Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

Chapter 11 Sawyer

11

C H A P T E R

Sawyer

S awyer watched, bemused, as Gwen practically sprinted out the door. He had no idea what to think. He touched his lips, which were still tingling from the kiss. As brief as it was, it seemed as though a ball of electricity hit him in the gut.

Maybe it’s just been such a long time since I was with a woman that her kiss jolted me. Why in the world did she do that, anyway?

He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair. Maybe it is a combination of being terrified, overwhelmed, and grateful all rolled up in one.

Sawyer had to admit being shut up in a lodge, with limited resources, alongside several other strangers was a bit unnerving. That could do a lot to a person.

She was a good kid and I like her alright now that she lost her attitude. I’m just wondering whether it is a permanent attitude change or just because we’re all stuck together. He shrugged. Oh, well. I’ll take what I can get. Now, the only attitude I have to deal with is Jerome’s and he mostly avoids me.

He stretched and yawned. The heat might not be on in the room yet, but he was exhausted and the sleeping bag was warm. Sawyer was pretty sure that he could sleep for a month straight and still not be recuperated from digging people out.

Before he headed for his cot, he checked on Zaid. He was in the middle of a card game.

“The tea helps a lot with the pain. I’ve been keeping it elevated and Millie or Tessie brings ice packs at least once an hour and leaves them on for fifteen minutes.”

Sawyer patted him on the shoulder and said, “Good man. Put a pillow or two under it when you go to bed.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Darren said.

“Wake me up if you need help getting him from the chair to the bed. I’m going to bed now. I’m whooped.”

Sawyer took his five-minute shower, brushed his teeth, and settled into his cot. The next thing he knew, the sun was shining through the window. Groaning, he opened his eyes and looked around. Everyone else had already gone to breakfast and it was clear that the heat had been turned off because the air was nippy.

The day started off normal. After breakfast, they refilled the wood box. Lucas and Sawyer played a couple games of spades with Darren and Zaid. Every so often, Sawyer felt someone watching him. Gwen turned her head when she saw him looking back.

He knew she had a crush on him when she was younger. Maybe now that the hatred was gone, the crush had replaced it.

Sawyer was in the library after lunch when Gwen ran in. “Sawyer, Brent is missing.”

His heart dropped into his stomach. “What do you mean, Brent is missing?”

“No one had seen him since shortly after breakfast. I asked around, but no one has seen him. We checked all the rooms. He’s gone,” she said, her voice trembling with fear.

Sawyer jumped to his feet and ran into the living room. Lucas, we have to go. Brent hasn’t been seen for a couple of hours.”

Lucas, Daniel, Samantha, Darren, Joseph, and Elsie jumped up and ran to the coat rack. They all knew that there was no time to waste. It was way too cold for a ten-year-old to survive long. The temperature held steady at ten below zero.

“We’ll go in teams,” Sawyer said. “Gwen, you come with me. Lucas and Daniel you guys go, Samantha and Darren pair up, and Joseph and Elsie are a team.”

Oliver hurried toward them with four emergency backpacks. A whistle was attached to each.

“If you find him blow the whistle. Hopefully, he couldn’t have gone too far and we’ll hear it,” Lucas said.

They divided the area up around the lodge and each pair set off in a different direction, calling out Brent’s name. Sawyer’s breath came out in frozen clouds of mist as he and Gwen walked a narrow trail through the woods. It had started to snow so it was impossible to follow any footprints.

The snow was deep and every step was exhausting. It had gotten dark quickly, between the thick layer of clouds and the waning sunlight. Sawyer and Gwen pulled their flashlights out of their bags, the thin light barely penetrating the darkness.

“We can’t leave him out here all night. He’ll die,” Gwen said, her voice shrill with panic.

Sawyer felt fear grip his heart but he forced himself to speak calmly. “We’ll find him. No one will go back to the lodge until he’s found.”

For the next hour, they trudged through the snow, calling out Brent’s name. They listened intently but didn’t hear anyone calling back. The wind picked up again, making it even harder to hear anything but the sound of their own footsteps crunching in the snow. Despite his comforting words to Gwen, Sawyer’s mind raced with worry. Was he hurt? Did he run into a wild animal?

Sawyer’s fingers and nose were numb. His body ached from the cold. He was determined not to give up until someone found the boy.

“Help.”

Gwen grabbed Sawyer’s coat. “Did you hear that?”

“Brent?” they called out together.

“Help me.”

They stopped dead in their tracks and listened intently.

“Help me.”

