Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

Chapter 5 Sawyer

5

C H A P T E R

Sawyer

S he probably could ended up with two broken legs and a broken arm and she would have refused your help,” Lucas said. “I’ve met some stubborn people during my lifetime, but wow.”

Sawyer shook his head. “I know, but what could I do? She refused help from a licensed doctor.”

“Maybe you should have made her sign a waiver so she doesn’t try to come back and sue you,” Lucas joked.

“At that thought, I guess it was a good thing that she refused my help. Spiteful wench.”

Lucas punched him lightly on the arm. “Don’t let her get to you. I’m starving. I beat you down the slope seven out of twelve times. You’re buying.”

“Why do I get the feeling that you brought me up here just to pay for your meals.”

“Darn it. You’ve got me figured out.”

They took quick showers and then headed to the dining room. Sawyer groaned when he saw Audrey and Brent walk in. Audrey approached one of the waitresses who was close to their table.

“My daughter fell today and twisted her ankle. I was wondering if I could order to-go boxes for the four of us.”

“Of course. I hope she’s okay.”

Audrey nodded. “She’s fine. We took her to the clinic in town and he said she just twisted it. It’s not even sprained. Doc said that she should elevate it, put ice on it, and she’ll be good to either tomorrow or the day after.”

“Glad to hear it. Come with me and I’ll get your order taken.”

Sawyer was surprised when Brent turned around, looked at him and Lucas, smiled, and waved.

The two men smiled and waved back. Audrey noticed. She nodded at them and then turned back to the waitress.

Sawyer sighed. “I feel sorry for them. They have to deal with the negativity of Jerome and Gwen.”

“My guess is that it’s not even a thing when you’re not around. Seeing you here got their dander up.”

“I suppose,” Sawyer said.

The waitress was cute and apparently thought that Lucas was handsome. She smiled and flirted with him throughout dinner. Lucas was polite but didn’t flirt back. Sawyer was certain that she was disappointed.

The food was delicious and Sawyer relaxed. Now, if only we could figure out a way to keep at least Jerome in his cabin for the rest of the stay, life would be good.

“Do you want to do some of the backtrails tomorrow?”

Sawyer nodded. “If I’m up to it. I go to the gym and work out, but I’m a little sore. Doesn’t the bathtub in our cabin have jets.”

“Yes, it does. I think there’s some Epsom salt in the bathroom cabinet, too.”

“I don’t even care if they smell like lavender or some fruity flavor.”

Lucas chuckled. “If you smell sweet tomorrow, you know I’m going to give you a load of crud over it.”

“It’ll be worth it. Or maybe I’ll just take a shower afterward and use my very manly soap.”

Sawyer paid for their fried chicken meals, leaving a nice tip for the waitress, and they headed back to their cabin. As promised, Sawyer took a long time in the hot tub. Finally, though, his muscles loosened up. He watched a movie while Lucas took his turn.

They were about to go to bed when Sawyer’s phone alerted him to the fact that they were about to get a storm.

Sawyer showed his phone to Lucas. “Looks like we’re in for a doozy.”

“Good. It’ll be good skiing tomorrow.”

It didn’t take long for Sawyer to fall into a hard, deep sleep. A loud explosion woke him up. He jumped out of bed and ran to the windows. An avalanche of snow was cascading down the top of the mountain and rushing toward them.

“Close the shutters over all the windows,” he shouted.

Lucas was already out of bed, closing the windows. They just had all of the glass covered with the decorative, yet sturdy wooden shutters when the wall of snow hit the cabin.

Sawyer and Lucas stood in the living room, the room furthest away from the racing snow. The cabin shook violently and Sawyer was afraid that the building would be nothing more than a pile of splinters.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the noise subsided and the cabin was still. Sawyer let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The two men looked at each other, in shock.

They checked out the rest of the cabin and were relieved to see that it was intact. Sawyer cautiously opened the shutters in his room and was horrified to see that the snow was up over the top of the window.

“The place hasn’t had an avalanche in decades,” he said mockingly with a wry smile.

