Page 7 of Stocking Stuffers
His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, helped along by the Christmas lights flashing from the eaves of the inn and the snow blanketing the ground. Sasha surprisingly made it most of the way up the hill with no problem, and he was about to go back inside, when her taillights abruptly pitched to the right, then slid backward.
“Shit,” he said under his breath, panic shooting his heart into his throat.
Her VW Bug slipped all the way down the hill before her brakes reengaged and she came to an abrupt stop.
She pushed her door open, and he rushed over. Her jaw was tight, her delicate mouth pinched. But it was her eyes that alarmed him. The blue of her irises was nearly invisible—her eyes much too dilated, even for the darkness.
He crouched down next to her. “Sasha. Are you hurt?”
“What? No. I didn’t hit anything. The ice just made my car slide. I think I need more power to make it out.”
He grimaced. The problem with this driveway was that there was no room to build up the momentum she needed, especially in the ice. His family had gotten snowed in here for that very reason at least five times that he could remember; though, it had never happened to him as an adult.
“I’m going to try again in a lower gear,” she said. Her hands were shaking on the steering wheel, probably from adrenaline. He wanted to rub them, still them, but he suspected she wouldn’t appreciate that right now.
“Okay.”
“Stand back. If I slide down, I don’t want to hit you.”
“Sure thing.” He stepped farther into the yard and the rapidly accumulating snow. Visibility was getting worse. The thought of her driving home in this weather hurt his stomach.
She accelerated up the hill but only made it about halfway before her wheels locked up, then spun out again, flinging snow and ice everywhere. This time she managed to stop on the hill and not slide down, but she couldn’t budge. She eventually reversed back down the slope and rolled down her window.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I think Val has some kitty litter I could try spreading at that steepest bit, see if it gives you the traction you need.”
“Yes please, Mr. Winters.”
After finding half a bag in the lean-to garden shed, he climbed up the hill until he reached the problem area and scattered the gravelly kitty litter. With a wave of his arm, he indicated she should try to drive up again.
The ice and snow mixture was hitting him square in the face, obscuring his vision and soaking him through. His teeth chattered as the Bug started up the hill.
No dice.
The car skidded to the right and the wheels spun out. Sasha quickly wrangled the car back under control and guided it down the driveway. She reached the bottom of the hill as Valerie walked out of the front of the inn and waved. The snow was falling harder now, almost whiteout conditions, making it hard to see.
Sasha climbed out of her car as he made his way to her, her bright red skirt and green coat a homing beacon to him through the blizzard.
“I’m screwed,” she said as she pulled out her phone. “I wonder if an Uber could meet me at the top of the driveway. Fuck, that will be expensive. I live so far away, and then I’d be without my car on the other side of the city.”
Her hands were shaking, and Perry didn’t know if it was adrenaline or the cold.
He lightly touched her elbow. “I could drive you home.” He did have a big SUV, after all.
Val obviously didn’t like that idea. She shook her head immediately. “Too dangerous. Conditions are deteriorating too fast for anyone to be on the road. Not you, not Sasha, not an Uber driver.”
Sasha let out a long, gut-wrenching sigh. “Yeah. Shit.”
“You can stay here,” Perry said. “I’m sure there’s an open room, isn’t there, Val? And if not, I could always sleep on the couch in the carriage house.”
Val nodded, seeming to think out loud. “Louise can stay in the extra room of the carriage house with me, and the love birds will be in the Jack Pine Room.”
“Who are the love birds?” Sasha asked.
“Karen and Andie. They’re newlyweds. Let’s see,” Valerie said. “The Boltons left a day early to miss the storm, so the Blue Spruce Room is open. We can put you there, Sasha, on the house of course, hon. Perry, I planned to give you the Red Cedar Room since it’s your favorite.”
Excitement rushed through Perry. In the Red Cedar Room, he’d only be separated by an en suite from Sasha. Which, actually, she might not be crazy about.
