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"Sure, it's easy for you to say 'it's no big deal, let's go'. Do you have any idea what Slade and Blake would do to me if anything happened to you?" I shook my head. "Nuh-uh. Not worth it."
"Oh, geez. You are a bigger worrywart than Slade is, and I didn't think that was possible. It's just a little thunder. I'm surprised at you, that you would let such a silly thing like a little thunder ruin our fun day."
Who was this woman? "But…Slade…Blake…" I stammered, knowing it was a lost cause. The truth was, even though she was acting more like she was four than seventy-nine, Nan was more intimidating than the both of them put together.
"Oh, don't be a killjoy, they won't be home until dinnertime," Nan muttered, spryly hopping off the stool and heading towards the living room. "I'm going to go get my purse and get dressed. You do the same. And hurry it up, I want to be back before my soaps come on."
When they were ready to leave, thunder cracked again, and a flash of light filled the dim kitchen. Nan already had her hand on the front door, and she didn't even hesitate for a minute, pulling the door open.
"If you don't come, I'm going without you," she warned. "And I haven't driven in years."
With no choice and my stomach in my throat, I followed. So much for protecting my ass.
* * *
Blake
Lightning flashed in front of us, and the horses bucked wildly on their tethers. "Well, shit," I growled. "That came in fast."
"Hurry up, and finish what you are doing," I called out to Slade. "We need to get these horses back to the barn and get the others in, too."
Without looking up from the fencepost he was hammering, Slade nodded his agreement. I had finished mine and walked over to our horses, petting and comforting them while I waited. They didn't like thunder and spooked easily, but they were the best working horses we had. The others were for the outreach program.
Slade finished up and jogged over, flinging his supplies into Lola's saddle bag and mounting Zeke. I did the same, mounting Lola. "Think we should go check on the girls?"
I shook my head. "I think Nan and Merry are fine. They can fend for themselves. The horses can't. Stop being such a Daddy," I guffawed.
"Can't stop being what I am."
"Well, hold off on it, then. Once we get back to the barns and get the animals all settled in for the night, you can Daddy to your heart's content."
"Damn straight."
I nodded, turning Lola towards the main barn, as flurries of snow fell from the sky, hitting the ground in front of us in large, fast falling flakes. It was sticking. I shivered, more from a sense of foreboding than from the cold. "Let's get a move on, then. Try to get in before the worst of it hits."
We rode side by side in silence. I could tell Slade was worrying. The truth was I was, too. No matter how many times I laughed Slade off for being an overprotective worrywart, I couldn't deny the knot in the pit of my gut telling me that he was right. Something was off. I just hoped that something had nothing to do with the storm.
* * *
Merry
To my dismay, the snow began to fall before we even hit the main road. "Nan, maybe we should turn around. It's getting worse."
"Pshaw. It's just a few snowflakes. It's not even thundering and lightning anymore, and the wind is barely blowing. Just keep driving. Hell, drive faster, if it will make you feel better."
What would make me feel better was if we were in Slade's big ol' truck instead of your oldbeater car. That was what I thought. What I said was, "Okay." And then I floored it. I just wanted to get there and get the stupid icing and get back home to the ranch, and I knew I would be driving slow as shit on the way back if the storm kept up the way I expected it to, despite Nan's insistence that it was a minor one.
The roads were straight and empty, and I figured that, until there was enough snow on the ground to make the roads slippery, twenty over the speed limit wouldn't hurt.
I miscalculated. Big time. Maybe I was too busy silently glowering at Nan to pay attention to the road. Maybe the snow had fallen thicker and faster than I realized, or maybe I was just an idiot who forgot to slow down before I hit the sharp turn on the back road highway right before town. Whatever the cause, the effect would be the same. My ass was grass. That was the only thought in my head as we slid across the road, barreling into a ditch on the other side, crashing to a stop off the road with a sharp lurch. We barely missed hitting a huge ass tree. I was so dead.
Exhaling deeply, I turned to Nan, assessing the situation. She was out cold. I leaned over and grabbed her wrist, holding it as I counted. The pulse was strong. There was a small gash on her head and a dab of blood on the dashboard, but my biggest concern was that she was currently unconscious.
Unbuckling my seatbelt, I turned and rummaged behind me where the contents of my purse had spilled out across the floorboard. I picked up my cell phone—and stared at its dark screen. Shit. Dead. I hadn't thought to charge it when we had gotten in last night. And even if I had, I realized with dread, I hadn't bothered to get Slade's number or Blake's. I didn't even know for sure if they had mine, though I assumed they must, if the PI they had hired was worth his salt.
Resting in the fact that Nan appeared to be mostly okay, I took stock of my own injuries. There was a large gash on my forearm, from what, I wasn't quite sure, and my neck and back were all kinds of stiff. Other than that, nothing hurt or felt off. Unraveling my scarf from around my neck, I wrapped it around the gash, tying it tightly over the wound. I'd be lucky if it didn't require stitches, but that was going to be the least of my problems.
More immediate problems were the fact that the snow was falling hard and fast around us, I had a dead phone, and I hadn't eaten breakfast. I never did, but who knew how long we would be out here. I only hoped we didn't freeze before they found us.
