Before I allowed my bodily desires to run away with my rational mind again.
The water of the shower was ice cold. It was like the water heater wasn’t even working. I shivered in the pathetic water pressure while using the motel’s crappy soap to wash with, trying to work the film off my skin that had developed. There was nothing about this room that was anywhere near appealing, and I was glad we were getting out of it soon.
The icy water beat down onto my back while I quickly washed my hair. Then, I turned it off before I hopped out. I grabbed for the first towel I could find and wrapped it around me, then headed straight for the phone. In all this weather, with all this snow coming down, the least the front desk could do was make sure these rooms had hot water.
But the only news was terrible news the moment I picked up the phone.
“Front desk.”
“Yes, this is room 113,” I said. “There seems to be an issue with our hot water.”
“Yes, sir. The heater blew, and we’re currently working on it.”
Great. Just what we all needed. A busted water heater while the snow poured down outside.
“Is there any time projection as to when the issue will be rectified?” I asked.
“No, sir. I have no idea when it’ll be fixed. We’ll call all the rooms once we’ve got it.”
Without another word, I hung up the phone. I couldn’t stay in this place another minute. This motel didn’t have a decent bed, decent carpet, decent towels, or decent walls. They didn’t give a damn about service, nor did it seem like they did renovations to the place in the last… well… ever. I’d stayed in hostels during my younger days nicer than this place, and all I wanted was to get out.
“Let’s get dressed,” I said.
“Why?” Abby asked.
“Because we’re going to head out.”
I watched her turn her head to look outside while I gathered my suit off the floor. I could only imagine the dust and grime my clothing was now littered with since they’d been on the floor. I heard the television turn on behind me while Abby sat at the edge of the bed, her body wrapped in the musty sheets of the bed.
Her eyes were trained onto the screen while a weather report droned on in the background, and the punches just kept on coming.
“Good afternoon, everyone. My name’s Roy Barker, and this is a weather emergency announcement. There is a winter storm warning blanketing the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. Those located in the center of the storm will see as much as a foot and a half of snow before the night is out, but even those on the outskirts of the storm should be careful. Snowfall in these areas will get up to eight inches.”
I turned around and looked at the screen. I searched for the red dot that signaled where we currently were, and I sighed when I finally located it.
We were in the middle of this damn storm.
“I know you wanna get out of here,” Abby said. “But I don’t really think it’s safe.”
I wanted to combat her, but I knew she was right. We weren’t just in the center of the storm, we were on the outskirts of the center. That meant if we started driving now, we’d still have to drive for another hour before we got out just from underneath the center of this damn thing.
“Of course, it’s not,” I said, mumbling.
“Well, we can make the best of it,” she said.
“And how do you propose we do that?” I asked.
“I mean, it’s already entertaining watching you roughing it.”
“And what do you suppose we do about food?” I asked.
“Want me to go get some more crackers from the vending machine?” she asked.
“I’m serious, Abby,” I said. “We’ll be here until at least morning, as much as I hate to admit it. We’re going to need something besides stale crackers.”
“They’re not too stale…”
I slowly panned my gaze over to her while she stifled her own little giggle. How in the world could she be this optimistic? How in the world could she find a silver lining in this debacle? I didn’t understand where she was getting her happiness. I didn’t understand what silver lining she was looking at. She was cheery all the time, always found a way to laugh at something, and didn’t seem to have a care in the world.
Must be nice, not having anything to worry about. Even though I didn’t understand the very strange woman I was traveling with or what my pull was toward her, I did know one thing for sure.
I wasn’t going to make it to this meeting on time.
With a towel still wrapped around me, I ventured over to my bags. I pulled out my laptop and quickly connected to the internet. I wanted to make good use of it while it was still up because I wasn’t putting anything past this circumstance any longer. I quickly finished the notes for the presentation I was working on earlier. Then, I sent it off to the man I’d have to volley this meeting over to.
I gave him a call on my phone.
“Colin!” he said. “Thank fuck. Are you okay?”
“No, Mac. I’m not. Listen, I just sent you the rest of the PowerPoint with the added notes. It’s going to be you handling that meeting.”
“What happened to the flight?” Mac asked. “Where are you?”
“I’m in a very small town in Iowa that has dingy motels and very incompetent people doing their jobs. I’m snowed in until the morning, and even if we leave early and take it slow, I’m still not going to get there until the charity event.”
“Wait a second. Who
