Chapter 10

The snowplow was doing a good job of keeping the roads clear which alleviated much of Derek’s nervousness about driving today. That, combined with the fact that he had gotten his first paycheck yesterday had left him in a pretty good mood. Good enough that when he had spotted Timothy in the lobby he had decided to take the plunge and try talking to him again.

The last few days had been eye-opening for Derek. It wasn’t just working, either. It was his chats with Tony that had helped him start to piece together his thoughts and his place in the world. There were still a lot of things he didn’t know, but he was starting to get some of his old confidence back. Enough that he was willing to risk rejection in order to try and repair his friendship with Timothy. The crowd in the lobby had prevented him from telling Timothy his thoughts in person. For now, a simple exchange of text messages was the best he could manage.

Thankfully, it seemed like Timothy was at least open to the idea of talking to him again.

Which meant that so far, despite the craziness of the crowds, Derek was having a pretty damn good day.

He reached the shuttle pick-up location and was once again greeted by more people than he could possibly take in one trip. This was the one thing that Tony hadn’t trained him for. He recognized several people from when he made his last pick-up, so he tried to prioritize them. But there were others who were getting into arguments over who had been there longer.

Of course, Derek also had to take everyone’s luggage into consideration and figure out where to stash everything. Packing in a full load of people, and all of their assorted stuff, took the better part of an hour.

He sent a quick text to Tony to let him know he was on his way back and then hit the road.

The snow had continued to fall thickly all morning long. It was piled up on everything that held still longer than a minute. The roads in town weren’t too bad, but the stretch of countryside between the town and the mountain was beginning to accumulate snow at a rapid pace. The county snowplows seemed to be making periodic trips, but they were too sporadic to be much help. Which meant that Derek was forced to drive more slowly than he would have otherwise.

The entire experience was long and tedious but, by the time he made it to the foot of the mountain, Snowed Inn’s snowplow had already begun its return trip up the mountain. The freshly cleared road made the climb up the steep switchbacks a simple matter. Derek was still forced to take his time, but at least he wasn’t worried about sliding off the road.

He managed to get one more trip in before noon at which point Tony greeted him with a sandwich and told him to eat in the van on his way back to town. The CDL driver wasn’t coming in today and there were still plenty of people waiting for a ride.

So, Derek worked through lunch, snacking on his sandwich whenever he got a free moment. Just a few weeks ago he would have resented Tony for being such a slave driver. Today, however, he had a slightly different perspective. He was getting paid for every hour he spent behind the wheel and that meant that his next paycheck was going to be huge.

“Alright that’s it, people, this is the last shuttle of the day,” Derek announced as he tied down the last of the luggage ties on the roof of the van. A collective groan rose from the collection of people still gathered outside the vehicle hoping for a ride. “The next shuttle will come through at nine AM. We should also have the big shuttle van up and running by then too, so be sure to get here bright and early.”

He did his best to force a smile, but he was feeling exhausted. So many hours behind the wheel had drained him of all his energy. He was ready for a hot shower and a good night’s rest. Derek chuckled to himself as he climbed into the driver’s seat. Who would’ve imagined Derek D’angelus ready to hit the hay this early? He hadn’t gone to bed before midnight in ages.

Derek glanced back at his load of passengers. As usual, they seemed absorbed in their own little worlds. None of them really paid much heed to who was driving them. They just wanted to get where they were going with as little fuss as possible. He sighed and shifted his gaze to the empty passenger’s seat beside him. He would’ve liked to have someone to talk to. The image of Timothy’s smiling face flashed through his mind and brightened his mood a little.

Switching on the van’s headlights, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed back towards home.

The darkness and the snow made it difficult to see more than a few feet ahead. The county snowplows had stopped running once night fell and the road conditions had steadily worsened. Their pace was reduced to a crawl and there were several moments that Derek considered heading back to town and apologizing to his passengers for wasting their time. However, he pressed on with the knowledge that once they reached the mountain their pace would improve. Tony had promised to bring the snowplow out and escort them home personally. He just had to make it that far.

However, when he reached the foot of the mountain, Tony was nowhere to be seen.

The road up the mountain didn’t look like it had been plowed for a while either.

