It took me a few minutes to get to the door. When I did, I grabbed a hat off the table and slung it on.
Wagging their tails, Salt and Pepa stayed by my side, eager to go on a night adventure. The huskies had a thick coat and preferred the snowy season over any other.
“Okay. Here we go.” I shut on the property’s lights, opened the door, and left the warmth of my big house. “Let’s see who the dumbass is.”
Outside, the snow fell faster and heavier. White powder blanketed the space. Large flakes covered the trees, which glistened like diamonds in the night. A soft stillness descended around the place. Yet, the wind raged and howled through the trees, bringing blasts of bone-chilling air.
The lights helped. I had several of them on poles surrounding the place and a few in the trees.
What am I going to do with this idiot?
Flakes swirled along my face. A freezing fog blanketed the front of my eyes. Had I not already known the property; I might’ve turned around.
Salt and Pepa raced ahead of me and disappeared into the blinding snow.
“Hold on, girls.” Little puffs of smoke left my lips. “Slow down!”
Ignoring me, they raced away and barked off in the distance.
Several more feet of trudging through at least three feet of snow, the outline of the SUV appeared.
Salt and Pepa raced around it, barking and even howling.
“Hey there.” I patted Salt’s head. Jealous as always, Pepa hurried over to get rubbed too and forget all about the vehicle. “Okay. Relax both of you.”
They sat down but wagged their tails with an extreme immediacy.
I assessed the idiot’s damage.
The SUV had crashed into the fence. Steam rose from the crumbled front. The hood had wrinkled back a few feet. Snow coated the windows.
I walked over and wiped away some of it on the driver’s window. Movement came from inside. I knocked. “Hey, are you alright in there?”
The door opened.
I backed up and pointed my shotgun just in case.
Staying where they were, Salt and Pepa barked.
I yelled at them. “Quiet!”
They went silent.
And then a small woman stepped out. My property’s light glowed around her. She had dark brown skin and beautiful brown eyes. Long, black dreadlocks outlined her face, fell past her shoulders, and candy curled at the end. A few snowflakes had already sprinkled the top of her head.
Stunned, I lowered the shotgun. I’d been prepared for some drunken idiot, but not a soft pretty woman on these roads, alone this stormy evening.
“I’m sorry.” A soft voice left those full lips as she held her hands up. “I was trying to go to a hotel and made the wrong turn, so I went down your pathway to—”
Pepa howled, ending the woman’s explanation.
With her hands still in the air, the woman stepped back. “Are those wolves?”
“No. They just look like it. They’re huskies, and Pepa didn’t howl because she was mad. She wants me to let her go up and sniff you.” I lowered my shotgun, pointing it towards the ground for safety. “What hotel were you trying to get to?”
“I don’t know.” She stared at the weapon and then at the dogs. “A woman at the gas station told me there were some hotels up the road.”
“That was Mabel.” I shook my head. “And up the road is a different term here. Hotels are still a good ten miles away from her gas station.”
Her face shifted to sadness. “Oh.”
She glanced back at the SUV’s crushed front. “I’ll. . .be off your property soon. I’m trying to call AAP, but—”
“They’re not answering. No one’s coming out in this storm.” I stepped forward.
She inched back.
She’s scared. I guess the shotgun freaked her out. It would do that to most.
I stopped and stayed where I was. “I just want to check your vehicle and see if we can get it out of the ditch. Maybe pull it over to the side of the house.”
“My. . .” She bit her lip as if unsure of how to proceed. “My kids are inside.”
“That’s fine. They can go in the house and get out of the cold.”
She squinted her eyes and looked behind me.
“I live alone.”
She turned her attention to me.
“I’m harmless.”
She glanced at the shotgun.
“Well, I have to protect myself.”
Her voice lowered. “I’m sorry. If you can just help us out of the ditch, maybe I can get the car to—”
“That cars not moving anywhere more than ten or twenty feet. And even if your vehicle was in top shape, you can’t drive in this weather tonight.” I shrugged. “You all just have to stay here tonight. I have plenty of room.”
“Oh, no.” She waved her hands. “We can’t stay here. Thank you so much for the offer, but I. . .don’t know you, and we’ve been through enough. I’m just going to—”