Page 62 of On the Mountain

“Please be okay.” My tears landed on his cheek. “Please, please, please. I love you. Be okay. I’ll be right back, and I’m going to make you better, Crow. I promise.” And then I walked out, hoping like hell this wasn’t a terrible mistake.

*

I had those hand-warmer things stuffed into my coat, the sleeves, and along my torso. I was lucky I’d paid attention to where Crow kept the keys for the snowmobile. I checked the gas in it, the way I’d seen him do, and topped it off. I still wasn’t the best at driving this thing, and that was absolutely a concern.

I could get lost out there.

The cell could lose signal.

I could crash and freeze to death before anyone got to me.

There were a hundred things that I refused to believe could go wrong because all that mattered was Crow. I’d failed a lot in my life, failed at almost everything I’d done. I made mistake after mistake. I didn’t care what happened to me, but I would save Crow, one way or another.

The air felt like ice against my face. It wasn’t snowing at the moment, but it could pick up again at any time. I climbed onto the machine and checked my phone. I watched it for a good five minutes before I got a text from Melody telling me she was as high up as she could get.

On my way, I replied, then hit the buttons to get directions to her. It wasn’t as if they could tell me which tree to go left or right at, but at least it would help with the general direction. I went to the end of the driveway first. The gate wouldn’t open without plowing the snow, so I would have to go out of the way to travel down to the end of the fence and then back.

It felt like it took an eternity just to get to the end of the fence and then head back again. I was going to do my best to follow where the road was. Melody would have to be on it as well, but I didn’t know if I would lose it because of the snow cover. The area being open and without trees would help.

My hands were shaking as I gripped the throttle and sped up. My heart was beating too hard, too fast, too everything, but I willed myself to push through.

I didn’t drive the machine as fast as Crow did. When I tried to go a little faster again, it felt like I was going out of control. I couldn’t hold the phone the whole time, so every little while I would have to stop and check to make sure I was on the right path. The trees were creating a path for me, so I felt like I was. Every time I saw the blinking circle that showed me where Melody was, I breathed a sigh of relief.

It felt like a lifetime before there was a flash of a red truck in the distance, equipped with chains on the tires, waiting for me. Melody jumped out, threw her arms around me, and I wanted to melt into them, wanted to fall to my knees and thank her for being my friend, for mattering to her.

“Thank God. I’ve been worried sick!” She patted me down, held my face the way a mom would.

“I’m fine. I’m okay. I didn’t have any issues. I just need to get the stuff and get back to Crow.”

“Yeah, of course.” She held a bag out to me with her gloved hands. I stuffed it into the empty backpack I’d brought. “I called my cousin. He’s a doctor. We’re close enough that I felt safe telling him I had a friend who is in trouble. I explained the symptoms, and he wrote me a prescription for antibiotics. I nearly had to flash my boobs at the pharmacist to get him to put a rush on them.”

Oh God. She was amazing. She’d gotten me antibiotics. “You’re incredible! I don’t know what to say.”

“Just get home safe to your man and make sure he gets better. That’s the most important thing.”

I hugged her, just needing to be close to her. “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

“No worries, but I don’t feel comfortable with you riding back up there…I should try to drive you or something.”

“The snowmobile is made for this. It’s much safer than the truck. I can’t put you in danger like that, Melody. You’ve already done too much for me, and nothing is stopping me from going back up that mountain and getting to Crow.”

“You really love him?” she asked, her voice louder so I could hear her over the wind.

“More than anything,” I admitted before hugging her again.

“What if he won’t take the medicine?”

“He’s going to take it.” Or I would die trying.

And hopefully, he wasn’t allergic to anything I gave him.

Snow started falling again, which sucked. It would make my drive up even harder. It was much more difficult to see with snow falling down around you.

“I have to go.”

“Okay,” she said. “Be safe and let me know when you’re back home.”

I nodded, pulled up directions to Crow, and drove away.

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