He hesitated.

“Hey, Driver? What the hell’s going on? Why are we stopped?” demanded one of the passengers.

“Sorry folks, looks like our escort isn’t here just yet,” Derek apologized, trying to remain civil. He pulled the van to the side of the road and parked it. “Let me make a quick phone call to try and find out what happened.”

The passengers began to grumble, but there wasn’t much he could do about it at the moment. There was no way he was going to make it up that road without the plow leading the way.

He hopped out of the car and quickly called up Tony as he leaned against the driver’s side door. The first two calls went to voicemail. Finally, on the third try, Tony answered.

“Finally!” exclaimed Derek. “Where are you? I’m sitting here at the bottom of the mountain with a van load of people and no escort.”

Tony swore. “Yeah, I know. It’s…I was trying to get it fixed before you got there. I hoped the snow would slow you down some more.”

“Slow me down more? It already took me twice as long to get here. Tony, what’s going on?” Derek was doing his best to restrain the mounting frustration inside of him. He could feel the eyes of the passengers all watching him and he could vaguely hear their conversations inside. He needed to give them an answer, soon.

“The damn, shitty, blasted snow plow went and crapped out on me. I can’t find the problem. I went to start it so I could meet you and nothing happened.” Tony sounded like he wanted to break something.

“So what? What do I do?” The gears in Derek’s brain were spinning like wheels in the mud.

“Shit, Derek, I don’t know?” Tony sighed. “You’re going to have to go back to town and spend the night down there. I’m going to try and get this thing running again.”

“What happens if you can’t do that?” Derek didn’t particularly care for the idea of being stranded in town for an indefinite period of time.

“Then I’ll have to bring the snow tires down to you tomorrow,” said Tony with a sigh. “I should have put them on this morning.”

Derek took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his head in frustration. “Okay, I guess I’ll talk to you in the morning then.”

“I’ll have Peter call ahead to the hotel and get you set up with a room. We’ve got an expense account that we can use to cover it for you,” said Tony. “I’ll text you the info.”

“Thanks. Bye.” Derek exhaled forcefully as he hung up the phone. At least he wasn’t going to have to pay for his room out of his own pocket. He turned and looked back at the van. Now he just had to figure out how to tell his passengers that their trip was canceled.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” one passenger exclaimed as Derek turned the van around to head back to town. “This is some of the worst service I’ve ever experienced.”

“You’re right, this is nothing like what I’ve come to expect from Snowed Inn,” another agreed.

Derek was growing more irritated with each passing second. “Unless one of you has a snowplow in your back pocket and wants to use it to clear the road up the mountain, I suggest you keep your comments to yourself,” he said in a tone that was just a few levels down from a shout. “I’m not risking my life, and the lives of everyone in this van, trying to climb that mountain right now.”

The passengers mostly lapsed into silence, though a few of them continued to mutter under their breath. As long as they weren’t talking to him, Derek didn’t care at this point. What had started out as the perfect day had quickly become absolute garbage.

Visibility had been reduced to almost zero and traction on the road was non-existent. Every few feet the van began a nerve-wracking slide that caused Derek’s heart to skip a beat. He tried to remember what Tony had told him; “don’t slam on the brakes,” “stay calm and don’t over-correct,” “don’t panic.” All of that advice was good in theory, but reality was much more terrifying.

The van slid through a four-way stop and out into an empty intersection. Derek hurriedly glanced around and tried to get the vehicle moving forward again as quickly as possible. The van’s wheels spun uselessly in the soft powder that had gathered on the road. No one had driven through this intersection in ages. There were no other vehicle tracks to latch onto to pull them out of the slump.

Derek tried to stay calm and flipped the four-wheel drive switch that Tony had shown him. The van lurched out of the rut and sped forward. Panic flooded through Derek. He had no sense of space or direction. No clear idea where the edge of the road was.

Tony’s warnings all evaporated from his head. The only thing left was fear and the hammering of his heart against his ribs. Desperate to stay on the road, Derek slammed on the brakes. The van began to slide.

The passengers all shouted, clutching to one another and their seats as Derek struggled to try and correct the van’s path. With a sickening thud, the wheels left the road and bounced onto the shoulder. The momentum carried them further; rocking the van up onto two wheels.

