Page 10 of Snowbound

Ihave no idea how long I’ve been sitting at the bar, staring into this glass. Benjamin drifted off a while ago to help other customers, leaving me alone, looking sad and hopeless.

I feel kind of bad that I’ve been holding on to this same drink the whole time, but part of me doesn’t want to drink it at all in case I get an opportunity to drive out of here tonight. The last thing I want is to drink so much that I can’t drive, even if it would be easy to drown my sorrows.

But everything seems to be stacked against me, and everyone is telling me I’m trapped here. Even if I want to leave, it looks like I can’t.

And then, as if on cue, Gabe walks into the bar.

Out of everyone I can think of, he’s the least likely person I could imagine having come into this place. He didn’t exactly strike me as a social type when we were talking earlier, and I can’t imagine who would be friends with him. It’s not like he was pleasant to be around.

I only notice him because I’m staring blankly towards the door, longing for some sort of escape.

As soon as I see him, I spin back around in my seat, trying to play it cool. But there’s no way that I look anything except suspicious.

I hold my breath as he walks over towards me. I don’t really want to speak to him again today, but if anyone’s going to know anything about my car, it’s him.

He clears his throat when he gets to me and gestures to the open seat beside me.

“Sit down,” I say, defeated. He’s going to do it anyway.

Benjamin comes over, grinning. “Gabe! Good to see you, buddy. It’s been a while. What can I get you?”

Gabe shakes his head. “I’m not here to drink.”

We both look at him expectantly, our stares asking him what he is here for. I’ve basically told Benjamin everything, so he must be waiting with as much anticipation as me to see what the news is.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he says bluntly. My heart drops like a stone in my chest. “We’re going to have to order some parts before you can go anywhere. It’ll be a few days, minimum.”

“Days?” I gasp. “Are you sure?”

He looks at me witheringly. “Yes. I do know how to do my job.”

“But my meeting…” I trail off, despondent.

There’s no way I’m going to make it on time now. It’s not like I can ask any of the people in town for help; I wouldn’t want to impose on them. But without my car, there’s nothing I can do. I have nowhere to go and no way of going there.

“Wait,” I say, a sudden realization hitting me. “How do you know it needs parts?”

“I towed it to the shop,” Gabe snaps, brushing his hand through his hair. His eyes are saying he’s furious, but I think I can see a faint pink blush rising under his beard.

As if he can sense this conversation turning into an argument, Benjamin takes a step back and slinks off into the bar.

“You did?” I stammer. “But you said you wouldn’t. You said it would be too much work to get it out tonight. You said you wouldn’t help.”

“If we left it overnight, it would have been completely covered over with snow by morning. I was just saving myself some effort. That’s all.”

“Thank you,” I say softly. “That’s kind of you.”

He grunts at that, his scowl deepening, and I can’t help but wonder when the last time anyone said anything nice to him was. That wasn’t the reaction of someone who’s being nasty on purpose. It was the reaction of someone who doesn’t get complimented often and doesn’t know how to handle it.

Like that, I’m reassessing everything I had assumed about him. I thought he was being nasty for the sake of it. But he’s proving to me that he cares in his own way.

“Anyway,” I say. “How did you know to find me here? It’s not like I told you where I’d be.”

He shrugs again. “There aren’t many places to go. It wasn’t a hard guess.”

“Thank you for coming to look for me.”

He almost sneers at me, as if to try and tell me to stop, as if my nice words are physically causing him pain. For all I know, they might be.

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