“Shit.” I wanted to grab his hand, but there was no way I could distract him. “We should’ve stayed at the shop.”
“They said this was going to go on for three days. No fucking way. Are you crazy?” He glanced at me with big eyes.
My stomach dragged along behind the Jeep at his blasé attitude about being out in the storm. “You don’t have a clue how dangerous this is, do you?”
He turned to glare at me and opened his mouth.
Ahead, the soft pink glow of what would normally be red taillights had me clutching the dashboard. “Brake lights! Stop!”
He didn’t even look before he jammed his foot on the brake pedal, which he shouldn’t have done. Thankfully, he slid around a car literally stuck in the road, but that drove the Jeep’s nose into a deep pile of snow that had been shoved up onto the sidewalk as the plows lost the battle today. The Jeep stopped abruptly, throwing us against the seat belts, but the airbags didn’t deploy.
It took a few seconds for us to catch our breath.
“God damn it!” Ren swore a blue streak as he tried to reverse the Jeep.
“You’re hung up on the snow. It’s under the car,” I said as he jabbed the gas pedal. “Rock it. You won’t get out that way.”
“Huh?” He stared at me with a tiny furrow between his eyebrows.
I groaned. “You really are a California boy at heart, aren’t you? Let me behind the wheel. Now.”
“Absolutely not!” He snorted, but as he squinted worriedly out the windshield at the snowflakes pelting the glass, it hit me that he was scared, too. He should be. The last time I’d checked, the windchill blasting off the lake was negative thirty degrees.We were heading toward frostbite territory fast. We couldn’t walk.
“Either let me do it or listen to me.” I rested my hand on top of his on the shifter.
He shook me off but lightly touched my arm before I could pull back. The scowl he lobbed in my direction was colder than the snow. “Why do you think you can do it and I can’t?”
“Oh, well, gee, maybe the five years of winter driving in New Gothenburg I have under my belt?” I tossed up my hands.
He dropped his forehead against the steering wheel. “KC’s Jeep is probably all scratched to hell.”
“I guarantee that is the least of our worries. Get the emergency lights flashing,” I demanded.
When he didn’t move, only ground his teeth loud enough that they squeaked, I slapped the button for the flashers. “Move.”
“No. Tell me what to do.” He took a deep breath as he sat up and shook out his shoulders.
I explained how to rock the Jeep, and he was even doing it right, but we were really hung up on the snowbank. After ten minutes of swearing, he gave up.
“Stay here. I’m going to make sure the exhaust pipe is clear,” I said, tugging up my scarf.
“What!” He grabbed my arm, and even through my coat, it was a bit rough. “Don’t get out.”
“Oh, so you want to die of carbon monoxide poisoning if snow is around the exhaust?” My tendency to fight with him was rearing its ugly head, but it was making me feel better, so I went with it.
“Nooo.” He made a face.
“Stay here.” To my surprise, he listened as I opened the door and the frigid wind had him swearing again.
The cold air stole my breath and rocked the Jeep from side to side as it snatched the door out of my hand and slammed itclosed. That was one way to dothat. I pulled my scarf farther up and my hat down as I made my way to the rear. The tailpipe was clear because the Jeep was a tall vehicle, but the car we’d narrowly avoided rear-ending was nearby, and the passengers would be in trouble soon. The roaring wind and snow were so disorienting that they made the ten-foot trip as treacherous as a mile, but I located the car because of the emergency lights. I used my hands to dig out the tailpipe on the car.
A window cracked on the driver’s side. “Thank you!” a woman called. I fought the wind toward her. She had a sweet round tan face and her hair was hidden under a beanie. My stomach dropped to the center of the earth when I spotted two kids in some sort of toddler car seats in the back. They both wore pink snowsuits so thick they reminded me of marshmallows.
“You’re welcome.”
“The police are on their way here with a vehicle that can handle the roads.” Her sunny smile did nothing to make me feel better because technically KC’s Jeep should’ve been fine on the bad roads. It was just that awful out.
“Great!”
