Page 7 of Longest Ride

After pizza and a couple of beers at a place close to our hotel, we were in for the night. Snow was coming down pretty hard and the temperature had dropped. Felt like the snow might stay around for a while.

Dad parked and we hurried to the hotel entrance.

“Temperature is dropping like a rocket,” said Travis. “Ain’t gonna be a picnic driving tomorrow. Let’s get some sleep whilewe can.”

“We ain’t got winter coats with us, Dad.” Virge blew on his hands as we came into the hotel lobby out of the cold.

“Have to work on that tomorrow, boys, if the weather gets worse.”

Fontana Residence. Sicamous.

After the disappointing visit to the hospital, Annie stopped at the market in Sicamous. The girls helped her fill the cart with everything she thought they might need for their stay in the cabin.

Annie hoped Eldon would be out of the hospital in a week and that would speed things up for her. By then, she’d have a plan ready to go and wouldn’t be stuck in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia.

Tammy didn’t have much enthusiasm for shopping. Still crying over Eldon not waking up to talk to her, there was no consoling her. She’d been this way once before when Travis had been hurt in Texas. Annie had no tolerance for crybabies, and she wouldn’t put up with Tammy’s depressing mood.

But seeing Tammy so devastated over Eldon’s condition alerted Annie to trouble ahead. Tammy loved Eldon Fontana, a.k.a. Bobby Prescott—the Interstate Rage Killer—and Annie had to figure out what her next move should be.

“Come on, girls. Pick out a couple of your favorite flavors of ice cream and we’ll have a treat after dinner.”

Lucy perked up right away and chose cookies and cream. Tammy stared at the selection and didn’t open the door of the freezer.

“Luce, pick one for Tammy,” said Annie. “We’re not waiting all day for her to stop pouting.”

Lucy opened the door and chose caramel turtle fudge for Tammy. “I know you like this kind, Tammy. Don’t be such a baby.”

Tammy stood in the ice cream aisle and cried.

Chapter Three

Saturday, September 21st.

Best Western Hotel. Calgary.

Travis was the last one to get up and shower. Me and Virge were starving and ready to go downstairs for the free breakfast, but we had to wait for Dad.

A lot of snow was coming down and overnight the wind had picked up. It howled outside and rattled the windows of our hotel room. I stared out at the thick blanket of white that covered everything in the city of Calgary.

In the breakfast room, we heard people talking about the storm blowing through Calgary bringing at least six inches of snow and heading south into Montana.

“Storm is gonna follow us home, Dad,” said Virge.

“Sounds like it,” said Travis. “Maybe we’ll get a bit ahead of it. Finish up your breakfast and we’ll go trade in the Jeep. We’d better make tracks and haul our assess south.”

“Can we run with the siren on?” asked Virge.

“Umm…let’s save that for an emergency,” said Travis. “With a big storm like this, we might run into a few tight spots on the way home.” He winked at Virge. “Then we’ll turn it on.”

“Can I get the new truck outfitted with equipment like your truck, Dad?”

“Yep. Thinking on it. Not much use to us if we can’t use it as an extra sheriff’s vehicle. We’ll get it done as soon as we get home.”

That made Virgie smile.

Fontana Residence. Sicamous. British Columbia.

“Look at all the snow,” said Lucy. “Hope we don’t go in the ditch today.”

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