Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

Chapter 20 Gwen

20

C H A P T E R

Gwen

G wen woke up, shivering. She realized that she could see her breath. The room was freezing cold and was seeping through the blankets.

She lay there for a minute, blinking against the darkness in the room that seemed even more oppressive than normal.

We ran out of gasoline.

The realization made her heart sink. Forcing herself off of her cot, she pulled on her heaviest sweater and thickest socks and walked quietly out of the room. The cold air in the hallway slapped her.

She quickly walked to the parlor and the warmth of the fireplace. Sawyer, Oliver, Daniel, Lucas, Emilia, and Zaid were already in the room. Zaid had been staying in the parlor lately because of his leg and Emilia never left his side.

Sawyer saw her coming. “We ran out of gasoline. Daniel switched it over to propane, but the generator doesn’t give off as many amps with propane as it does gas.”

Gwen’s heart sank, although Sawyer’s words simply reaffirmed what she already suspected.

“Everyone is going to have to sleep in the parlor or the library, where we have fireplaces,” Oliver said. “Although, we’ll have to cut a lot more wood to keep both fires going constantly.”

“Sawyer, Joseph, Darren, and I can make sure we have enough wood,” Lucas said. “We can force Jeff and George to get out there, and at least carry wood, too.”

Sawyer frowned. “There’s not enough room for everyone to sleep comfortably, even with both rooms open. I think I’m going to the cabins and bring in all the blankets. I’ll sleep in the same room I’ve been sleeping in. We have the sleeping bags that are designed to keep people warm even in sub-zero degree weather, so I’ll be fine.”

“Me, too,” Lucas said. “I don’t mind hanging out with everyone, but some of these people snore and I need my beauty sleep.”

Everyone laughed at Lucas’ humor.

Gwen bit her lip. Although the idea of sleeping in the freezing bedroom didn’t sound fun, she didn’t want to sleep in the same room with everyone else. They would be stacked on top of each other like a cord of wood. She was fine with sleeping in the warm bags. It was the need to get out of them in the morning that she didn’t relish.

She sighed. “I’ll sleep in the women’s room with one of those sleeping bags, as well. At least I don’t have to worry about waking up with a rattlesnake sharing my bag with me. I’ve heard stories about people waking up with scaley companions who are looking for warmth.”

Oliver grinned at her. “As far as I know, we don’t have any snakes hanging out in the lodge. They should all be hibernating for the winter.”

After a quick breakfast of leftovers from the night before, Gwen, Lucas, Sawyer, and Darren stepped out into the bitter cold and made their way to each cabin, stuffing blankets and thermal sleeping bags from the supply closets into trash bags and taking them back into the lodge.

When they returned with their heavy loads, everyone was up and crowded into the parlor.

Samantha smiled. “I love those sleeping bags. My father had some when we went camping when I was a kid. I’ll take one of those and sleep in the same room we’ve been in.”

“Me, too,” Maddie said. “Joseph and Elsie are out gathering wood now, but they said that they would sleep in their room, as well.”

“We’ll make this work,” Samantha said. “We’ve been through a lot already and we’ll get through this.”

“Come on, Jeff and George. You have to help,” Sawyer said.

“Help with what?” Jeff asked belligerently.

“Help us with the firewood. You are enjoying the warmth and eating the food and haven’t done anything to contribute. That ends now,” Lucas said.

“And if we don’t?” George asked.

Oliver smiled. “Then you are free to leave. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.”

The words might have been funny, but the message behind them was loud and clear. Reluctantly, the two men pulled on their coats, boots, and gloves.

Lucas, Sawyer, Joseph, and Darren grabbed axes. Joseph and Darren cut fallen trees into smaller chunks. Lucas and Sawyer split those logs into smaller pieces that would fit into the fireplace. Gwen and Samantha picked up the larger logs and carried them to Lucas and Sawyer while Jeff and George hauled the smaller pieces into the lodge and stacked them on the porch.

Finally, in the early afternoon, they had enough wood on the porch to last them at least a day, if not two. They trudged inside, pulled off their outerwear, and downed the soup that Millie made with a couple of the birds.

