscles tight.

"Exit in fifty feet," the voice intoned.

Bracing myself to drive into a ditch, I clenched my teeth and guessed when fifty feet arrived. I yanked the steering wheel a hard right.

No ditch opened up under the car's front end. Still, the plows hadn't been here in a while and my car almost bogged down in the deep snow.

"Your destination is on your right."

Rolling the window down, Ellie stuck her head into the whiteout. "I see the motel."

"Guide me."

I bounced the car over an unseen curb and caught sight of the motel's lights as we entered the lee side of the building. To my dismay, the parking lot appeared full as I drove around searching for a clear spot. Her hair white from the snow, Ellie was able to see a place to park.

Under her navigation, I pulled the car in and gratefully shut the engine off.

"Now let's hope we don't have to spend the night in the lobby," I muttered.

I grabbed my satchel, Ellie her plastic bag, and together we fought the wind and blinding snow to the entrance doors. Warmth struck my face, instantly melting the ice that crusted my hair and eyelashes. The motel was neither high end, nor a flea bag. At least it appeared clean, and the heat certainly worked.

The night clerk eyed us with disillusionment as we crossed the lobby to his desk.

"Two rooms?" I asked hopefully.

He typed on his computer. "I may not have anything available. The storm brought in travelers who can't stay on the road."

"Just like us," Ellie said.

He worked on his computer for several agonizing minutes, making me think the lobby would be our only option. If the clerk didn't toss us out, that was. My tension refused to dissipate despite being off the highway, out of the storm, and safe indoors. I shared a quick glance with Ellie, who timidly smiled.

"I have one room remaining," the clerk finally said.

Ellie jumped in before I could say anything. "We'll take it."

"Uh," I began.

The clerk didn't even look up. "Credit card and driver's license, please?"

I handed them over, thinking two beds might be safe enough. I made myself relax, smile at Ellie, and believe that nothing at all would happen. Nope, not with my son's ex-girlfriend. I was too old for her anyway. Once I got her home, we'd stay friends, maybe have coffee once in a while and laugh at our harrowing experience. But that was it.

"Sign here," the clerk instructed.

I signed as Ellie took the twin set of key cards.

"Take the elevator to the third floor," the clerk told us, marking the route on a map of the motel. "Go right, your room is three down."

"Thanks."

Ellie led the way to the elevator while I inwardly set my boundaries. No seeing her naked, no sharing of the beds, this is an emergency situation. We sleep, we shower, we make a plan tomorrow. No sex, no intimacy, no touching.

After running the key card through the lock, Ellie opened our room's door. The place was dark as housekeeping had left no lights on. She flicked on the nearest, illuminating the bathroom and little else. I stepped inside the room, letting the door wing shut as Ellie marched further in.

She hit the main switch.

I groaned.

A single bed.