Page 48 of Stranded for Christmas with my Boss

“I’m so sorry, but I have to cancel our meeting today. This weather caught me off guard, and I’m not comfortable driving all the way to the Catskills in these conditions. Can we reschedule after Christmas?” Alyssa reads aloud before burying her face in her hands. “The meeting is off. We drove all of this way for nothing!”

“I can’t turn around right now. I have to keep going,” I tell her as I glance in my rearview mirror, only seeing white behind me. I’d rather not spend Christmas dead, so we’re getting to our destination, meeting or not.

Damn it. What the hell is going on today? This meeting was important! Now, the weather is going to act out after weeks of normal snowfall?

For the rest of the drive, our bodies remain tense as I focus on getting us through the snowstorm safely as it ramps up more and more. The wind howls around us, snow pelting against my car as I hope that I don’t hit someone, and no one hits me.

“I can barely even see the signs,” I tell her as I start to see glances of signs and buildings up ahead. We’re finally up close to the mountains, but the snow has refused to let up in the slightest. My tires push through the inches of snow already packing the road.

“Go to that building!” Alyssa says as she points to the right. “It looks like an office.”

Hell, I can barely see the side roads! The snow has covered them, forcing me to forge my own path to what I hope is an office building. There are a few other cars parked in front of it, and snow covers the top of the building.

Once I stop the car, I lean forward, straining my eyes to see through the snow whipping in front of my windshield. There is a sign over the door that sticks out to me.

Front office.

“Ready to make a run for it?” I ask her as I look over at her.

Alyssa is already tying the fabric belt of her trench coat around her waist. She glances over at me and gives me a determined nod, ready to trudge through the snow and get into a warm building.

“Go!”

We fly out of my car and hurry to the porch, snow tumbling off our boots with each step. We shuffle across the wooden boards, our breaths coming out in icy clouds with every huff and puff. The cold stings my face, the wind burning my cheeks.

Alyssa darts inside the office the moment I pull open the door, shuddering with chattering teeth. “I’ve grown up here all my life, but when it gets that cold…there is no getting used to that.”

I nod in agreement once I shut the door behind me, my chest aching from the chill in the air. I rub my gloved hands over my arms, relieved to see a fire burning in a nearby fireplace. A few employees linger around the fire or stock souvenirs, while some guests enjoy the lounge area.

Alyssa turns to me, snowflakes glimmering in her hair and on the shoulders of her coat. “What do we do? It’ll be snowing like this throughout the night.”

“Throughout the night? Damn it. We can’t drive in this.” I drag my hand over my hair, my frustrated mind working to come up with a solution. Any sort of solution.

But I come up empty. There is only one thing that we can do that’s reasonable.

“Looks like we’re snowed in for the night. We’ll head back when it’s safe.”

Alyssa chews on her bottom lip as her mouth turns down into a frown, but she nods. What else can we do?

I walk up to the front desk, catching the attention of a blonde-haired man wearing a blue vest over a white button-down shirt.

“Hello, sir. How can I help you?” he asks as he gives me a polite smile.

“Do you guys have any available cabins tonight? Or anywhere we can stay to wait this storm out?” I reply, figuring it’s a long shot given the season. People are itching to stay at a place like this around the holidays.

“Let me see,” the man says before turning to his computer and clicking around. He then looks over at me. “We actually had a reservation for a cabin cancel today because of the storm. It’s the last one we have available.”

“We’ll take it.”

It could be the tiniest cabin with the least number of amenities, and I would take it. As long as it has heat and a bed.

While I signed the paperwork and got our key, Alyssa was already thinking ahead and walked over to the gift shop and mini market to grab us some drinks and snacks to tide us over. This situation is hopefully only for a night, so we should try to make the best of it.

Stuck in a cabin together. With a lot of pent-up thoughts and feelings.

We finally locate the cabin and make a mad dash inside, shivering as warmth greets us, offering a welcome contrast to the storm outside.

“Smells like a cabin,” Alyssa comments as she drops off our snacks and drinks on the small kitchen counter, her boots thumping against the wooden floor.

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