Her grandmother told Harper that he’d spent a good deal of time overseas working as a survivalist in some remote part of the world. Montana was probably nothing for someone like him. Certainly not as exotic or interesting as a jungle or a remote island. He’d probably be fine.
As she tried to her convince herself turning back was the smartest thing she could do, she decided she couldn’t leave him there without a blanket. Say he managed to get the solar system going, it didn’t provide heat. He’d need the wood stove for that and given the amount of snow they had, she couldn’t guarantee the wood would light, if he even had a set of matches to light it with.
No, she couldn’t take the chance. The weather report she’d heard on the drive over was already talking about bad weather that could knock them all off the grid for days. If the storm got that bad, it meant it would be days before anyone could get up the mountain to help him.
It wasn't unheard of for Montana to have a sudden snowstorm late in the season, sometimes even into June. The people in town had provisions for this and neighbors always helped neighbors in times of crisis.
But Nash wasn't from this area. He wasn't from Montana. He knew no one in town except for her and her grandmother. She couldn’t leave him stranded up on the mountain even if he was a survivalist.
The back tires slid for a second, but she corrected herself. She was even glad for the ruts in the snow that Nash’s truck had created because it made it easier to see where she was going. But she’d be losing light soon, so she had to hurry. The drive down would be faster than going up, but it would be more treacherous.
The snow was beautiful. But just last week, she and Hattie, one of her friends in town, had been talking about how blue that big Montana sky was and how they were waiting for the first signs of wildflowers and huckleberry. The annual Fire and Police Department’s potluck was in just a few weeks and they’d always had good weather for that.
She was about two thirds of the way up the mountain road when a thought occurred to her. What if he wasn’t even there when she reached the cabin? Maybe he’d seen the forecast and decided to stay in town for the night so he wouldn’t be stranded.
“You think too much, Harper,” she said to herself. “If he’s not there, leave the bag with linens and a note by the door and he’ll get it when he returns. Simple.”
Her mind wandered as she drove. She’d forgotten to tell her grandmother to put the flashlight next to her and take the extra batteries out of the cabinet in case she needed them before she got home.
She sighed and leaned forward in her seat to see the road better through all the snow. Her wiper blades were swooshing back and forth, but they couldn’t keep up.
Her grandfather had bought this cabin years before her mother was born. She’d visited it many times when she was a child with her grandparents and then her mother and father. Her grandmother used to say that the cabin was a little piece of heaven where her grandpa could be a little devil if he needed to be.
She barely remembered her grandpa. He’d died of a heart attack when Harper was very young. Her grandmother had never remarried because she said that he was her one and only. And she couldn’t go back to the cabin because the memories were too painful. But she couldn’t let it go either.
It had been painful for her mother to see the cabin remain empty and become rundown. So Harper's father and mother worked on it and brought Harper and her sister, Gail, up to the cabin a couple of times during the summer. The rest of the time her grandmother used her business skills to rent out the property so she could keep up the taxes and have a little bit of extra income to supplement her retirement.
Her sister had moved to Great Falls a few years ago and rarely came to visit. Their parents were now gone, something that was hard to ignore as she drove the road up to the cabin they’d spent so much time at as a family. That left Harper to take care of her invalid grandmother, which Harper didn't mind. She loved her grandmother. It was just a worry and left little time for other things. Especially on days like this.
The higher up the mountain she got, the more snow covered the road and it became hard to navigate her car. Her car usually performed well in the snow. She turned off the radio and turned on the dispatch scanner. She was off work and didn't need to hear the calls coming in regarding accidents and police dispatch. On days like this, all of the police officers were called in for duty or least put on call in case something big happened that needed attention. Harper had learned a long time ago that if she wanted to know what was going on in town, the best way to find out was to listen to the police scanner.
She took her eyes off the road to adjust the buttons for just a second and when she looked back up, an elk was standing in the middle of the road. She’d been going slow enough, but given the road conditions, she was no match for an elk who had stopped dead right in front of her.
Her reflexes took over logic. She slammed on her brakes to avoid hitting the elk head on and slid sideways on the road. She overcompensated, directing the car until she started to fishtail and go sideways again, moving dangerously close to the side of the road where she knew