“Well, don’t tell me that I don’t ever take you anywhere that’s full of adventure and excitement.”

Sawyer nodded toward the front door. “Are you going to, or shall I?”

Lucas walked to the front door and slowly turned the handle, not wanting to disturb any snow that was on the other side of the door. Bit by tiny bit he creaked the door open.

Waving his arms toward the door, Lucas said, “Well, there’s good news and bad news.”

“I can see that. The good news is that the snow didn’t rush in on us when you opened the door.”

Lucas nodded. “And the bad news is that it is packed almost to the top of the door. I think there’s maybe a foot, two at the most?”

“It’s going to get cold in here quick. Since there’s a small bit of space, I’m going to guess that the snow didn’t cover the chimney. I’m going to test it out.”

Sawyer put in some of the kindling from the wood box stationed next to the fireplace and lit it. He breathed a sigh of relief when the snow went up and out instead of into the room. He put on a couple of logs to get a steady fire going.

“That wood won’t last us very long and I have a sneaking suspicion that help won’t come for a long time,” Sawyer said. “I saw a shovel in the utility closet. I think we have a long day ahead of us.”

“I’ll start if you get some coffee going. I know it’s not the same, but I think I saw some instant coffee in the cabinet. You can heat up some water over the fireplace.”

Sawyer laughed. “Great. I go on vacation with you and end up playing Little House on the Prairie.

Lucas shook his head as he pulled on his gloves and grabbed the shovel. More like Little House in the Big Woods.

They took turns shoveling the snow at an upward slanted angle, packing it in tight against the snowy walls trying to form a solid tunnel that wouldn’t fall in on them. It was very slow progress because they were trying to be careful. The last thing they needed was for the rest of the snow to cave in on them, making it even more difficult to get out.

The tunnel was about three feet wide, which was just big enough for the men to crawl through. Sawyer’s shoulders ached and, despite wearing gloves, blisters were growing on top of the blisters on his hands.

Lucas heated up a pot of beef stew and quickly gobbled it before taking his turn. Sawyer gratefully handed over the shovel so he could eat. The air inside of the cabin was warm from the fire. It was almost too hot when they were working, even though their breaths came out in foggy puffs of air.

Finally, Sawyer gave one last heave on the shovel, and they broke through the six feet of snow. Sunlight streamed in, blinding them for a minute. Sawyer put out the fire and they quickly packed their clothes in a bag and carefully climbed up the carefully angled tunnel, closing the cabin door behind them.

They stood on top of the snow, bent over, their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath, squinting against the bright sunlight reflecting off the snow.

Their relief was short-lived as they looked around and realized that all of the cabins were completely covered in snow. Their cabin was the furthest away from the mountain top so they weren’t as covered as the others. The only thing visible from the other cabins was the chimney tops. It was as though the mountain had melted on top of the other cabins, leaving only a huge white blanket that stretched as far as the eye could see.

They looked at each other and just laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

“Well, doesn’t that just suck,” Lucas said, standing up and putting his hands on his hips.

Sawyer heard talking and turned around to see two men approaching.

“You boys okay?” the older man asked.

“We are,” Sawyer said pointing to the hole in the ground. “We just managed to dig ourselves out.”

“Glad to see it. I’m Oliver Murphy and I own this place. This is Daniel Holmes, our handyman.”

They all shook hands.

“We just managed to get ourselves dug out of the lodge. There’s coffee and food that way,” Oliver said. He surveyed the scene and Sawyer thought he saw the man deflate. “It looks like Daniel and I have a lot of shoveling to do.”

“We’ll drop our bags off at the lodge, grab some coffee, and a sandwich if there is one, and we’ll help. I assume you have another shovel?” Sawyer said.

“Millie, my wife, is the main cook. She and I live at the resort, too, along with Oliver and his wife, Tessie. Millie has some stew made, figuring that when people come trickling in, they’ll need to get something warm inside of them. We’ll walk back with you.”

The four of them went back to the lodge, quickly ate, and then went back out.

“We’re going to be shoveling for the next week,” Lucas groaned.

Sawyer nodded. “I guess we’d better get started, then.”