Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 3)

“I guess let’s head to the cabin. Sounds better than just sitting here doing nothing.”

Nathan nodded and took a deep breath. He leaned into the back again and pulled the rest of his snow gear out, along with his bag.

I did the same, bundling up like an Eskimo. If I was going to hike, I was going to wear every single piece of snow gear I had. The more layers, the better I’d be. It was a good thing Kelly and I had gone out shopping for brand new stuff last weekend.

Not only would I be the most fashionable girl on the mountain, but I made damned sure I’d be the warmest.

“Ready?” Nathan asked after we’d both bundled up. When I nodded, he gave me a shaky smile, then opened his door. “Let’s go then.”

Nathan

I frowned as I watched Sarah hike next to me, her arms wrapped around herself like she was freezing. There was no way that was true, judging by the truly impressive number of layers she’d managed to put on. Still though, I hated seeing her like this.

I’d known she hated the cold, yet pushed her to come along on this trip. I had hoped she would have fun, once she got up to the resort and got out on the slopes. Besides, I was kind of looking forward to teaching her how to ski.

It’d been a while since we’d done anything, just the two of us.

Granted, there’d be a bunch of other people around. A group of my buddies were meeting us up there, plus I’d invited her best friend, Kelly, without telling her. I figured it’d be a nice little surprise and mood booster once we finally got there.

If we got there.

I’d just taken the damn thing in for maintenance too. But of course it had to go and break down in the middle of a freaking mountain, during a blizzard. Wasn’t that just my luck?

But there wasn’t much I could do about it now. I just hoped there were people at the cabin or at least a phone so we could call for help or something. I hadn’t expected to not have cell service. I’d been to this lodge before and never had any issues.

Once again, I felt like shit. I’d planned this trip. I’d talked Dad into footing the bill, which hadn’t been all that hard. And I’d convinced Sarah that it would be fun. And now, here we were, walking to some unknown cabin in a snow storm.

“How’re you holding up?” I asked, eyeing Sarah. I bit my lip, waiting for her to lash out at me, waiting for her to call me an idiot and a thousand other names.

Instead, she just shrugged, the movement barely noticeable beneath all her layers. “I’ll be better once we get to this cabin. How far back was it?”

“Not far,” I said. I wasn’t exactly sure where the cabin had been. It’d barely registered on my radar when we’d been driving. At that point, it’d just been another part of the scenery.

I didn’t stop to consider what I’d do if the cabin was abandoned. What other choice did we have, really? Sitting in the car wouldn’t have been much better, since I hadn’t seen any other cars in a while. Even before we’d broken down, I hadn’t seen anyone else.

I doubted many people came this way. Most travelers would’ve taken the main road, rather than this side one. Not many people, other than regulars, would even know this route exists. I’d only learned about it two years ago, on a snowboarding trip with the guys.

Hopefully someone would come by, and soon. I didn’t hate the cold like Sarah did, but neither was I found of freezing my nuts off for no reason. At least normally when I was out in weather like this, I was skiing or snowboarding, which kept my mind off how damn cold it was.

When the cabin was finally in sight, I had to fight to keep from jumping up and down. Sarah, on the other hand didn’t fight that urge. She yelled out a “yippie!” before jumping up, her hands in the air like a cheerleader.

That wasn’t the smartest idea though, since she lost her footing when she came back down, nearly falling on her ass. I put my arms around her to steady her and keep her from landing in the snow. Her breath came in short gasps as she leaned against me.

I knew her heart had to be beating a mile a minute from the quick shock, so I just held her until she got her bearings again. After a moment, she stood up straight and took a step forward, looking back at me with an embarrassed smile on her face. Her cheeks were bright red, and I was pretty sure it was only partially because of the cold.

“Thanks,” she said at last, her eyes downcast.

I grinned, then patted her on the back. “No problem. Just be more careful, unless you fancy taking a snow bath!”

