Page 57 of Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

“Is he going to make it? He’s more like a brother to me than a best friend,” Darren said, anxiously.

“I can’t make promises at this stage,” Sawyer said. “But I promise that I will do everything that I possibly can to help him.”

“That’s all I can ask. It was my idea to come here. If anything happens to him, it’ll be my fault,” Darren said.

“No, it won’t. All of this was just a force of nature. That’s it. Unless you were out there yodeling and caused the avalanche or you pushed him in the snow, you have nothing to feel guilty about,” Lucas said.

In spite of himself, Darren smiled weakly and raised his eyebrows. “Yodeling?”

“We are in the mountains. I don’t think that yodelers care which mountains they are yodeling in,” Lucas retorted.

“I’m going to keep Zaid company and help Emilia. She’s been a complete doll through all of this.”

Sawyer sat heavily on the couch while Lucas stirred up the fire.

“We’ll need to go get more wood after breakfast,” Lucas noted.

“I know,” Sawyer said.

“I’m sorry I dragged you on this so-called vacation.”

“It’s a good thing you did. Oliver does alright, but I think I was meant to be here to help Zaid. I don’t think Oliver’s ever had much practice in setting broken bones. If we can save Zaid, then it’s worth it.”

“I’ve been praying,” Lucas said.

“You and me, both, Brother,” Sawyer replied.

“Seems like things are going well between you and Gwen,” Lucas said.

“Yeah. I have feelings for her and I’m sure she has feelings for me, too. However, I’m not so sure about what will happen after we go back to the real world. The distance isn’t the problem. I’m sure that she won’t go back to thinking the way her father conditioned her to think. However, everything will be different.”

“I guess you’ll just have to see where it goes,” Lucas said.

Sawyer laughed. “That’s what I told her. The question would be whether she would have the strength to stand up to her father or be willing to walk away from him if our relationship did become serious. I would never give her an ultimatum, but I’m pretty sure that Jerome would.”

“He’s a piece of work, isn’t he?” Lucas said.

“That’s putting it mildly. What about you and Samantha?”

Lucas grinned. “She’s amazing. I love spending time with her. She has a great sense of humor and we can talk for hours about almost anything. We talked about religion, but we haven’t got to politics.”

“There are some couples who never talk about politics, although you can usually get a sense of what the other person’s feelings are on the topic,” Sawyer said.

“I’m pretty sure we’re on the same wavelength.”

Samantha stepped into the room to let them know that breakfast was ready. She and Gwen had helped Millie out in the kitchen, while Millie and Tessie made the concoctions Sawyer suggested for Zaid.

Sawyer checked on Zaid as they walked by.

Emilia looked at them. “He kept some oatmeal down. I just gave him a small amount. If he keeps it down, I’ll give him more.”

“Good.” Sawyer put his hand on Zaid’s shoulder. He thought that maybe the man’s temperature had come down just a hair.

Sawyer enjoyed chopping wood after breakfast. It gave him a way to get out his aggression and tension. He continued to worry about Zaid and hated feeling helpless that there was absolutely nothing he could do to help him.

He also thought about Gwen. She had proven herself. Not once did she shirk when there was something to be done. She helped out in the kitchen, carried wood, and helped keep people calm. She went with them to the hunters’ lodge and helped them scavenge supplies and blankets from the cabin.

Sighing heavily, he purposely pushed away all of the thoughts and counted the swings of the axe. He focused on the sounds of the birds and nature.

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