The little car was sliding all over the road now. I had the wipers on high, but as fast as they cleared the snow from the windshield, it came right back.
I switched the headlights to low beam because the high beams were just reflecting off the blanket of snow that was falling. I leaned forward and clenched my fingers around the steering wheel. I was determined not to stop until I had to.
The headline “Kosnovian Prince Found Frozen to Death in Ford Focus” kept flashing through my mind.
Then I saw red and blue lights ahead. A police car, I thought. No, the lights are off the road and too high to be a car. I held my breath and struggled to keep the rear end of the car from fishtailing as I concentrated on reaching the lights and, hopefully, safety.
Finally, I could see the lights more clearly. It was a lighted sign of some kind, hanging from a pole, swaying in the wind. As I got closer I read the words: “Snowcap Bar & Grill.”
“Please, please, please,” I muttered, hoping my sense of relief would not be fleeting. “Let them be open. And let them have heat.”
*
The little car slid to a stop next to an ancient snow plow that was sitting in the lot. I pushed open the car door with my shoulder and pulled my coat up over my ears to protect them from the bitter cold.
I put my head down and stumbled into the tiny bar. For just a moment, I thought I had died and gone to heaven, because I was greeted at the door by an angel with flowing blond hair and eyes the color of emeralds.
She handed me a towel and I wiped the snow from my face. She gave me the most beautiful smile and invited me to sit at the bar while she got something hot for me to drink.
The only other person in the bar was an old man with a bushy white beard and a toothless smile. He gave me a moment to get situated on a wobbly stool and then picked up his drink and slid onto the barstool next to me.
“I’m Carl,” he said, holding out a gnarled hand.
“I’m Nick,” I said, giving his hand a quick shake.
“What the heck are you doing out in this weather, Nick?”
“I’m on my way to an economic summit at the Overlook Lodge,” I said. “Am I anywhere close?”
He shook his head. “You’d still be about an hour away if the storm hadn’t hit,” he said, clicking his tongue as he nodded toward the window. “They closed the road an hour ago, so I’m afraid you’re out of luck. This is the end of the line for you.”
“I was afraid of that,” I said. I tugged my iPhone from inside my suit jacket and slid open the screen. “I’ll have to make other arrangements.”
“You won’t get cell service up here,” he said, shaking his head. “Especially not in this storm.”
“Carl’s right,” the blond angel said as she set a mug of steaming hot coffee on the bar in front of me. I wrapped my fingers around the mug and let it thaw my frozen fingers. She nodded at the window, which was covered in frost and snow. “Cell reception up here is always spotty. You won’t get a call in or out tonight.”
“Is there another means of communication?” I asked. I picked up the mug and brought it to my lips. The steam rose from the cup and settled beneath my eyes.
“We have a phone in the back,” she said, “but the lines went down a couple of hours ago and probably won’t be back up till tomorrow or the next day. The best thing you can do is get back in your car and go back the way you came. The roads should still be passable in that direction for an hour or two.”
I took a careful sip of the coffee and pondered my plight. The coffee was thick as ink and tasted like it had been stewing in the pot all day, but it was hot and felt good sliding down my throat. I took a sip and gave her a sigh of approval.
She asked the old man if he needed anything. He said no, so she disappeared through a door behind the bar. There was a pass-through window in the wall between the bar and the kitchen. I could see her speaking to an old black man who was pulling on a parka and gloves. She said something to him, kissed him on the cheek, and then let him out the back door.
The old man next to me must have caught me watching her, because he bumped me with his boney elbow and gave me a grin. “She’s something else, ain’t she?”
I played dumb. “Is she?”
“She is,” he said, his head bobbing. “If I was sixty years younger…”
I smiled at him. “What would you do?”
His thin shoulders went up and down as he gave me a sad look. “I would do what young fellows your age do,” he said. “If I could remember what that was.” He let go a cackle and slapped a hand on the bar.
“What’s her name?” I asked. I watched as she pulled glasses out of a dishwasher and stacked them on the counter.
“That’s Becca Boo,” he said quietly.
I gave him an amused look. “Pardon me?”
He grinned, sticking the tip of his tongue through the gap in his front teeth. “That’s just my nickname for her. Her name is Rebecca Monroe. She owns the place.”