Stranded in the Snow

This is my submission for the 2019 Winter Holidays contest. Don't forget to vote at the end, it would be much appreciated. Of course, comments and feedback are also very welcome.

NOTE: This story is about 5 pages long, and has a slow buildup. If you're just looking for a quick fix, this story might not be for you, but I promise we'll get to the good stuff eventually.

Many thanks to Ada Stuart and BrokenSpokes for talking through my ideas with me. They helped me realize I was approaching the story from the wrong angle, and while it meant scrapping my half-finished first attempt and starting over from scratch, I think it's lead to a story that's much better than it would have been without their help.

I also want to thank Ada for proofreading the story. Her feedback was very useful and helped me fix some odd sentences and other weirdness throughout the story.

Special thanks go to SheDreamsInRed, who helped me out with the recipes and cooking scenes. I'm a terrible cook, so her expertise was invaluable. Any mistakes or inaccuracies in these scenes are entirely my own. I also want to thank her for giving the story a final last minute once-over, catching some things that slipped through my editing. It really helped to give the story some more polish before submitting.

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"You sure you don't want to stay until tomorrow, Tim?"

"No thanks, I really should go now." I gave my mother a reassuring smile before hugging her tightly. "I'm going to miss your cooking."

My father stumbled down the stairs, putting my suitcase down in front of me and stretching his back.

"You see the weather forecast? Looks like it's going to snow, and not a little either. You really want to go now?"

"Dad..." I sighed impatiently.

I didn't exactly need to head home just yet, but I couldn't tell them that. I still had a full week off work for Christmas, and I didn't have any plans for the next few days. It wasn't that I didn't like spending time with my parents either. We were pretty close and I always felt welcome. However, there was someone else that I was itching to get some distance from.

"Gonna miss you, Timmy." Speaking of the devil...

My big brother crushed me in a bear hug that cracked my ribs and squeezed the air out of my lungs. His huge hand ruffled my hair painfully, undoing all the time I had spent earlier to try and tame my bed head. It didn't matter that he had just turned thirty; I was still his little brother and the way he treated me hadn't changed since we were kids, despite me only being two years younger.

"Andy," I wheezed, struggling helplessly against his iron grip. "Air, please..."

He let go of me and I felt my feet touch the ground again. It took a few deep breaths for my head to stop spinning. When I looked up I noticed the woman hovering awkwardly behind him.

Maria approached me and smiled, making me feel lightheaded once again. How my oaf of a brother had managed to marry such a lovely woman was beyond me. She seemed intelligent enough to have a better taste in men, and I doubted that she had a lack of choice either with looks like hers. But then again, women had always been a mystery to me.

"Drive safe," she said softly.

"I will, thanks."

I extended my hand towards her but she surprised me by pulling me into a hug instead. I closed my eyes for a moment as I took in the flowery smell of her hair. Then I became aware of the way her protruding stomach was pushing against mine. Great, as if I needed another reminder that my brother wasn't only married, but expecting his first child too. He had mentioned it at least ten times over the last few days.

Maria let go of me and I quickly bent down to grab my suitcase in an attempt to hide the blush that was creeping onto my cheeks. Andy would kill me if he knew that I had a crush on his wife. Or well, crush was a big word. I just tended to get shy around women, especially attractive ones.

"Well, it's a long drive. I guess I'd better get going." I turned around to open the front door but my mother stopped me, pushing a small paper-wrapped package into my hands.

"I packed you some lunch," she said with a smile that had just a hint of nostalgia.

"Thanks. I'm sure it's a lot better than anything I could pick up along the way."

My hand found the doorknob unhindered this time and soon we were all standing outside among the snow on the cold December morning. They all watched as I loaded my suitcase into the back of my car. After a final round of goodbyes I was finally on my way, soon leaving the town I was born and raised behind.

I had only been driving for about an hour when the first snow of the day started falling. Just small flakes at first, lazily drifting in the wind and sticking to my windows before almost instantly melting away. But there were clouds in the distance, dark and threatening, promising this was only a small taste of what was to come.

