Page 20 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

“You’ll never make it!” he said, abandoning the kitchen to stalk after me. “Trudging through the snow will exhaust you, and you’ll either freeze to death where you stand or force emergency services to spend all night reaching you. You’ve already been outside with Kenna. You know how deep the snow drifts are.”

“I’ll have you know I used to run cross-country in college.” I jutted out my hip. “These legs can go for days.” I paused at the door long enough to stuff my feet in my boots. “Are you okay if I use the front this time, or did you want me to wriggle back out through the dog door?”

“Don’t be unreasonable.”

“Thank you for your hospitality,” I said. “It was such a pleasure. I hope I soon forget it. Say goodbye to Kenna for me.” I didn’t want to upset the kid when she realized I was taking Princess with me, so I figured slipping out without a scene was probably better. I swung the door open, taking in a lungful of chilled air, and walked into the snow. Here goes…everything.

“You’re going to get stuck,” Alistair called after me.

“Haven’t you ever heard of a Christmas miracle?”

“Bloody hell,” he muttered.

It would have almost been comical if it wasn’t immediately a lot of work. The snowdrifts really were deep, and navigating them was more challenging out here where there was no protection from the wind.

“It’s going to be dark in a few hours,” Alistair called.

Yeah, that was a fair point. But I was bundled up. Princess had her little nest of clothes to curl up in. My phone was fully charged. Town was a straight shot. Plus, I had my emergency flashlight.

And how long did it take to walk a couple miles, anyway? The app gave the walking time as about an hour, but that didn’t account for the snow.

I glanced ahead. Even if I added a little extra time to accommodate for the snow, I’d still be in town long before it got dark. I marched on, already feeling an ache in my shoulder. “Maybe we should have gotten you a sled,” I said to Princess.

Halfway down the drive, I was already sweating.

“On the bright side, we’re going to have buns of steel. I won’t have to do a squat for months.”

“Sure you don’t want to turn around?” Alistair shouted. He’d followed me down the steps but didn’t step onto the snow.

I pressed on. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of watching me waiver. “Go away!” I shouted back. “I don’t need an audience.”

“There’s hot chocolate in the cupboard,” he called. “And a roaring fire in the den. I can light the one in your room as well.”

“Oh, I’m Alistair, look at my fancy house with all its fireplaces. Blah!” I huffed, even though hot chocolate next to a fire sounded really nice. I reached the end of the drive, glancing back and forth down the snow-covered road. It might be faster to cut across fields, but with snow this deep, I’d have no hint of what I was potentially stepping into—the odds of tripping over a root or stump were too high. Maybe I was better off sticking to the road after all. If this was the road. Clearly, no one had passed yet, which was unfortunate because there weren’t even tire tracks for me to follow.

“At least wait until the gritter comes out,” Alistair shouted.

And spend another night with you? Yeah, right. I squinted at the place my van had gone into the ditch. It was buried.

Great.

I snapped a photo so I could forward it to Lyle and tell him to look for the vague hill-shaped thing outside of Dunhope. With nothing else holding me back, I trudged forward. A chunk of snow got past my layers, seeping past my ankle and pooling in the bottom of my boot.

“Ack! Cold.”

I winced. Okay, maybe Alistair was right. I was going to end up with frostbite up to my knees, and he was going to have to mush out here to rescue me. I spied over my shoulder quickly. He was still watching me.

I gritted my teeth, annoyed at myself for being in this position in the first place. Annoyed at the stupid app I’d followed to end up driving this way in the first place. Annoyed at Princess for yipping like she was having the time of her life.

“Ready to give up yet?” Alistair called.

“I’m not giving up. I’m re-evaluating my options!” I slowly turned around, mushing back through my own footprints. Princess jerked in the bag suddenly, barking at something. The movement was enough to tug me off balance, and I tumbled sideways into the snow.

“Should I send out search and rescue?” Alistair called, laughing at me.

Laughing!

Like this was all fun and games.