Lifting her back up after she hobbles to the door once she’s done, I remind her I don’t want her on her feet.
“You can’t carry me everywhere,” she chides me, but I can and I will until her ankle heals.
With no real complaints, she lets me settle her back onto the couch where I kiss her again, reminding her to tell me if she needs anything or has to go anywhere while I pack her dad’s truck.
Before I can get far from the porch of the cabin though, I know I’ve got some shoveling to do.
The weather’s cleared, but there are several feet of snow between me and the SUV, and its radio.
I make light work of it, and in not much time have the vehicle clear and running while I power up the CB radio, scratching my temple as I try to remember the best frequency to reach the one guy I know can help.
Mike Winters.
I used to work rigs with him a while back, but he turned trucker once he had too close a call with some heavy drill equipment. He cashed out and bought a truck, only works the winter season now, living up to his own namesake.
After a few tries, and a few more angry truckers telling me to get off the air, I manage to get a hold of him.
I heave a sigh of relief too, once I find out he’s actually in Vermont.
“I heard you got out of rigging too, and in one piece I hope?” he asks.
We indulge in a little chit-chat, but Mike knows I wouldn’t be hailing him on the truck radio after a blizzard unless I needed help.
“Where are ya, Carter, and what D’ya need?” he finally asks, cutting to the chase.
There’s a long silence after I tell him where I am and that I need myself and Serena, plus the SUV I’m sitting in extracted to the nearest clear road pointing back towards Boston.
“Sounds like you need a fucking magician, Carter,” he finally replies gruffly, and I feel my shoulders sink a little.
“Ah well, it was worth a shot, Mike. You take care-” I start to say.
“Hey! I said you need a magician… now you got one,” he laughs out loud, sounding like a kid who has the biggest secret in the world.
“I’m following the biggest plow this side of Boston, and we’re about fifteen miles out from where you are.”
I feel myself smiling, sitting up straight again as I watch my own brow cock in the rearview mirror before I wink to myself.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” I tell Mike, knowing that favors are favors, but going off-route costs time and money.
And money always talks better than I do.
“I know you will, Carter,” Mike says gratefully. “Gimme five and I’ll get back to ya, just run it past Mr. Plow here and see what he thinks.”
I know it’ll happen, Mike’s as big in the trucking world as he was on the rigs, and in less than a minute he’s telling me to get ready.
“With what we have to go and where you’re at… give it an hour Carter. I can carry your bus on my half-empty trailer and take you back as far as the freeway, which I know is clear now,” he tells me, which is music to my ears.
Chapter Nineteen
Serena
Carter wants to go, my dad wants me to go.
But after being carried back to the couch in his arms, having him kiss me and promise to call on him if I need him, do I really want to go anywhere now?
I know I’m Carter’s. Mind, body, and soul and I know he feels the same.
We have tons of food, plenty of firewood…
Apart from spraining my ankle, overreacting because of my imagination, and having to be carried to the bathroom, I could really stay here with Carter like this forever.
But he wants us gone because of who else is up here, not because of where we are, I know that.
But if dad had to fly out of here, how are we gonna get home?
I find myself starting to worry about everything he told me not to, worrying about the truck as well as what happens if and when we do get home.
Dealing with my dad.
No. The idea of me and Carlton on the couch forever in the woods is much more interesting to think about.
And I do, until I doze off to the sounds of the fire crackling and some snow occasionally shifting on the roof.
I hear myself murmuring something to Carter, half-dreaming as his hands run up the inside of my thighs, making me swoon.
Hearing my own voice promise myself to him all over again.
“You alright?” Carter asks, leaning over me again, making me gasp as I open my eyes, reaching out for him by reflex.