Page 123 of All I Want For Christmas

“I know, baby. I know. You’ve got this.”

His hand was on the back of her neck, and she took a deep breath. She was still tense from head to toe, but the feel of his heavy warm hand grounded her, and she could concentrate. Shedidn’t touch the brakes or the accelerator, just concentrating on keeping the car going straight, turning the wheel slightly to the right when she felt the back end of the car sliding right. Then turning to the left when the back end slid left.

At the bottom of the hill, the road straightened and the car gradually slowed to where she felt she could press the gas again gently.

“You’re doing so great, City Girl,” Theo said softly.

He squeezed her neck gently and she breathed again.

They drove another five miles—taking ten minutes—in tense silence, but when he started to remove his hand, she quickly said, “No. Keep it there.”

And he did.

Five minutes later, Theo sat up straighter in his seat. “Hey. There’s a sign.”

Savannah leaned in, peering through the swirling flakes. A large wooden sign sat by the side of the road.

“Merry Falls Lodge,” Theo read. He looked down at his phone. “Yeah, Merry Falls is a little ways up the road, but this place is outside of town a bit. Let’s pull in.”

“Yeah.” God that sounded great. She could not keep going. But it wasn’t like she’d had a choice. “What if they don’t have any rooms?”

“They’ve got to at least let us hang out in the lobby or something until it stops snowing.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

“And you need a break.”

“I really do.”

It was another five minutes before they saw what was probably the drive. It was covered by snow as well, but it looked like it had been cleared at least once since the snow had started.

She slowed and started to turn. The back of the car slid again and she swore.

“Easy. You’ve got this,” Theo murmured.

She made the turn and they started up the drive. There was a huge house up ahead, the windows all lit up.

“How big is this place?” she asked.

“Sixteen rooms. A big lobby. A restaurant. There’s a pub next door,” Theo said, reading from his phone.

“Cool,” Savannah said, concentrating on driving.

The tires were slipping a little again and she concentrated on turning into the slide.

“It was built in the eighteenth century. It’s a historic landmark,” Theo said.

“Great.”

“Is my talking making things better or worse?”

“Maybe just a little wo?—”

And then she pulled the wheel a little too far, the back end slid the opposite direction…and then kept going. The car spun, then slid.

Savannah let out a gasp, Theo braced his hand on the dash, swearing, as they slid into a huge snow bank. The car came to an abrupt stop.

Her seatbelt jerked across her body, thrusting the breath out of her lungs.

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