Page 44 of The Inn at Evergreen Hollow

It was a bit of a drive, and traffic was worse than she would have expected. She managed to get the generator just before the hardware store closed, enlisting one of the employees to help her get it into the back of the truck. She tied down the tarp over it, hopping back into the cab, peering at the starless night sky. Snow had started to fall when she’d first gone into the store, and it was getting thicker now, enough that she put on the truck’s windshield wipers and was careful as she eased her way out of the parking lot. It was picking up quickly, and she felt a quiver of uneasiness in her stomach.

The storm didn’t let up. The snow started to come down harder as she drove home, the wind picking up too, blowing the snow around the truck and obscuring her vision. It was getting harder and harder to see, and she bit her lip, feeling a little silly as she flicked the overhead light on and took Aiden’s compass necklace off. She knew which way she needed to get home with the map, but a part of her missed the GPS she had in her car back home. As long as she could use the compass to make sure she was going the right way.

She wasprettysure that she was. She took a turn, anxiety swirling in her stomach as thickly as the snow outside.

Her visibility had lowered to only a few feet in front of her, the lines on the road obscured with the settling snow, and she wasn’t as familiar as she used to be with the area around Evergreen Hollow. She took another turn, biting her lip as she leaned forward to peer out of the windshield. The road looked as if it were getting narrower, but it must be an illusion from the snow.

Itwasgetting narrower. She felt the truck tires slip on the ice, and she overcorrected, trying to figure out where the lane began and ended. The truck started to slide, and Nora let out a small scream as she slid off the road and into a snowdrift with a heavythud.

The truck was very still. The engine was still running, but all she had to do was look at the height of the drift to know she wasn’t getting out of this on her own.

Her heart was racing with adrenaline. She reached for her purse, fumbling for her phone to call Aiden. She’d call him and try to explain where she was, and then he could come and help.

But there was no reception.

Not even a single bar when she held the phone up.

Nora’s heart sank as she looked out into the swirling darkness, with no idea what to do.

It was well after dark, and Aiden was starting to get worried.

Nora wasn’t back yet, so far as he knew, and he couldn’t get ahold of her. He hadn’t wanted to text her, worried about her answering back while driving, so he’d tried to call instead. But she hadn’t picked up at all.

He remembered all too well how directionally challenged she’d been on their hikes. She probably wasn’t as familiar with the roads as she might have been before she’d moved away, and he wasn’t certain how good she’d been at getting around with a map back then. One glance out of his living room window told him that the snow was beginning to come down at an alarming rate.

He’d wanted to go with her in the first place. Now, as the storm intensified along with his worry, he couldn’t stop himself from goingafterher. He didn’t know exactly where she was, but he knew the direction of the town she’d been going to, at least.

He’d head that way, and make sure she was all right, he reasoned. Once he saw her truck—probably one of the only vehicles out on the road at this point—he’d follow her back and make sure she got back to The Mistletoe Inn safely. Help her unload the generator, if she needed it.

His mind made up, Aiden headed out to his own truck and pulled out onto the main road. The storm was picking up even more, and he drove slowly, taking his time as he made his way in the direction Nora had gone. Visibility was low, and he almost missed the tire tracks that he saw about an hour out of Evergreen Hollow, veering off onto a side road.

That might have been Nora.

He couldn’t take a chance that it wasn’t. He turned, following them, and sure enough, about a half mile down he saw her truck wedged deeply into a snowdrift.

He slowed to a stop, putting on his hazards, and slid out of the driver’s side. A moment later, Nora leapt out of the truck, making a beeline toward him.

She threw her arms around him, pressing her head against his chest. “I’m so glad to see you,” she breathed, and he put his arms around her too, squeezing her tightly.

“I was so scared. The truck just started sliding, and I think I took a wrong turn, and then there was no cell phone service and I felt so isolated out here, all alone. I had no idea how I was going to get out, and I worried I’d run out of fuel and not have heat, and I—how did you know to come out here? I can’t believe you’re here.” Nora’s words tumbled over each other, coming out in a torrent before finally sliding to a stop as she looked up at him. “How did you know?”

Aiden rubbed a gloved hand over his face. “Well, you weren’t answering any of my calls, so I figured you weren’t getting service. Using a map to get back, then. Saw the storm was picking up and thought you probably couldn’t see well, and considering how easily turned around you got on our hike…” He shrugged. “It didn’t seem like too big of a leap to think that you might have gotten lost out here on the back roads getting home.”

He could see her face flush even in the dim light from the headlights.

“That was a very educated guess,” she said with a small, embarrassed laugh. “Thank you for coming after me.”

He hugged her again. “I’m glad you’re safe is all.”

Nora let out another small, chagrined laugh.

“I’ve always been the type of woman who has everything under control, you know?” she said softly. “But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since I’ve been back here, it’s that dependingon others for assistance isn’t always a bad thing. And I think I’ve learned that lesson again tonight. I shouldn’t have tried to make that generator run myself. But I guess I just wanted to prove myself to the town. That I’m as tough and capable as anyone who lives here full-time.”

Aiden’s chest tightened. He reached down, brushing a piece of hair away from her face. “You don’t need to prove yourself to the town,” he told her gently. “Everyone here knows how amazing you are, Nora Stoker. I certainly do.”

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, a soft vulnerability in her face that tugged at his heart in a way that was becoming familiar. “Do you really mean that?”

“I do.” A small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “I had a terrible crush on you in high school, by the way. If we’re admitting things. Just in case you didn’t know.”

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