The clouds quickly delivered on that promise. Soon the sky turned dark and the wind picked up. More and more snow fell, the flakes getting bigger with the minute, whipped around by the howling winds. Visibility got worse until I could hardly see more than fifty feet ahead of me and my windshield wipers were fighting to keep the snow at bay.

As the weather got worse, I started wondering if I'd made the right choice. Sure, Andy had been annoying, but had it really been worth ignoring the weather forecast? Of course, it hadn't just been Andy. Seeing him with Maria filled me with a sense of envy that I couldn't quite explain, making me more grumpy and sarcastic than usual.

And then there was mom's prodding into my love life... She'd been dropping subtle and not so subtle hints urging me to finally find a girl and get married the whole time, and the talk about grandkids was making me sick. It was not like I hadn't had any girlfriends in the past, but it was never something long-term. And mom would get her hopes up every time, thinking I'd finally found 'the one'. It was driving me nuts.

After a few hours of driving, I decided to take a shortcut: a long, narrow road cutting through some farmland. While the main roads were pretty much clear of snow, here I could hear it crunch beneath my tires. At least it was fresh snow with only a few tracks from other cars and not the compressed, ice-like layer you get when people keep driving over it repeatedly. I still drove carefully, but I didn't need to worry about slipping quite as much as I would have otherwise.

It was approaching noon by the time I decided to take a lunch break. I parked my car at the side of the narrow road and opened the package my mom had handed me, finding two turkey wraps she had made using some leftovers from last night's Christmas dinner. They were cold but still tasted amazing. Her food always made me smile, and while I wasn't a bad cook myself, it was one of the things I had missed most since I had moved to the other side of the state for work.

I was halfway through the second wrap when it suddenly got suspiciously quiet. I'd left my car running so the heater would stay on, but now both the hot air and the rumble of the engine had stopped. Frowning, I turned the key, trying to start the car again. It had some trouble in cold weather sometimes, so hopefully that was all I had to do.

The engine sputtered before falling silent. I tried again. And again.

"FUCK!"

I hit my steering wheel with the palm of my hand, falling back into my seat. Even in the few seconds since the windshield wipers had stopped moving, the snow had already started to accumulate on my window. I was personally more worried about the temperature, though. Right now the inside of my car was comfortably toasty, but that would soon change without the constant supply of hot air from the heater.

Panic grabbed my heart like a cold hand, but I forced myself to take a deep breath and think clearly. First order of business: calling someone. I fished my phone out of my pocket and tried to unlock it. Nothing. Maybe it had turned off in my pocket? I held the power button down in an attempt to boot it up but was greeted with an 'empty battery' message before the screen went black again. Oh boy... This wasn't good.

Thinking back to last night, I tried to remember if I had plugged in my phone before I went to bed. I wasn't sure, but it wouldn't have been the first time I forgot. I knew my car charger was somewhere in my suitcase in the back of the car, but even if I managed to find it there was no way to charge my phone right now. I was no car guy, but I was pretty sure the battery was dead, which meant I had no electricity at all.

Slowly the realization settled in: I was stranded in a slowly cooling car in the middle of a snowstorm. At the side of a small, seemingly deserted farm road, with no way of letting anyone know where I was. I took another deep breath, determined not to let the panic take over, and shoved my useless phone back in my pocket.

Through the gaps between the snowflakes on my windshield, I could just make out the dark shape of the nearest farm. It was still pretty far away, but maybe I could reach it and ask for help, or at least find shelter there. I would risk freezing to death by walking so far in this weather, but once my car cooled down staying in here wouldn't be much better either. I'd just freeze to death slower.

Just as I was starting to bundle up and prepare myself to face the cold, I heard a low rumble over the howling of the wind. A dark shape was approaching from behind and a shadow fell over my car as something stopped to my left. The cold wind slapped me in the face as I rolled down my window. This was probably the first time I was happy that my car was old-fashioned enough to have windows that you had to crank manually rather than having electronic controls for it because the latter would be useless without any power.

The window of the pickup truck beside me opened as well and the driver, a blond woman, leaned out of it.

