Page 15 of Spring Breakup
“Oh God. Look at that.” Dean pointed to the lake beside them. There were low waves rolling under the thin ice, breaking it up into jagged puzzle pieces.
“Do you think the glacier calving could cause waves like that?” Tyler asked.
Dread filled Dean’s chest. “No. I think that was something much different.”
* * *
Tyler scrambledto keep up with Dean as he marched back the way they’d come.
“Where are you going?” Tyler asked. His feet slipped in the godforsaken mud. His snow boots had zero traction, which was what he got for picking ones that were trendy rather than functional.
Dean was frantically calling someone on his phone. “Pick up, pick up, pick up. My service sucks.”
“Dean, slow down.”
Dean didn’t listen. He took off at a jog. “Do you have any bars? Call Rosie,” he shouted back to Tyler. “See if she picks up.”
Tyler couldn’t run and use his phone at the same time. Hell, he hadn’t run since high school gym. He worked out by riding his bike to school.
Tyler found Rosie’s number and dialed. It rang a few times before Rosie answered breathlessly. “Are you guys okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Why? Are you?”
“Yes. We were in town when we heard it. Everyone here is freaking out.”
Dean made it to the curve in the road, where they’d turned around earlier, and came to a dead stop. Tyler caught up, and everything fell into place then.
The rumble. The waves in the ice on the lake.
Slushy mud and snow covered the road. It looked like someone had poured a giant, frothy Frappuccino down the mountain slope and into the lake. They couldn’t see the other side of the road, and the pile was dotted with rocks and boulders and upside-down trees. It was higher than their heads.
“Holy shit,” Tyler gasped.
“Are they okay?” Dean asked.
“Yeah. They’re in town.” Tyler put Rosie on speakerphone. “We were standing right here fifteen minutes ago.” Sourness rumbled through Tyler’s stomach, and he thought for one embarrassing moment that he might throw up.
Dean grabbed his shoulder. Maybe to steady himself. Maybe to shore up Tyler and keep him from puking. “We’re okay, though. And they’re okay. So it’s okay.”
“Stop sayingokay,” Tyler mumbled, but it was halfhearted. They were separated from their friends by a fucking avalanche. Nothing about this situation wasokay.
“This doesn’t look too bad,” Dean said, but that was blatantly false. It looked horrible. “How long will it take to clear it? A day?”
A whole day? A day with Dean Humphries and no buffer? Images of Dean on his knees last night bombarded Tyler.
“It sounds like no one was hurt. We were the last people in that spot. I’m going to call Brooks,” Rosie said. “Maybe she can give us an idea of what we’re working with here.”
They said their goodbyes, and she hung up. Tyler and Dean waited in silence for her call back.
Dean still had his hand on Tyler’s shoulder, a reassuring weight that Tyler didn’t want to admit was helping.
Dean hadn’t turned away from the huge mass of snow and mud. “Do you think we’re safe here? Could there be another one?”
They were far back from the terminus of the avalanche, but Tyler suspected the slide and the persistent rain had weakened the remaining blankets of snow on the slope.
“No idea. Let’s move. No reason to risk it.”
Tyler grabbed Dean’s hand, and they hurried back toward their cabin. They were both wearing gloves—wet gloves due to the rain that had yet to lighten up—but Tyler imagined that Dean’s skin was warm. He imagined Dean as a lifeguard pulling him to safety. He did everything in his power tonotthink about a terrifying sheet of snow and mud coming toward them. They reached their driveway in no time at all.
