It Happened One Night

“Maybe I should rephrase that,” he added hastily. “I’m not at all comfortable with the idea of you and Emmie traveling that particular road coated with ice. I’d feel much better about it if you’d let me take you and Emmie to my ranch. It’s a lot closer and we’ll be off the roads that much sooner.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do that, Josh.”

“Why not?” he demanded, becoming irritated with her stubbornness.

Gil Addison chose that moment to enter the center to get his son, interrupting them. “I hope you both have plans to take off for home as soon as Cade and I leave,” he said, helping his son into his coat. “I heard the police are advising people to get off the roads and stay off until the ice storm is over and the highway department gets the roads cleared off.”

Josh nodded. “Kiley and I were just discussing that.”

“Don’t worry about trying to get here to open the day care center for the next couple of days, Kiley,” Gil said as he ushered his son toward the door. “I’m closing the clubhouse until the roads are clear, and I anticipate that won’t be until closer to the end of the week.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” she answered. “Please be careful on your way home.”

When Gil left, Josh waited until Kiley turned off the lights in her office, grabbed her tote bag and retrieved their coats from the closet. He wasn’t about to give up. She would be going home with him.

“On the way over here, I heard that your area of town has already lost power,” he reported, hoping he could make her see reason. “Aside from the probability of having an accident on the way home, how are you going to keep Emmie warm for the next several days, provided you could even get there?”

“We would be in the same predicament if you lose electricity,” she insisted, looking a little less sure of herself as she zipped up Emmie’s coat and tied the hood.

“No, we wouldn’t. When I built the house, I had an emergency generator installed. It runs on propane and supplies enough power for the entire house.” Deciding they could move faster if he carried her, he reached down to pick up Emmie. “Would you like for me to take you and your mommy home with me to the ranch where the ponies are, Emmie?” he asked the little girl.

It would probably be considered underhanded to use Emmie’s love of ponies to get Kiley to go along with him, but so be it. The way he saw it, keeping them safe was a lot more important than playing fair.

“Wanna see ponies,” Emmie said, nodding. “Pease!”

Kiley glared at him a moment before she caught her lower lip between her teeth and he could tell she was reviewing her options. “Josh, I’m just not sure it’s a good idea. We might be stuck there for several days.”

“How many times have you driven on ice?” he asked as they walked out of the day care center and she turned to lock the door.

Making their way down the hall toward the clubhouse’s main entrance, she shook her head. “Since it’s extremely rare for us to get weather like this, I can’t remember ever driving on it.”

“I have and I can tell you that it’s no picnic.” When they reached the doors, he set Emmie on her feet. “Stay here. I’ll go get my SUV and pull it under the canopy so you both stay dry.”

“I need to get Emmie’s car seat,” she said, digging in her tote bag for her car keys.

“There’s no sense in either of us breaking our necks trying to walk across a sheet of ice. After I get my truck, I’ll drive over to your car and get the car seat.” He took her keys from her. “When I come back for you and Emmie, I’ll park under the canopy and you can show me how to install it in the backseat.”

He had to go so slow that it took several minutes to get to his Navigator and drive over to the other side of the lot in order to retrieve the car seat, then get back to the clubhouse entrance. The SUV kept wanting to fishtail and Josh was more certain than ever that he’d made the right decision to come after Kiley and Emmie.

When he finally drove from under the canopy at the club’s front entrance and headed for home, the car seat had been installed, and Kiley and Emmie were safely buckled into their seats. Gripping the steering wheel with both hands, Josh hoped the truck was heavy enough to get at least a little traction, but he wasn’t counting on it. Just beyond the TCC’s parking lot, a semi hauling a tanker had slid through the intersection and into a deep ravine on the opposite side of the road. If a rig that size had trouble with skidding, what chance did his much lighter SUV have?