Christmas Tempest (Holiday Heartwarmers #12)

Chapter Three

Driving from Seattle had seemed like a great idea when her mother had made the suggestion. Therefore, Mandy followed through with the plan. But a good idea at the time doesn’t always pan out. What neither of them took into consideration was the weather.

No sooner had she started out on I-5, she noticed the falling snow had begun to intensify. It’s not as if she’d never driven in this kind of weather before, she had many times. But something seemed different today. The flakes were unusually thick, making visibility worse with every mile. Plus, the buildup became more noticeable after each half hour she drove.

Another observation she began to notice, there seemed to be fewer vehicles, many having pulled off in various directions leaving her feeling like the only living soul in the world.

Thankfully, she soon reached the turnoff to the smaller road to Carlton Grove and realized there was a difference between a plowed surface and one not so well cared for.

Every mile she drove had her white knuckling the steering wheel, her eyes glued to the swirling curtain that wasn’t being dealt with very well by her windshield wipers. She’d begun noticing haul trucks stranded on the sides of the road and many smaller vehicles in the ditches.

Hello, Jasmin, why in the world didn’t you check the weather report before leaving the city? Trying to get everything accomplished had kept her busy right up to the hour before her train left. Frankly, gathering all the presents she’d gone overboard on for her family had been truly fun. But she’d ended up with way more baggage and huge additional baggage fees.

Thinking about those last few weeks, she went back the day she resigned.

After handing in her resignation, Meredith had become so angry, she’d yelled at Jasmin for long minutes without taking a breath, ending with, “Good, I’m glad to see the backside of you… lazy cow.”

Riled up now and finally able to relieve her frustrations, Jasmin fought back. “You - you witch. I’ve put in more hours than anyone else in the firm. And I’ve banked more days too. In fact, since you hate me so much, I’ll use the sixty-some days as my notice and once I clear away my backlog, I’ll be leaving at the end of next week.”

“Hey, don’t you get it. I don’t want you around anymore. You can leave today, and I’ll accept those days for your notice. Go. Get out of my sight. Ungrateful moron.”

Mandy had followed her to her office and handed her a piece of paper with the company’s letterhead. It contained a wonderful resume signed by her department head and immediate boss, Mandy Wells.

Hugging her closely, Jasmin sniffed back the tears. “You know she wouldn’t have given me a good reference. Thank you for this.”

“Just pass on my name and number to any possible future employer. I’ll always put in a good word for you and every word will be the truth.”

Jasmin found herself sniffling while remembering the moment when her friend had truly come through for her. It had meant the world. So had the farewell office get-together she’d hosted at the nightclub they liked to frequent yet rarely had the time for.

Suddenly, her car swerved. Oh, no! Jasmin grabbed the wheel harder, remembering not to veer too much or punch her brakes. Instead, she put the car into low gear and steered her way out of trouble.

An understanding revealed itself and had her stiffening. Peering through the frosted windshield forced her to finally accept, it was definitely not a normal snowfall. This weather had become bizarre over the last few miles. Because of the nasty wind now appearing harsher, this full-blown storm made the truth clear. No way should she be driving in this mess.

Looking around as best she could, she figured she was on the long stretch before town where there were miles of emptiness with no relief… no where to pull in and the Grove at least thirty miles away. She’d passed the only nearby garage with a convenience store quite some time ago.

Normally, she loved this part of the drive along these plains, but today it only spelled danger. Danger in the fact that she could no longer see the pavement being that it was covered by almost a foot of snow. She was making a trail because no other vehicles had obviously come this far in some time.

Feeling alone in the white world of emptiness, she kept her foot on the gas, unwilling to slow down too much in case she got stuck. Hearing her father’s warning, stay with a steady speed and don’t get too close to the edge , she kept going. Calming her racing heart by wildly humming Christmas carols, she quickly wiped each hand on her sweater to clear away the dampness and persevered.

Unexpectedly, out of nowhere, a bulky mass like a huge snowball appeared to fly in front of her car. The thud as she hit it made the hair stand up all over her body. Doing the one thing she had been trying so hard not to do, she slammed on the brake. The car began sliding out of control, swerving this way and that until it came to a full stop. Having careened across the road, it finally rested in a way that would block any oncoming traffic.

Shuddering, her hands clung to the steering wheel in a death grip. Her heart having flipped over was now lodged in her throat and thudding fast. Eyes, gritty from the tortuous miles she’d driven, blinked with tears of disbelief. Trying to see through a curtain of blowing whiteness had left her head throbbing and a painful headache hovering.

Letting out the breath she’d gasped before slamming into a living target, she wasn’t surprised to hear her tear-filled moan of someone who’d come within a hair’s breadth of losing bladder control.

Leaning back against the seat, her muscles screaming with pain, it dawned on her that she’d been crouched over the wheel for the last few hours. She pushed her mass of dark hair back over her shoulder and covered her face, her crazed mind beginning it’s rant. Oh, God. I hit something; I know I did. What if the animal is in pain? What if it’s terrified and injured?

Rolling the window down enough to be able to look out, she saw nothing. Slowly, the whimpers of a creature filtered through her own fear. As if it begged for help, it’s pain-filled tone drew her. The sounds coming from behind the car.

Not knowing what to do yet accepting that she couldn’t just ignore the fact that her victim needed her, she began to pull her down-filled light-blue coat around her, button it up, and then grab for her mittens.

Pushing at the car door became a nightmare in itself. When swerving from side to side, the wheels had gathered a lot of snow that had collected under the car’s chassis and that same pile-up made it difficult to maneuver the door open.

By using her body, she finally got outside, landing abruptly on her backside. Using the door handle to pull herself upright, her aim was to move to the rear of the car. Not taking into consideration that her footwear wasn’t proper for the conditions, she slid and fell more than once but determination won out.

With the vicious wind blowing so hard, it whipped her hair across her cheeks like strands of steel, making visibility almost non-existent. Bending over like an old lady shuffling, she crept to the back side of the SUV. What she saw made her gasp.

Lying there, struggling to move, was a beautiful white Samoyed. The huge dog blended into the snow so well, she might have missed it if not for the black nose, it’s dark, pain-filled eyes, and the high-pitched whimpers that cried out to every dog-loving inch of her.

“Oh… you poor, poor baby.”