Page 14 of Mine For The Winter

“Mom?”

Cole was looming over her, his brows pulled down. She opened her mouth to talk, but it was so dry. It felt like she’d just spent ninety days in the desert. “What time is it?” Her voice was low and raspy.

“It’s almost nine.”

“Sh—Oh holy moly.” She sat up. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Cole shrugged. “It’s Saturday. No school. And I was watching YouTube. But we probably need to go soon.”

Oh damn. Cole had a hockey game today. She was supposed to drive him there and his friend’s mom would drive him to the Tavern later, dropping him off so Kelly could give him dinner before it started to fill up.

Grabbing her robe, she jumped out of bed and pulled it around her. According to the clock by her bed, they had twenty minutes before they had to leave.

It took every one of those minutes to shower and make herself look respectable, and apply a slick of make up on her face. She had to open the Tavern for the lunchtime customers as soon as she’d dropped Cole off at the rink, and wouldn’t have time to get herself ready in between.

“You got everything?” she asked, bustling out of her bedroom, sliding her watch onto her wrist.

“Yep.” Cole’s bag was already slung over his shoulder, his new skates dangling from the straps.

“And you’ve eaten breakfast?”

“Grandpa made me some.”

Her dad was sitting on the easy chair in the living room, watching some kind of animal documentary on the TV.

“Good. Come on then, let’s get out of here.” She blew a kiss at her dad, then rushed Cole out of the door, ten minutes later than she’d planned. Luckily, he was in as much of a rush as she was to get to the hockey rink, so he pretty much hurled himself into the backseat, along with his bag, and had already done his seatbelt up before she’d climbed inside.

“Can you put your foot on it, please?” he asked.

She looked at him, amused. “I’ll be keeping to the speed limit, thank you very much.”

“I hate being late.”

“Should have woken me up earlier then.” He got his fear of being late from her. She ran her life on such a tight schedule and he’d been swallowed up in her need to be everywhere early. “It’s fine. You won’t miss anything. Maybe just a little warm up.”

The roads were busy as they headed through town. The tourist traffic was increasing week to week as the holidays approached, and she hit her first set of taillights before she’d made it to the main road out of town.

“Mom…” Cole’s voice was plaintive.

“It’s okay,” she told him. “I know a shortcut.”

It wasn’t one she particularly liked, because it went through the country backroads that could get blocked up with snow in the winter. But they hadn’t had any for a few days, and if it was a choice between putting her big girl pants on and driving down narrow country lanes or having Cole miss his hockey game she knew which one she’d chose.

A few cars honked as she turned around, but she rolled her eyes because it wasn’t as though she was stopping them from moving. Then she took a left past the theater, and a right onto a steep incline, gritting her teeth because the road surface wasn’t the best and her car’s suspension was non-existent.

Cole leaned forward. “Mom, what’s that noise?”

Kelly blinked out of her thoughts. “What noise?”

A loud clunk came from the engine.

She swallowed hard. “I’m not sure. Probably needs some oil or something. I’ll get Charlie to look at it next week.”

“I hate this car,” Cole complained.

So did she. “Yeah, well it’s the only one we’ve got.”

As soon as the words escaped her lips, she saw the smoke rising from the hood. Damn it! She hit the brake and pulled to the side of the road, her tires hitting the piles of snow that edged the forest beyond.

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