Any other time she would have had a quick quip to shoot back at him. She was used to doing that at work when one of the officers gave her a little tease. She didn’t have the energy and her mind felt like mush.
“No singing. Please. I don’t have the energy to since the theme from Frozen. I’m already frozen.”
“Frozen. I haven’t seen that one.”
“What? How can you not have seen that movie?”
“Is it an action movie?”
“It’s animated.”
He shrugged as he released the last of the hooks from the harness and stood up. “Then I know I haven’t seen it. Do you have kids?”
Harper shuddered with a wave of chills. “What?”
“Kids. You said it was animated.”
“No. You don’t have to be…” She sighed and then shuddered again. She was frozen. A snowmobile ride back to the cabin wasn’t going to warm her up either. But at least she was alive, even if it meant she might be stuck on the top of the mountain for a while.
“I have to call my grandmother,” she said. She reached around herself. “My purse is still in the car. It has my cell phone in it.”
Nash lifted her from the ground and guided her to the snowmobile. “There’s plenty of time for that as soon as we get to the cabin and get you warmed up. Think of it this way, if you manage to get a signal and tell your grandmother that you're still on the side of a mountain, she's going to worry until you get safely to the cabin. This way she gets worried and gets over it really quickly when she knows that you're already safe.”
“There’s no cell service at the cabin.”
“That’s right. You mentioned that.”
Harper started to get up from the ground. Nash put one strong hand under her arm to support her. “Take it easy.”
They walked to the snowmobile, which she could barely see even when she came upon it. Then she positioned herself on the back, but Nash urged her forward.
“You sit up front.”
“Oh, I don't think I have the energy to steer this thing.”
“You don't have the energy to hold on to me either. If I have you in front of me, I have a better chance of keeping you from falling off if you get dizzy.”
“Oh, okay. I guess you're right.”
“Take it easy. You don’t want to hurt yourself. As soon as you’re settled in the seat, I’ll climb behind you and you can lean back against me. If you need to hold on to something, hold on to my arms.”
Within a few minutes, Nash had climbed on and turned on the engine. Then he flicked a switch and the lights went on, illuminating the narrow road in front of them.
“Is it safe to ride like this?” she asked.
“We'll see in a few minutes I guess.”
She heard the amusement in his voice but couldn't see his smile.
“I guess there wasn’t any way for you to call into the station about the accident, huh?”
She heard his chuckle then. “You take your job seriously. But no. I did try the radio in the truck when I got the cabin. As you warned, there was no service. I’m sure the storm is making reception worse. I’ll try it when we get back. Who knows, we might get through to someone.”
It took another fifteen minutes for them to ride on the snowmobile up to the cabin. By the time they arrived, Harper’s hands and face felt like an ice cube. Unlike Nash who'd been equipped to handle the harsh elements. She only had a jacket and some gloves, although the gloves hadn’t done much good.
When she'd left the house that morning, she thought she'd only need to drive to work and back. The forecast was for flurries, not a blizzard. But as the day went on, that changed. She knew better than to be unprepared even for a spring blizzard. People died this way. If Nash hadn't been renting the cabin, then no one would've found her for God only knows how long. She knew that there was no way she would've been able to get out of that car and climb up the embankment herself. Not in the condition she was in. But then again, if Nash hadn't been renting the cabin, there would've been no reason for her to be traveling up the mountain.
“We’re here,” Nash said.
Somehow, he was standing next to her and she hadn’t even known he’d gotten off the snowmobile. She could smell the scent of fresh snow and the smoke from the wood burning in the stove inside. Sweet relief filled her.
As soon as Nash opened the door, Harper walked inside the cabin and wanted to weep. It was a common thing for her to be able to get through crisis, remain calm, and then fall apart later. This cabin was so familiar to her. And it was warm. To Harper, this was like home even though Nash was the one renting it. It was his home at least for the summer.
“You never said what you were doing on the mountain road. Were you coming to see me for something?” Nash asked, leading her into the living room area and easing her down to the pull out sofa.
Harper groaned. “Not again. I left the linens in the trunk of my car.”
“Linens?” He stood up straight and frowned as he pulled off his snow-filled scarf and hat.
“The cabin doesn’t have any blankets, sheets, or towels. I was supposed to give them to you when you came to get the key.”
“I hadn’t even had time to check. I have a sleeping bag. But that only takes care of one of us.” He turned and held his hand out to the wood stove. “The stove is starting to go out. I started it as soon as I got to the cabin. But the wood was
