Christmas Tempest (Holiday Heartwarmers #12)

Chapter Twelve

During the long, cold night, Jasmin came awake when she heard Dex groan. Lifting her head from where it nestled on his chest, she saw he slept but not easily.

She worried that his ankle might be worse with him having it down for so long. Her moving woke him up with a start. “Dex, I’m going to go to my seat now.” He only nodded, but in the gloom, she could see him bite his lip. She woke Pretty Girl and urged her over to the back.

Frissons of needle-like pains raced throughout her body in such a way they were unexplainable. When she noticed Dex’s eyes were open, she added, “You need to get your foot up.”

“Oh yeah. It’s burning.” Again, he groaned from the pain when he forced his body around so he could lift his foot her way. It hurt her having to take his boot off because she knew it hurt him.

“I’m going to lean out and get more snow, Dex. We need to ice the swelling, or it’ll get worse.” Suddenly, her face lit up. “Wait. I just remembered.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a bottle of Tylenol. “I forgot I had these in my cosmetic case and grabbed them earlier. Sometimes when I’d work too late, I’d get headaches. I always keep them close just in case.” She reached out toward him and watched him dry-swallow two pills.

Once she had his swollen ankle on her lap, with the bag full of snow packed around it, she forced the foot upwards with the quilt and kept her hands inside the material. “Can we turn the car on again to warm up?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, sweetheart. After this blizzard, I’m guessing the snow might be packed around the exhaust pipe and once the car is on, the carbon monoxide fumes could filter into the vehicle. It wouldn’t be smart or safe.”

“My God, I’d never have thought of that myself. So that’s why you were so determined to shovel the snow from around the car?” She reached her hand to rub his cheek gently. “I could have died being here alone.”

“No. Your father would have warned you. He’d have called when you didn’t show up.”

“He knew I was planning to come, but he had no idea I’d left already. I figured I wouldn’t be able to get away until Christmas Eve. So I’m a couple of days early.”

“Then I’m thrilled I ran into you… literally.” He grinned her way and lifted his sleeve to check his watch. “It’s just after six. I woke up a few times during the night and could see the wind shifting and then dying down. My best estimate is that we’re over the worst of the storm.”

Since the windshield was blocked by snow, he had to peer outside through the side windows which were filmed over and icy. “It’s even stopped snowing.”

“Do you think we could be rescued soon? As much as I like the company, I’m getting a bit sick of the lodgings. I can’t imagine how horrible it must be for folks who live in their vehicles for months. My heart goes out to them.” She looked over and saw Dex nodding.

“I’ve always been grateful for being one of the fortunate ones, growing up in the situation I had. My parents might have been workaholics, but we never doubted their love. Nor did we want for much. They provided us with good educations, a healthy love for family, and now in their older years, they’re still involved in so many activities.”

“You were lucky. Same as me. Not everyone has that luxury and through no fault of their own. Life happens.”

Dex nodded. “Yep. One of the reasons I became a lawyer. To help those who are stuck in the system and can’t find a way out.”

Thinking about that scenario, Jasmin didn’t notice the headlights in the distance. It was the honking that caught her attention, and relief washed over her tight skin. Looking at the clock, she saw it was after six a.m. Thankfully, the road crews had probably been working since the storm let up.

Pointing, she nudged Dex. “Did you hear that?”

“What?” His teasing tone made her nudge him harder. “You’ve been watching them, haven’t you?”

“It’ll take them some time to reach us so maybe you and Pretty Girl should head outside and then help me too. We’ll start getting ready and then we can leave as soon as they clear the way. Thank goodness they’re coming from the highway and not from the Grove.”

“Good thinking.” Minutes later, Dex stumbled back to the car and watched as she rearranged the back. He laughed at the setup they’d used to shore up the back window. “Hopefully, the crew coming will have some plastic for us to use on the window.”

And sure enough, once the two men stopped to see how the occupants were, they assisted Dex in securing the window better. Then they helped Jasmin remove the snow built up around the car and form a small bypass so she could get around them.

Seeing her hesitation for driving over the rough path, one of the men offered to turn the car back in the direction it came from. Before she could gratefully accept, Dex interrupted. “Jasmin, honey, you can do it. I’ll come with you.” Knowing he couldn’t drive with his ankle swollen and painful, he still gave her the confidence she needed.