"Car trouble?" She had to raise her voice to be heard over the wind.

I nodded. "Dead battery, I think. Won't start anymore."

"You waiting for someone to come pick you up?"

"Phone's dead," I explained. "So no, I'm afraid not."

"Can you try to start it again?"

I did as she asked, with the same result as before. As the engine sputtered and went quiet again.

"See?" I said.

"Hmm... Well, I'm not jumping out in this weather find out what's wrong with it, and I left my jumper cables at home anyway." She seemed to think for a long moment, glancing at the sky. "Fine, grab your stuff and hop in."

"Thank you!" I said, but she had already closed the window. I quickly followed her example, not wanting to lose any more heat than necessary.

I bundled up against the cold and gathered the few things I had in the car with me. Then I stepped outside. The wind seemed to cut straight through my jeans and instantly chilled my legs to the bone. My coat only offered slightly more protection, but I already felt myself starting to shiver.

After transferring my suitcase to her truck and locking my car, I hopped into the passenger seat. I had barely buckled my seatbelt before she pulled up and we were leaving my car behind. The woman didn't seem very talkative, keeping her eyes straight on the road.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Really," I said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Could hardly leave you freezing to death. I'd have called a tow for you, but with this weather and the holidays it would take ages for them to arrive."

Now that she wasn't yelling, I noticed that she had a low voice, for a woman.

"So eh... where are we going?" I asked.

"Home. I live nearby, we'll be there any minute."

I turned to look at her, eying the blond curls that spilled down from underneath the red baseball cap she wore, framing her round face. They came about halfway down her neck and bounced slightly whenever she turned her head. Like they did just now, as she caught me staring and shot me a look. I quickly averted my eyes and stared out the window on my right, feeling a blush heating up my cheeks.

We drove the rest of the way in an even more uncomfortable silence than before until she turned up the driveway of one of the farms a few minutes later. I heard the barking of a dog as we got closer to the farm and reflexively looked around for it.

"You really think I'd keep him outside in this weather?" the woman asked as she raised an eyebrow at me.

"I eh... No, I guess not." I had to admit that was stupid of me.

We stopped in front of a smaller building behind the farm and she hopped out to open a big sliding door. It turned out to be a garage, complete with a tractor and some farming equipment. At the right side was an empty spot, and after the woman got back behind the wheel she turned the pickup truck around and effortlessly backed it up into the free space.

She cut the engine and stepped out without saying a word, watching me as I retrieved my suitcase from the back seat before locking the car. She closed the sliding door behind us and locked that too before leading the way to the front door of the farm.

"Alright, little warning about Nugget," she started with one hand on the doorknob.

"Nugget?" I asked, not able to suppress a chuckle at the name.

"The dog," she said with an eye roll. "He's not too fond of strangers. But don't worry, he won't attack you or anything. Not unless I tell him to, anyway."

"That's reassuring." I swallowed.

"You'll be fine, he's just a bit protective of me. He's a guard dog, after all."

Apparently having had enough of the conversation and the freezing cold, she turned the key and opened the door. We were instantly greeted by more barking, but there was still a door separating us from the dog. We took off our coats and other layers of protection from the elements in the hallway before heading into the house. As she led the way again, I noticed that the woman seemed a bit shorter than I had initially thought without the heels of her shoes, which she had traded for fluffy pink slippers.

When she opened the door of the hallway a big German shepherd was waiting for us on the other side. He greeted her briefly before positioning himself between the woman and myself, growling softly and baring his sharp teeth.

I froze in place, looking back and forth between the dog and his owner.

"So eh... what do I do now?"

"Try to stay calm, he's just trying to intimidate you."

"Well, it's working..." I grasped the handle of my suitcase more tightly in my hands, realizing I was reflexively holding it as a shield between me and the dog.

The woman chuckled. "He's just protecting me. Don't provoke him and he should warm up to you over time."

She led me into the living room, where a big leather couch and two matching chairs were arranged around a coffee table. Nugget was glued to her side, his intelligent eyes never letting me out of his sight as I took a seat on the couch.

"Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?" the woman asked.

"Coffee would be nice, thank you."

"I could go for a cup as well. You have anything in yours?"

"Milk and sugar, please. Oh, and do you mind if I plug in my phone? As I said earlier, it's dead right now and I'd like to call someone to come and get my car."

"Sure, go ahead. I'll be back in a bit."

She turned around and left, Nugget casting one final look in my direction before following her. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding when the two were out of sight. I liked dogs, generally, but this one was making me nervous.

I opened my suitcase and started digging for my phone's charger. I had packed in a hurry and the drive hadn't helped the mess inside either. Just when I was starting to worry I had left it back at my parents' place, I finally found what I was looking for.

Finding a socket was a lot easier, as there was one right next to the couch. I'd just plugged in my phone and was waiting for it to start up when the woman returned with two steaming mugs.

"Here you go," she said as she handed me one.

"Thanks."

She sat down in the chair to my right and held her coffee close to her face with both hands, gently blowing on it. Nugget had followed her back inside and was now lying at her feet, seeming at ease, but I could see he was still keeping an eye on me. At least he wasn't growling anymore.

"Name's Alex, by the way," she suddenly said.

"I'm Tim, nice to meet you."

I just smiled at her, as she hadn't offered me her hand to shake. She'd taken off her baseball cap along with her coat back in the hallway when we had gotten inside and was wearing a pair of tight, faded jeans and a wine-red knitted sweater.

Her brown eyes were distant as she looked away from me and blew on her coffee. From the side, she kind of looked like my brother's wife Maria in a way, I realized. Well, if Maria had shorter hair with more curls. But the rounded features that made her look several years younger, her small rounded nose and big brown eyes, her full lips...

"Anyway, you called someone to tow you yet?" Alex asked as she turned to face me, nodding towards my phone and making me realize I was staring again.

"Oh eh... No, I only just turned it on."

"You'd better get on that. I doubt they'll get here fast since you're not stranded or in danger. Not to mention the holidays, or all the other people stuck in the storm."

"Feared I wasn't going to make it home soon," I said, sipping my coffee. It was surprisingly good, just how I liked it.

"Did you still have far to go?"

"About 5 hours or so. Well, probably longer in this weather." I nodded towards the window, which gave us a good view of the snowstorm as it continued to rage on.

"Damn, that blows."

We sat in silence for a moment, both sipping our coffee. Even though I hadn't been outside in the cold much, it was still nice to feel the pleasant warmth of the hot drink spreading through my body, starting at my stomach and slowly working its way to my extremities.

"Yes, thank you. I'll hear from you tomorrow, then. Bye." I let out a sigh as I ended the call.

"That didn't sound very promising," Alex said.

She had started pacing around the room when I dialed the number of the local towing company that I had found online on my phone. Right now she was standing in front of the window, holding her empty mug in her hands as she stared at the snowflakes that flew past.

"Turns out you were right. They're busy and won't risk facing the storm themselves unless you're in danger. Since I'm not freezing to death right now, I guess I didn't get priority. They'll come to pick up my car tomorrow at the earliest, provided the storm has died down a little by then."

"Guess I should have just left you. Would have gotten priority then," Alex said as she turned to face me again. She chuckled faintly and gave me a half-smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"I'm not sure that would have been better. I mean, I didn't have hot coffee back there." She didn't react to my (admittedly lame) attempt at a joke.

I reached forward to put my mug on the table. Nugget growled and instantly raised his head as he watched my movement. After a few seconds he seemed to judge it non-threatening and lowered his head again, but continued staring up at me from his spot in front of the chair Alex had been sitting in.

"You know anyone around here?" Alex asked. The 'that you can stay with' was silent, but I still felt it.

"Not really. Closest would be my parents and brother, I guess, but that's almost as far away as my own house is. Not exactly what I'd call being in the area."

Alex resumed her pacing. I got nervous just watching her.

"I eh... I guess I could find a hotel or something to stay the night?" I suggested, feeling like I was being a burden to her.