Page 55 of Hairpin Curves

“Most schools in the Northeast, actually.” He continued typing on the keys as he spoke. “I’m reaching out to all the overflow lodges and inns in the area, and it looks like there’s a room available at one of them just a bit down the road from us. It’s less than a mile, and there’s even a shuttle bus from there to this lodge if you want to go skiing. Is that okay?” His eyes pleaded for them to say yes.

Scarlett was already nodding, but she glanced back to make sure Megan was in agreement. “That good by you?”

“How much is the rate?” Megan asked.

The amount he quoted wasn’t nearly as high as Megan expected. “What’s the catch?” Scarlett asked. “That’s not bad at all.”

The clerk shook his head, scanning his computer screen. “It’s their standard rate. I don’t know. The reviews online are good if you want to read them.”

Scarlett waved her hand. “After driving through that storm, I’d be willing to sleep in your lobby.”

“Technically, miss, that would be against the rules of our lodge—” he began, but Megan jumped in.

“Just please, can you have them reserve the room for us? We’ll be right there.”

Thank goodness it was only a half mile down the road from the resort, because even that half mile was treacherous. Megan could feel the car slipping, no matter how much Scarlett said the roads “weren’t that bad,” and she could tell from the way Scarlett sagged in relief that she was happy when they finally pulled into the parking lot. “This place is cute,” Megan observed, peering out at the little stand-alone lodge building. It was way too small for what she had expected, though. “Where’s the rest of it?”

“I think...there?” Scarlett pointed past the building at a bunch of A-frame stand-alone cabins. All of them had lights on in the windows except one. “I think those are the rooms.”

Megan frowned. “I always wanted to try camping, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

“Well, I’m not sleeping in the car. Let’s go.” Scarlett opened the door and stepped out into the driving snow without waiting for Megan.

After filling out some paperwork at the front desk and receiving an entire folder of instructions to go through, Megan followed Scarlett up the snow-covered path to the one non-illuminated A-frame cabin in the bunch. At least they were bigger than Megan had at first thought. They had looked like glorified tents, but now that she was standing next to one, they were definitely a good fifteen feet tall at the peak. Scarlett jimmied the frozen lock and then pushed into a little foyer for them to take off their snowy layers. They pulled off snow-covered shoes and jackets before finally getting inside and finding a light switch.

Megan leaned back against the closed front door and scanned the entire space. It wasn’t large, but it was completely open except for one door to their right that led to the bathroom. They were standing in a tiny eat-in kitchenette, and past that was a living room with a couch and armchair, both facing a woodstove that had a giant pile of wood stacked alongside in an iron rack along the wall. The entire back wall of the cabin was made up of huge, floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking a forest and then, past that, the ski mountain. Megan walked over to those windows in her stockinged feet, looking out at the snow glimmering in the dim light.

Except something was missing. “Where’s the bedroom?” Megan asked, turning, but Scarlett was already pointing to the staircase running along one wall up to a loft.

“Can we figure this out first?” Scarlett pointed to the woodstove. “I’m going to freeze to death.”

Megan started leafing through the paperwork from the front desk for the woodstove instructions. It was the second sheet in the packet, and she scanned it. “This doesn’t look that complicated.”

Scarlett held up her hands. “I’ll help if you want, but you and I both know that you’re way more mechanically inclined than I am.”

She wasn’t wrong. Megan knelt down at the front of the iron beast and began to follow the step-by-step instructions. Scarlett’s gaze stayed on her, resting like a physical touch on the side of her face, and Megan kept struggling not to lose her place as she lit some newspaper and tucked it between the logs like the instructions said. Within a few minutes, the woodstove was aflame, and she closed the door, making sure all the other levers matched the diagram.

“I’m impressed.” Scarlett folded her arms and nodded. “You look like you know what you’re doing.”

Megan held up the sheet of instructions. “It’s all written down here.”

“But still. You were always the more competent of the two of us. Building things, fixing things, getting through school, all of it.” Scarlett went over to the windows and looked out. She always said things like that, tossing out disparaging remarks about herself and then moving on like nothing happened. Megan hadn’t fully come up with a response before Scarlett added, “It’s really coming down out there. You think somebody will bring us a pizza?”

Megan laughed. “Probably not, but we could get delivery from the restaurant at the ski resort. The info pack says they’ll walk to any of the surrounding inns, and we’re on the list.”

Although Megan had been hoping to be in Quebec that night, eating ribs from the barbecue restaurant in front of a woodstove was a pretty good second choice. The snow was still falling heavily outside, with no signs of letting up, and Megan was perfectly happy to finish her meal in relative warmth and comfort while the storm continued outside. At least the Château Frontenac had been gracious with their changing the reservation again, and had told them that the snow had affected a lot of people’s arrival plans.

“It’s really something.” Scarlett returned to the window to look outside once their dinner dishes had been cleared away. “There has to be half a foot out there already.”

“You think it’s that much?”

“Got to be. That lump out there was a bench, I’m pretty sure.”

“Have you checked the weather yet?” Megan had been too preoccupied with food to do any internet sleuthing once they’d gotten settled, and now that she was curled up in the armchair, she didn’t want to get her phone across the room.

Scarlett pulled out her phone and settled into the couch. “Good thing this place has Wi-Fi, because there are zero bars of cell service.” She frowned at the screen, which reflected a blue glow back at her face. “Fuck.”

That wasn’t a good sign. “What?”