When she tentatively touched the gas, the back end of the car began swerving, and her breath caught in her windpipe. Swallowing the hovering screech, she clutched the wheel tighter. “Maybe we should just let one of the guys drive us out.” Knowing she’d never been confident driving in bad weather, Jasmin opted for the easy way out.

Dex wasn’t having any of that. “Why? Don’t worry, you can do it. Use the steering wheel, baby. That’s right. Now give it more gas, or we’ll get stuck again.”

Sure enough, his prediction came true. But in seconds, they were on the wrong side, spinning their wheels. Before they had time to worry, they felt a force from behind and saw that the two men were giving them a helping push. Turning slowly in the direction of the roadway they’d cleaned, she again tried maneuvering the car, only to feel it slipping to the other side. Letting out a squeal, she almost let go of the wheel only to feel Dex grab it in time.

Though he hadn’t yelled, she did hear the nervous tone beginning to show up in his voice. Close to giving up and just covering her face, she didn’t. His encouraging words wouldn’t let her.

“You can do it, baby. Just go a little bit faster. You don’t want the car to get stuck again. Steer us out and watch you don’t hit the plow.”

Hit the plow!

Oh, my God.

Now she really was worried. Sweat forming all over her body, she leaned over the wheel, straining to see, and slowly gunned the motor. The car jerked forward, and with more care, she turned the wheel, feeling it grip before swinging it back to keep the vehicle moving ahead.

Dying inside, she clutched the wheel and prayed. Finally, they’d passed the plow with a cleared road in front of them. She honked to thank the two men waving and took a huge breath to settle her rioting nerves.

“I knew you could do it.” Dex grinned at her from the passenger seat.

“Well, that makes one of us. I’ve never been good at driving in these conditions. You just gave me the courage I needed.”

“I’m glad.” Making conversation, probably to keep her from stressing, Dex added, “I trusted you completely.”

Following his lead, she kept them talking. “How many others are stranded along this way do you think?”

“Oh, there were about half a dozen I saw on my way yesterday. I asked Ralph, one of the guys back there with the road crew, and he told me that he’d strongly suggested they head back to the highway junction for now.”

“That’s good. Then we shouldn’t be meeting anyone coming at us.”

“That’s right. Plus, there’s a restaurant and gas station at the corner and since most were stranded for the night like we were, they were happy to get food and fill their gas tanks. Ralph promised they’d pass on the all-clear once the highway into Carlton Grove opened and the main streets were cleared. He figured probably by suppertime.”

“Did he wonder about how we ended up together in one car?”

Dex chuckled. “Yeah, I kinda told him our story. About how I was headed to the city, but you were going home to Carlton Grove. And how you spun out trying to miss hitting Pretty Girl and came to a stop sideways across the road.”

“Did he understand that I couldn’t move?”

“He did. Dude also asked how I got into the ditch.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Told him the truth. Explained about coming up on you through the blizzard so fast that there’d been no time to stop. About how my car spun off the road from the impact, and the back tires slid over the side, burying themselves in the ditch. We both figured it’ll be stuck there for days. I’m not too concerned with it for now. It’s not impeding the road and can be recovered after things settle down. I’m just grateful your car is functioning.”

“He’s probably heard worse stories.”

“No doubt. After I explained about the accident, we examined the crash results and figured there shouldn’t be a problem driving it.” Dex smiled her way, giving her confidence.

Jasmin relaxed and after seeing the road conditions were within her skillset, she settled in for the drive. “Was he surprised to hear we were actually heading back to Seattle?”

Remembering, Dex gave her the gist of the conversation, the humor in his tone lacking. “Yeah, told him my eight-year-old nephew was on the run, and we needed to find him.”

Jasmin snorted in a very unladylike style. “One way of explaining things. Of course, he wanted to know more.”

Thinking back, Dex remembered the grizzled face of the snow plow driver wreathed in smiles, his blue eyes twinkling. “He asked me… what happened to a kid his age for him to feel the need to run?”

Even now, Dex’s mood changed from playful to angry. “I told him that Dillon’s rotten grandmother led him to believe I wasn’t coming to get him, so he’d taken off.”

“Oh, Dex. We’ll find him. Once we get there, we can call on the police and see what they’ve learned.” Wanting to keep Dex talking, she asked, “Was Ralph surprised by your answer?”

“You could say that. His reply was what I expected. ‘Man, that’s too bad.’ Then he hit me with a shocker I’d forgotten about in all this upheaval. He said, ‘Especially when it’s only two days until Christmas’.”