“I think people need to get out of the lodge even if it’s for a short while,” Gwen said. “Oliver, do you have enough snow shoes for everyone?”

“Almost everyone,” he said.

“Alright everyone, let’s go,” Gwen said.

Lucas and Darren demonstrated how to strap on the snowshoes and how to walk. Pretty soon, almost everyone from the lodge was out on the snow, waddling around.

“We look like a bunch of penguins,” Samantha shouted.

“I feel like a foal trying to stand for the first time,” Maddie laughed, just as she face-planted into the snow.

Darren and Lucas helped her back to her feet and Gwen brushed her face off.

“Are you okay?” Samantha laughed, giggling.

Maddie bent over, picked up a handful of snow, formed it into a ball, and tossed it at Samantha.

“Oh yeah?” Samantha howled, picking up her own handful of snow.

Soon, everyone in the yard was throwing snowballs at each other, laughing, and having fun. People were picking sides, switching sides, and having an all-out war. After half an hour of battling, everyone was covered in snow.

By the time they made it back inside, there was a lightness in the group that hadn’t been there before. The fresh air and snowball war had done wonders for their moods. Gwen felt happier, too.

Millie bustled into the parlor. “Surprise. I found a couple boxes of hot chocolate in the back of the pantry. I have enough for everyone to have a cup.”

Everyone cheered. Gwen smiled.

It really is the simple things in life that make it worth living.

She looked at Sawyer. He smiled at her, sending a warmth rushing through her body. Her heart beat a little faster as she stared into his dark eyes. His fingers intertwined with hers and she sighed with satisfaction.

After dinner, Gwen and Sawyer slipped on their coats, boots, gloves, hats, and scarves. They stepped outside together. Her breath caught in her throat as they stepped outside together. It could get cold in Colorado Springs, but not like this. This cold had the ability to suck every bit of oxygen from her lungs and strength from her muscles.

She had to admit that it was beautiful. The millions of stars danced in the dark sky. The moon shined down, lighting up the area. It was so incredibly quiet that Gwen was sure she could hear her own heartbeat.

“This seems like a fairy tale,” Gwen said.

“Disney or those other fellows?” Sawyer asked, with a laugh. “Remember that the stories told by the Grimm Brothers or Hans Christian Andersen weren’t all that great. They were full of violence and evil deeds.”

“True enough,” Gwen said. “I guess this would be more like a Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale because while it looks incredibly gorgeous out here, it’s also extremely dangerous and potentially deadly. It is a huge contrast out here. The beauty and the fun to be had on the slopes in sharp contrast to the circumstances we are in.”

Sawyer squeezed her hand. “It is, but we’ll get through it and we’ll have a heck of a story to tell our friends and family.”

She stopped and looked into his eyes. Gwen slipped her arms around him and smiled. He wrapped his arms around her.

“You are so very beautiful,” he said.

“Thank you. You’re alright.”

He laughed. “Just alright, huh?”

“Yeah. I’ll give you at least a three,” she teased.

For a second, they were silent and simply looked at each other. She studied his face. He was so handsome. The warmth of his embrace seeped through her layers, comforting her in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

He tilted her chin up, and their eyes met for a brief moment before he leaned down and kissed her. The kiss was soft, lingering, and filled with the tenderness she had come to crave. At that moment, everything else faded away—the cold, the snow, the uncertainty of their situation. There was just him.

Fires coursed through her and an intense love exploded in her heart. She loved him so much.

The words were on her lips but he said, “We’d better get back before we freeze to death out here.”

They walked back to the resort in a comfortable silence. The atmosphere was a little lighter than it had been before, probably because everyone had a chance to get out, experience the sunshine, and get some fresh air.

Gwen felt her father watching her, but she didn’t acknowledge him. She wasn’t about to let him spoil her mood.

That night, as she curled up in the thermal sleeping bag, she thought about Sawyer. The memory of his touch and the kiss was enough to keep her warm. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, pretending that his arms were still wrapped around her.