Page 11 of Cabin Fever

FOUR

Carter

"YOU HAVE TO PUMP IT. Then twist," I said for the fifth time.

Olivia was trying my patience. When she said she had never done this before, I thought she meant in the great outdoors. She mentioned that she was a city girl the other day, so she must have done it lots of times where she was from. It's not something that only happened up in the mountains.

"There's a weird smell. Is it supposed to stink? Ugh, my hand hurts," she yelled back with a whine.

I had spent the last four days stuck in my cabin with her, and I had never wanted to run screaming from a person so much in my life.

"It's called gas."

"Then it's broken. You need someone to fix it."

Every day I've come out to my truck, hoping it would start, but it never did. I changed the oil and fixed what I could, but I believe my truck was lost to me. I'd need to wait for the snowstorm to stop and the roads to be plowed to get my vehicle towed.

I moved around from the hood and waved my hands in the snowflake-filled air. "Where am I going to get someone to fix this? There's at least two feet of snow on the ground and the phone lines are still down."

"Then I guess you're stuck with me. Besides, even if it started, how would we make it out of here without the streets being plowed." Her long blond locks fluttered in the dry air as she hopped out of the truck. Her leg was healing up nicely. As much as her relentless questions about every little thing over the last few days had been like nails on a chalkboard, I didn't wish her harm.

She was right. I was too eager to be rid of her to realize that we wouldn't make it very far anyway. Even with the small plow on the front of my truck, two feet of snow was too much for my vehicle to handle.

I busied myself cleaning up under the hood and finally lowered it while she watched over my shoulder.

"Looks dirty. I never knew there were so many parts to an engine."

I let go of the hood and with a bang, it slapped shut. She yelped and threw her arms around my waist. I had never met a woman—or anyone for that matter—who was so comfortable touching people they barely knew.

It was surprising the first time she placed her hand on my arm as I prepared dinner the first night she was in the cabin. I startled and a few pieces the potatoes I had chopped fell onto the floor.

Her cheeks flushed, and she reminded me of a startled doe as her brown eyes widened. She seemed sweet in that moment with her lips pursed and worry etched on her features.

I was used to rarely being touched. Even when my father was alive, he only gave hugs when I was hurt as a kid or the occasional slap on the back for a job well done.

"It's not all engine. There's wiper fluid and the starter, and other things under that hood."

Olivia was warm and that heat began to travel where I didn't want it to go. I shook my head and waited for her to lower her arms. She gave a slight squeeze before she let go.

It was a habit of hers. Every time she touched me, before she let go, her grip would tighten as if preparing me for the release. It was comforting in an odd sort of way.

"I'd love to learn more about it. Maybe when we try starting your car—"

"Truck. This is obviously a truck.”

"Okay, whatever.Truck.When we try again tomorrow, you can show me the parts."

I chuckled as I wiped my hands with the rag before placing it in my back pocket. "If it starts, I won't have time to show you."

Olivia's footsteps crunched behind me as I began to move toward the house. It was strange to feel someone following me, someone I knew. I guess that was how my dad felt whenever I tagged along as a kid while he tended the sheep or collected branches in the woods.

I didn't know how I felt about her help. It was different.

"It won't start. Face it, you'll never be rid of me. Wha ha ha!"

I came to a stop right before reaching the steps to the porch. "That's not funny," I said as she bounced up to the porch, happily ignoring my concern.

She opened the door, closing it behind her, and leaving me to my worry. It wasn't that Olivia was a bad person. She tried to be helpful but with her total lack of knowledge of farming, sheep, cooking, cleaning, and just about anything required to survive made her help a hindrance.

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