“Take care out there,” Daniel said as he saw the snow. “Go straight back to the cabins before it gets worse.”
“Will do.” Outside, the wind hit Doreen’s face with surprising force, carrying snowflakes that stung her cheeks. She ushered Jake and Bash toward the car, the snow instantly covering their tracks.
“It’s just a short drive back to the cabins. And the car is built for these conditions,” she reassured Jake as she buckled him in, Bash settling beside him on the back seat. “We’ll be home before you know it.”
As they pulled away from Daniel’s house, Doreen felt an unexpected prickle of unease along her spine. The snow wasfalling faster now, thick curtains of white that seemed to swallow the world around them.
But they were driving straight back to the cabins. Just before she collected Jake, she got a text to say the contracts for Sorcha’s book deal had finally come through. She’d quickly dropped Sorcha a message to arrange for her to sign them. Doreen had hoped to get them sent back to the publisher today, or tomorrow at the latest.
As they drove through town, the conditions didn’t seem too bad, and as she hit the back roads, the snow seemed to ease. However, when she reached the road leading up to the cabins, the snow returned with a vengeance. The windshield wipers fought valiantly against the onslaught, but visibility deteriorated with every passing minute. Doreen leaned forward, hands tight on the steering wheel, straining to make out the road ahead. The snow seemed to have swallowed any landmarks in a blanket of white.
“And then Maisie showed me how to make hot chocolate with real chocolate, not the powder kind,” Jake chattered from the back seat, seemingly oblivious to the worsening conditions. “She says it tastes better that way, and she’s right! Oh, and Teddy has this game where you build a tower and then try to pull out blocks without making it fall...”
Doreen made appropriate sounds of interest, but her attention remained fixed on the increasingly treacherous drive. The road narrowed as they entered a section of forest, tall pines creating a tunnel that would normally feel cozy but now seemed ominous as branches sagged under the weight of snow.
When she reached a fork in the road, Doreen hesitated. She could not see the sign that marked the route to the cabins, and her mind seemed to have gone blank as to which way to turn.She shook her head. Everything looked different, transformed by the snow into an unfamiliar landscape.
She squinted through the windshield, trying to make out any distinguishing features. The left path seemed wider, more traveled. Wasn’t that the way to the cabins? Or was it the logging trail James had mentioned during one of their walks?
She replayed James’s casual explanation in her head, the old logging road peels off just before the cabins. But the memory refused to sharpen.
She didn’t want to get lost in these conditions. So, she reached into her pocket for her phone.
It wasn’t there.
What! It was always there. She checked her other pocket. Empty.
Maybe in her purse, but she already knew it wasn’t in there. Damn it! Her phone must have fallen out of her pocket when she reached across and kissed James goodbye.
Well, they could not just sit here. The snow was coming down so heavily that her SUV would soon be stuck.
She had to choose. Doing nothing wasn’t safer.
“Is it getting worse?” Jake asked, finally noticing the thickening snowfall.
“Just a bit,” Doreen said, keeping her voice light as she put the car in drive and inched forward. “Nothing to worry about.”
But minutes later, when the narrow road curved sharply and began to climb upward, doubt crept in. This didn’t seem right. The road to the cabins was relatively flat. Had she taken the wrong turn?
From the back seat, Bash suddenly sat up straight, ears perked forward. A low whine escaped him, his body tensing.
“What’s wrong, Bash?” Jake asked, patting the dog’s head.
Before Doreen could answer, the car hit a patch of black ice hidden beneath the snow. The wheel jerked violently in her hands as they skidded sideways. Doreen’s stomach lurched as the world spun in a blur of white. She fought for control, but the SUV slid inexorably toward the edge of the road.
The impact when they hit the snowbank was softer than expected, more of a cushioned thump than a crash. For a moment, they sat in stunned silence.
“Are you okay?” Doreen twisted in her seat to check on Jake, sick with worry.
Jake nodded, eyes wide. “Bash protected me,” he said, arms wrapped around the golden retriever who had indeed pressed himself against the boy during the skid.
For a heartbeat, Doreen imagined her sister’s reaction if anything had happened to Jake, and the thought alone sharpened her focus like a slap. They were okay. They had to stay okay.
Doreen took a deep breath, then pressed gently on the gas pedal. The wheels spun uselessly, gaining no traction in the deep snow. She tried again, shifting to reverse, but the car remained firmly stuck.
That’s when the realization hit her with cold clarity: they had taken the wrong road. This wasn’t the path to the cabins at all. This was the old logging trail, unused except by occasional hikers and—according to James—forest rangers. If people came looking for them, they wouldn’t search here first.
“Are we stuck?” Jake asked, his voice small.
