Page 54 of Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

Gwen grabbed one of the blankets off the couch and wrapped it around Elaine’s shoulders.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Elaine sighed heavily. “Do you remember that we told you that Jeff was on a photography mission and we all decided that it would be fun to tag along? Well, that’s only partially true. Part of the reason for this trip was so that Jeff and I could work on our relationship.”

Gwen stood silently by Elaine, giving the woman space to talk as much or as little as she wanted.

“Jeff was great when we first started dating. He was every bit the gentleman.” She laughed harshly. “The only thing I care about women’s lib is the right to vote, wear pants, and earn thesame wages as men. I want someone to make me feel special by opening the car door, bringing me flowers, etc. He used to do that.”

“That is always nice,” Gwen said. “It’s the little things that really make a woman feel special.”

“Exactly. Then, all those things stopped. It got to the point where he didn’t want to take me out anymore. He was happy coming over to the house and having me make dinner for him.” She shook her head. “He wasn’t contributing to the grocery bill, but sure does eat them up. It would have been okay, maybe, if he brought dessert, a bottle of wine, or heck, even a dandelion he picked out of the yard, but there was nothing.”

Gwen searched her mind to think of something she could say to make Elaine feel supported but couldn’t come up with anything.

“Then, he started getting possessive and jealous. If I smiled at the person bagging my groceries, he thought that I was flirting. If we did happen to go out and I talked to someone, he would go ballistic. And you saw what he did to Darren,” Elaine said, the despair evident in her voice. This whole trip was supposed to help us, you know? We’ve been struggling, and I thought... I thought being out here, away from everything, might fix things. But now...” She trailed off, her voice thick with frustration and sadness.

“That is very hard, and forgive me if I’m overstepping my bounds, but that sounds like a very toxic relationship,” Gwen said.

“It is. I hate confrontations, but I’ve decided that I can’t take it anymore. I’ve talked to him about it, and when he thinks that I’m about ready to call it quits, he promises to do better, and he does for a couple of weeks.”

“You can always stay with Maddie, Samantha, and I. Emilia stays in the living room with Zaid. It’s freezing cold in there at night, but we do have thermal sleeping bags, so it’s not that bad once you’re all snugged in.”

“You’re sweet, but no thank you. I’m going to wait until we get off this bloody mountain and get home. We don’t live together, but he does have a key to my apartment. I’m going to change the locks, invite him out to dinner so he can’t do anything stupid, and then drive myself home.”

“That sounds like a solid plan. Meanwhile, if you do need an out here, he won’t touch you or do anything to you. There are too mean people here who will make sure that his body wouldn’t be found until the spring thaw.”

She made a sound that was half a giggle and half a cough. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

They stood silently for a couple of minutes staring out into the darkness. Gwen felt sad for Elaine but was glad that she was strong enough to end the relationship before anything terrible could happen to her.

Jeff walked up behind them. “What’s up, ladies?”

“Nothing, just hanging out,” Elaine said.

“Uh-huh,” Jeff said. George and Jen want to play cards. Let’s join them.”

Elaine mouthed, “Thank you” to Gwen and walked away with Jeff.

Daniel was sitting in the corner of the parlor tinkering with the radios. Everyone was silent when they heard the word “resort” come through.

“Hello, this is Daniel from Montagne Maudite. Can you read me?”

“He…” and then there was static.

Daniel tried to get through for another ten minutes but all they could hear was static.

“Feeling like we got through and then nothing is worse than not being able to get through at all,” he said.

“No, not really. They heard something from here, so they know that we’re still alive,” Sawyer said. “It might make them more determined to cut through that road.”

“True,” Daniel sighed, sounding depressed.

Everyone went back to what they were doing. Gwen sat next to Zaid and Emilia.

“I hoped he would get through,” Zaid said.

Gwen’s heart clenched. He sounded so weak. The pain was etched on his face, which was flushed from fever. Emilia quietly rinsed out a washcloth and put it on the back of his neck to try to bring down his temperature. He smiled his thanks at her.

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