and it served as an excellent visual marker against the relentless white of the slopes.
“It’s Beth,” she announced. She expelled a huge sigh of relief and hurried to the front door to let her friend in.
“Excellent,” Nancy said. “I hope she has news.”
Beth came in on a blast of arctic air. It took both her and Lindsey to shut the door against the incoming wind.
As Beth unwrapped her head, she took the cup of coffee Charlie offered with a grateful smile. “Hot coffee? It’s a miracle!”
“Where have you been? Why haven’t you answered your phone? Is your place okay? Where did you get that ride?” Lindsey peppered her with questions.
Beth held up her hand and took a long sip of the hot java. “Okay, I think I can feel my feet again. Let’s see, to start with, I’ve been mostly at home, but I just took a quick tour of town, the battery on my phone is dead, my house is fine, so far, and the snowmobile is my neighbor’s, but he’s too old to ride it so he lent it to me.”
“Is it totally fun?” Charlie asked.
“Totally,” she assured him. They pounded knuckles and Lindsey rolled her eyes. There were times she was pretty sure Beth was a twelve-year-old boy trapped in a thirty-two-year-old woman’s body.
“So, tell us,” Nancy said as she pulled Beth into her apartment and pushed her into a chair by the fire. “What’s it look like out there?”
Beth sobered immediately. “It’s bad. The drifts are already six feet high and getting higher. You can’t even tell what’s buried under them. The waves crested with the high tide, and Jeanette Palmer’s Beachfront Bed and Breakfast took a pounding. I think the only thing that saved her from losing her back porch to the sea was Ian Murphy and Sully spent most of last night hauling in sandbags from the highway department.”
“Is Jeanette okay?” Nancy asked.
“She’s fine,” Beth said. “The B and B was open today for business, and she was out sweeping her front steps when I stopped to check on her. She says this storm is nothing compared to the ones in ’52 and ’78.”
“It’s not over yet,” Nancy said, looking out the large bay window where the snow continued to fall.
“Which reminds me,” Charlie said. “I’m going to get out there and start shoveling before it gets too deep.”
“I’ll just call a snow plow,” Nancy said. “You don’t have to go out in this.”
Beth shook her head. “There isn’t a plow available. They’ve all been called out to do the roads. They’re hoping to get them at least partially dug out before the second half of the blizzard hits.”
“Is the library okay?” Lindsey asked.
Beth smiled at her. “That’s the first place I checked. The drifts are halfway up to the front door, but otherwise the building looks fine.”
Lindsey felt her shoulders lower in relief. She hadn’t realized she was so worried until Beth assured her that all was well.
“Can you give me a lift over there?” Lindsey asked. “I think I’d better start digging the building out. The town’s maintenance crew has enough to do and I don’t want it to get even worse.”
Nancy looked as if she would protest, but Lindsey held up her hand. “Unless you’re going to offer to loan me a snow shovel, don’t bother.”
Nancy blew out her lips in an exasperated puff. “They’re in the garage. Help yourself. But if the weather turns, get back here immediately, and take your cell phone with you.”
“I can…” Carrie began but Nancy cut her off.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said. “You can’t fit more than two people on that contraption, and besides, I need to teach you how to crochet. It will give me something to do besides fret.”
“Thanks anyway,” Lindsey said to Carrie, who shrugged.
Lindsey was glad Nancy had put the kibosh on Carrie going out in this weather. Carrie looked as pale as the snow drifts that surrounded the house, and Lindsey really didn’t think she had the stamina to be out in the cold.
“I’ll just go suit up,” Lindsey said and she darted up the stairs to her apartment. Heathcliff wanted to come with her, but she distracted him by throwing his chew toy to Beth, who began to play tug-of-war with him.
She didn’t want the young puppy out in this weather. There was no knowing when the storm would turn, and the thought of losing him in one of the drifts made her positively queasy.
Lindsey bounded back downstairs wearing her blue ski suit. It was not quite the neon pink of Beth’s, but at least she wouldn’t be confused with a snow drift either.
Charlie was already digging out the front porch and the driveway. He was as bundled as the Michelin tire man, leaving only his eyes visible above the scarf he’d wrapped around his face.
Lindsey borrowed two shovels and tucked them under one arm. When she climbed onto the snowmobile behind Beth, she looped her free arm about Beth’s waist. They both wore their ski goggles, and despite the bitter wind and pelting snow, Lindsey felt fairly warm with all of her gear on.
Beth revved the engine and they shot out over the snow and headed toward town. It took all of Lindsey’s coordination to hang on to the shovels and Beth. Although, she was driving carefully, not knowing what lay under the drifts, it was still a bouncy ride as she swerved to avoid dangerous bumps, and the visibility was poor as the snow continued to fall, and the sun’s light was a hazy gray at best as it tried to burn its way through the clouds.
Lindsey glanced up when they got closer to town. Roofs had several feet of snow on them, the trees bowed to the ground under the weight of the snow on their branches, cars were abandoned all over the road and the eerie sight of absolutely no one moving about town gave Lindsey a creepy chill up her spine.
Beth pulled onto the side lot of the library and cut the engine. They both climbed off and Lindsey had to straighten out the cramps in her knees. She hadn’t realized she’d been clenching them so tightly around the seat.
“Where should we start?” Beth asked. Her voice was muffled because of her scarf.
“Let’s start at the front,” Lindsey said. “We can dig the back door out later if we have time.”
She handed Beth a shovel, and together they began to attack the four-foot drift of snow that pressed against the glass doors to the library. Lindsey wondered how much snow it would take to bust open the doors. She was hoping she didn’t find out.
It was excruciatingly boring work. Because the walkway was so full of snow, they had to start at the curb and work their way toward the stairs to the doors. Lindsey had intended to dig out the entire building, but after an hour and a half, they had just finished the steps and were beginning to get to the drift against the doors, and she realized once they were done with that, she was done.
She was pushing her shovel into the meaty part of the drift when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Beth pointed with her glove at a person coming their way. The person was unrecognizable as they, too, wore a snowsuit. They had snowshoes on their feet and were making good time as they came toward the library.
“Who is it?” she asked Beth.
Beth shook her head.
As the person got near, they went right past Lindsey and Beth to the book drop. It was then that Lindsey noticed the backpack that they wore. The person swung the backpack off their shoulders and opened the book drop and began unloading a pile of books into the drop.
“Really?” Beth asked Lindsey. “A nor’easter is happening and this person snowshoed to the library?”
The person turned around and lowered their scarf. It was then that Lindsey recognized Javier Ramirez. He was a middle-aged man, married, with kids, who worked in a neighboring town as a teacher. He was a big fan of Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy.
“There,” he said. “My books were due today and I returned them today.”
“Thank you, but that really wasn’t necessary, Mr. Ramirez,” Lindsey said. “The library is closed.”
He waved his hand at her as if to say that was incidental. “You two are my witnesses. You tell that mean old Ms. Cole that Javier Ramirez returned his books on time. I don’t want to get any fines from that one. Last time she made my wife cry.”
Lindsey sighed. The lemon had obviously struck again.
“If Ms. Cole ever treats you or your family in a way that is unprofessional again, please tell me,” Lindsey said. “You’re a good patron and I won’t have that.”