Sarah grimaced, then shook her head before turning back toward the cabin. Grinning, I followed behind her. A small part of me did hope she’d fall into a mound of snow, just for something to laugh at for a few minutes.

The cabin seemed deserted as we approached. There weren’t any cars nor any footprints. That didn’t mean too much though, since with all the snow falling, I doubted any tracks would be visible for very long. So we trudged up what was probably the drive way to the front door.

I pounded on it a few times, loud enough to echo through the small cabin. When there was no reply or sounds of movement, I pounded on it again. “Anyone in there?” I shouted.

Still nothing

I looked over at Sarah and she shrugged. I took a deep breath, grasped the door handle, and turned. Surprisingly, it opened. There must not be many problems with thieves around this part, I figured. I inched the door open and peered inside.

“Anyone there?” I yelled again, but there was still no movement.

Frowning, I pushed the door open to reveal the tiny, one room cabin. There wasn’t much in there, but it was definitely empty and had been for at least a few months, judging by the amount of dust that had accumulated.

Still, it was better than being out in a blizzard, so I walked inside, Sarah following close behind. The cabin was sparse, but cozy. It was probably a small hunting cabin, judging by the gun rack on the wall. That explained why it was empty, since no one in their right mind would try and hunt in this weather.

“Look around,” I said, glancing back at Sarah. “See if you can find anything useful.”

It didn’t take long to search the entire place. It was only a single room, after all, with a small broom-closet sized bathroom that only had a curtain for privacy. The tiny kitchen was well stocked though, assuming you liked canned beans of course.

I held up two cans and grinned at Sarah. “Well, I hope you like chili.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, then resumed going over the cabin. I wasn’t sure what she expected to find at this point, since it was pretty clear there wasn’t a phone or anything. There was nothing even remotely electric in this place. Even the stove was a wood-burning one.

The cabin would keep us from being frozen alive out in the blizzard, but it wasn’t going to be much help in getting to the lodge. Unless the owners randomly decided to come out to their cabin in the middle of a storm, a swift rescue didn’t seem likely.

“Now what?” Sarah asked, hands on her hips?

I shrugged. “Well, I guess we hole up here until either someone finds us or the storm breaks.” I glanced out the window at the snow still rapidly falling and frowned. It didn’t look like it would stop anytime soon, so God only knew how long we’d be stuck in this place.

I walked over to the small sink and turned it on. Thankfully, it seemed the pipes hadn’t frozen. It was like a small miracle, but a welcomed one at that. I let it run for a few moments, then stuck a finger beneath it, yanking it back almost right away.

“Well, we’ve got water, but it only comes in one temperature – freezing.”

Sarah snorted and grinned. “What did you expect? There’s not even a phone line, much less a hot water heater.”

I stuck my tongue out at her and turned the sink off, leaving it so only a small stream continued to flow. I hoped that’d keep the pipes from freezing, though I wasn’t super optimistic. With everything that seemed to go wrong, I was surprised they hadn’t already frozen.

I looked beneath the sin

k and found an old cardboard box. Grinning, I pulled it out and set it on the table before rummaging through my bag for a moment. When I found the marker I was looking for I quickly wrote HELP in big letters, with STRANDED just below it. Once I was done, I held it up for Sarah, smiling like a kid who’d just won the science fair.

“I figure if we put out by the road, maybe someone will drive by and see it. Then we can get out of this place and not have to risk trying to hike the rest of the way up the mountain.”

She pursed her lips, but nodded. “It’s better than doing nothing, I suppose. What are the chances of someone driving by?”

“Probably not very high, but at least we’re pretty safe in here.”

“I guess you’re right.” Sarah sighed and looked out the window at the falling snow for a moment. “Well, you get to go out and put the sign by the road, since this was all your brilliant idea.”

Frowning, I nodded. She had a point. If I wasn’t for my damn car breaking down, we’d be nearly to the lodge by now, ready to start our vacation. Instead, we were stuck our here, with nothing but a dusty cabin and a year’s supply of canned beans.