Derek’s throat tightened. He was unable to scream, unable to express the terror that had turned his blood to ice. For one moment of pure agony, he knew they were going to flip and wind up in the ditch.

The wheel’s slammed back against the ground. Gravity yanked Derek back, and slammed his head against the driver’s side window as the entire world finally came to a halt. Everything was silent, save for the steady hum of the van’s engine and panicked breathing of the passengers.

Derek’s head throbbed. He reached up and touched the bump on his head, prodding at the soreness as he tried to take stock of the situation. He was alive. Somehow. And they were still upright. Somehow.

“Everyone okay back there?” he asked, unfastening his seatbelt and looking back at the passengers. They all still looked shaken by the experience, but it didn’t seem like anyone was hurt.

Derek looked back out at the snow and darkness. There was no way he was going to find his way back to town like this. He wasn’t even sure he was pointed in the right direction anymore.

“You nearly got us all killed!” Reality seemed to be settling in on the passengers once more. One of them, clearly one of the more outspoken ones, wasn’t about to let things go easily. “How could you make such a reckless mistake? We’ve put all of our lives in your hands, and we could have ended up dead.”

A sick, churning sensation grew in the pit of Derek’s stomach. He felt claustrophobic and hot.

The other passengers were starting in now. A few of them tried to encourage the others to calm down and take it easy, but their pleas seemed to get lost in the crush.

“I’m going to make a call,” Derek announced as he forced his trembling hands to open the door so he could climb out. Icy wind whipped around him, chilling him instantly as the van door swung shut behind him. Snow was already gathering on the windshield and building up around the tires. With how fast it was collecting, it wouldn’t be long before they were snowed in completely.

He pulled out his phone.

There was a text waiting from Timothy. Derek swallowed as he swiped through the phone and pulled up his messages.

“Maybe we can hang out when you get back?” The words on the screen blurred as Derek’s eyes welled with emotion.

He wasn’t going to cry. This entire situation, frustrating as it was, wasn’t going to beat him. The throbbing in his head, the stinging cold, the angry passengers, he wasn’t going to let this get the better of him. He just needed to stay strong and this would all be over soon.

Taking a deep breath, Derek called Tony.

“That was fast.” Tony sounded a little bit calmer than he had been during their last conversation. “Did you get to the hotel okay?”

Derek swallowed again. It felt like there was a lump in his throat that he just couldn’t get rid of. It was making it difficult to get his breathing and his heart rate under control.

“Derek?” Tony sounded worried. “Geez, come on, say something.”

“Yeah, sorry. I’m here.” Derek coughed and once again found himself blinking back tears. He couldn’t let this beat him. “I…I haven’t made it to the hotel yet. Shit, Tony, I nearly put us in a ditch. I can’t see more than three feet. The snow and ice are insane. The passengers are freaking out. Which I don’t blame them for. I’d be freaking out too if the guy that was supposed to be driving me nearly got me killed.”

“Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?” Tony’s tone sounded surprisingly non-judgmental.

“I don’t think…I hit my head on the window and it hurts. The passengers were angry, but I don’t think any of them got hurt.” Derek leaned against the van door and tried to ignore the ache in his head.

“If you hit your head I don’t want you driving anymore tonight,” instructed Tony. “Give me a few minutes to figure something out, I’ll call you back. Just stay put.”

“Yeah, okay.” Derek nodded as he spoke. The line clicked silent as Tony ended the call.

Derek took a deep, cleansing breath and pressed the palm of his hand against his forehead. He was utterly miserable. The throbbing in his head had become oppressive and the chill in the air made him shiver. He brushed off the snow that had started to gather on him and climbed back into the van.

The passengers all seemed to be waiting for some sort of report.

“They’re going to call me back,” he said, shrugging his shoulders in defeat.

The collective groans of frustration did little to improve his mood. Derek leaned forward and slumped over the steering wheel, squeezing his eyes closed and replaying everything in his head. He could see it so clearly now that it was easy to point out all the mistakes he had made. Why had he been so stupid? He clenched his teeth and silently hoped that Tony would call back soon. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to fight back his tears for much longer.