Shelter Me: A Frazier Falls Novel by Collins Kelly

Author:Collins, Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Nook Press
Published: 2020-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Emily

Shopping at Wilkes’ had reached its limit long ago in terms of variety. A trip to the nearest supermarket had been exactly what I needed to get out of my mom’s house and Frazier Falls for an afternoon.

I’d never enjoyed walking the aisles so much.

The weather hadn’t gotten better, per se, but there had been a break in the storm long enough for me to drive the hour or so out to the store in Indian Springs, spend another hour shopping, then make it back to town. When I was fifteen miles away, snowflakes as big as cotton balls fell from the sky, and the wind picked up again.

“Oh, great,” I said sarcastically. “Just what I need. Couldn’t wait fifteen bloody miles, could you?” I glared up through the sunroof of my mom’s car with an accusatory stare meant for the storm.

I hoped against hope I would make it back okay. I had food in the car that needed to be put away. At least with the cold, stuff would be fine given that the temperature outside was like a freezer, but that was beside the point. The shopping wouldn’t get back to my mom’s if I didn’t.

I thought of everything I’d bought and wondered if Eli would be up for helping me cook again. That way, I could make something plain for my mom, and we could eat something spicy. Mexican food, maybe. Or Italian, or Indian.

My mouth watered at the mere thought, but in order to cook anything, I had to get home, which was steadily becoming more difficult as the snow covered the road thick and fast.

Twenty minutes later, I’d made it to the edge of town. As I began to breathe a sigh of relief, the car made an unsettling, spluttering noise.

“Oh, no, that can’t be good.” I willed it to last a few more minutes. The noise grew more guttural, the engine struggled, and the car moved slower and slower with every curse that escaped my lips. “Without bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”

All I could do was steer to the edge of a sidewalk as it coughed and sputtered to a stop. I looked through the flurry of snow and saw nothing recognizable. The houses were unfamiliar, though off in the distance, I could see the forest.

I pulled my phone from my bag to find out where I was. If I had to, I could haul the perishable food I’d bought on foot, though I shuddered at the thought.

My bad luck turned worse when I saw the battery had died.

“When the hell did the battery die?” I cursed, my mood growing darker as the snow got deeper. I threw my phone onto the passenger seat and twisted my keys in the ignition, hoping against hope that I would be able to start it up again. The engine made a half-hearted attempt to turn over before dying once more.

I slammed the back of my head against my seat, frustrated beyond measure. What was I supposed to do now?

Glancing outside, I noticed a house with its lights on.

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