Page 6 of Snowbound

CHAPTER4

CARLY

Even though Gabe told me as much, I still can’t quite believe that there isn’t a single bus in this town somewhere. Something that will take me to somewhere bigger. Anything.

He drops me off in the middle of town, and it’s deadly silent. I hadn’t been expecting much, but to not see a single person or a single car… It’s eerie. Just where the hell am I?

Mullen Falls, Gabe called it. I haven’t heard of it. Clearly, it isn’t very big.

I look around me and shiver. The snow isn’t letting up, and to my great disappointment, it looks like Gabe was right. There aren’t any buses, and there aren’t any trains. It doesn’t even look like there are any cabs. With a groan, I hold my phone up to the sky, but no internet pages will load and the signal I’m getting is “emergency calls only.” So I can’t call a private service to get me out of here.

I can’t call anyone at all.

It’s enough to make me want to give up and cry. But if I stop now, I’m going to freeze to death and end up another statistic of a lonely, sad woman with nothing to live for, trapped alone in the snow.

Instead of that, I keep walking down the street. The lights are on in one of the buildings, and cars are parked outside. A good sign. As I get closer, I can hear the general commotion of a community out for the evening, having drinks and taking their minds off their problems.

I’ve never had much time or patience for small towns, but tonight, I’m just going to have to deal with it.

At the very least, it’ll be warm in there.

I stumble through the snow, take a deep breath and push open the door. Immediately, I’m hit with a warm blast, and I sigh in relief. Above the door, I notice an advertisement for room and board, and suddenly it feels like my luck is picking up. Maybe they’ll have a room for me, even if it’s a terrible one. Staying somewhere is better than staying nowhere.

Imagining the barren walls and peeling paint and toilet that won’t flush doesn’t fill me with joy, but even if I can persuade them to just let me sleep on a couch, it’s better than freezing to death. I’ll pay whatever fee they want.

I shuffle over to the bar and sit down next to a couple of older men who are laughing raucously at something. I eavesdrop for a second, and I don’t really know what I was expecting, but tractors and agriculture don’t seem too far off the point.

“Welcome to Mullen Falls,” comes a voice. I flick my eyes up to see the bartender sliding over to me, eyeing me with a look that I can only describe as suspicious.

“Thanks,” I mumble.

“So, stranger,” he says, “haven’t seen you around here before.”

Tucking my hair behind my ear, I stammer, “No, I’m just stopping for the night.”

“Well, welcome to our town. What’s your poison?”

I shrug. I don’t really want a drink. It seems sad to be drinking on your own in a town that you’ve never been to with strangers you don’t know. But the bartender is staring at me in a way that doesn’t suggest that no is an option, so I say, “Something warm. Something good.”

He grins. “Coming right up. But this is going to come at the low, low price of you telling me who you are and why you’re here.”

Carefully, like he’s putting on a show because he knows I’m watching, he pours out a finger of whiskey into a glass and slides it over to me. He looks at me expectantly, and I realize he is deadly serious about getting to know me. It should be weird or creepy, but he has a genuine warmth to him that makes it hard to believe he has anything except my best interests at heart.

“My name’s Carly,” I say at last.

“Benjamin.” He smiles. He has a pale face with deep lines and kind green eyes. I get the feeling that he’s gone gray prematurely, but he shows no signs of being tired of his work. “Delighted to have you at my inn.”

“This is your place?” I ask.

“It is. It’s been in my family for three generations now.”

“It’s kind of a point of honor, huh?”

He grins at that. “You got family here?”

I shake my head. For a second, I consider lying to him, making up a reason why I’d be here. After all, it’s not like he’s ever going to see me again. But that’s way too much effort for my tired brain to come up with right now, so I settle for telling him the truth. “I’m not supposed to be here at all. I’m heading to a place further north, but I slid off the road.”

“Oh, you’ll have to call Gabe,” he says knowingly. “He’s not what you’d call a people person, but Gabe will put you right.”

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