Sawyer and Gwen turned toward the sound and cautiously walked toward it. His heart pounded as he heard the call again, this time a little louder.

They slowly approached the edge of a small ravine. Brent was huddling at the bottom, about twenty feet down, covered in snow.

Gwen blew loud, long, and hard on her whistle as Sawyer unzipped the backpack, remembering that he had seen some parachute cord among the supplies.

Sawyer tied it around a nearby tree and pulled on it, making sure the knot would hold his weight.

“I’m going down. Be ready to pull him back up.”

Gwen nodded and bit her bottom lip.

Sawyer kissed her cheek and said, “He’ll be fine.”

He started lowering himself down the steep side of the ravine. The icy-packed snow made his boots slip a couple of times. It was obvious why Brent hadn’t been able to climb out. There wasn’t any place to dig in with his fingers or boots.

He finally made it to the bottom. Brent was looking at him, wide-eyed. He was shaking, his teeth were chatting, his face was grey, and his lips were turning blue.

“I-I fell. I-I-I couldn’t g-get b-back up,” he stammered.

Sawyer crouched around him. “Are you hurt?”

“I-I don’t think s-so. I-I can walk and m-move everything. I-I didn’t hit my head. My f-foot slipped and I s-slid all the way down here,” Brent managed to get out.

Sawyer was worried. He could see that Brent was suffering from the onset of hypothermia. He quickly untied the rope from around his waist and looped it around Brent’s waist and under his arms.

“I need you to hold on tight to the rope. Use your feet to push yourself up when you can, because it’s going to be hard for Gwen to pull you up, even though she’s strong and you aren’t heavy.

He nodded.

“Gwen, pull.”

Sawyer pushed the boy up as far as he could and then watched as he made steady progress up the ravine side. He winced a couple of times when Brent’s foot slipped and he seemed to slide a little. Finally, though, Brent made it over the top.

The rope came flying back down toward him. Sawyer wrapped the rope around his waist and grabbed hold of it with both hands. Gwen pulled on the other end, helping him get to the top.

When he got to the top Gwen ran over to her brother and cradled him in her arms. Sawyer pulled one of the thermal blankets out of the pack and wrapped it around Brent. He activated a couple of the chemical hand and foot warmers and tucked them into the blanket.

“He’s going into hypothermia. We have to get back to the lodge as fast as possible.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Gwen asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“He will be as long as we can get him back to the lodge and get him warmed up. You’re going to have to hold both flashlights. Make sure the light is shining in my path so I can see where I’m walking.”

The snow was starting to fall faster. Sawyer groaned. It was going to make the trek back that much harder. He scooped Brent up in his arms and they headed back to the lodge. Eventually, Brent’s shivering slowed a little but his lips were still blue and he was dangerously cold.

The snow was like tiny blades of ice as it hit their face. It was getting harder and harder to put one foot in front of the other. After the first half hour, Brent’s eighty pounds was starting to feel more like two hundred pounds. His arms ached and after a while, Sawyer’s complete focus was making sure he didn’t drop the boy.

After what seemed like an eternity, they saw the lights of the lodge, but it didn’t seem to get any closer no matter how many footsteps they took. Finally, they stumbled onto the front porch. Gwen opened the door and Sawyer carried Brent to the couch and laid him down.

Lucas pulled Sawyer’s coat and gloves off. Sawyer sat on the bench and managed to pull his boots off.

He rushed over to Brent. Samantha had already unwrapped the blanket and pulled off Brent’s outerwear. His sweats were wet, so Gwen grabbed him a dry pair and held a blanket over him while Sawyer pulled off his wet britches and helped him get his new ones on. Brent had trouble grasping the waistband.

Oliver took his temperature. “Eighty-two degrees. I think you guys found him just in time.”

Sawyer checked him for frostbite but didn’t see any signs of that, even on Brent’s nose, which had been exposed to the cold for a long time.

Millie rushed over with a cup of hot chocolate. “Drink this slowly, Honey. It will heat you up from the inside out.”

Brent drank the hot chocolate and managed to eat a couple bites for dinner. Then, he passed out on the couch from sheer exhaustion.

“Should we take him to bed?” Gwen asked.

“No. Leave him here on the couch. The fire will keep him warm and he’s wrapped in the blanket,” Sawyer said.

Jerome knelt down by Brent and touched his forehead. For a second, Sawyer thought he saw a soft side come out.

Then, the man turned to Sawyer and snarled, “I guess you think you’re some kind of hero, don’t you?”

Sawyer stood up straight and looked him in the eye. “No, Sir. I think I’m a decent human being.”