Our landing was one of the smoothest I’d ever experienced. You’d almost forget that we were landing due to mechanical failure and a horrible storm. Once we landed, James pushed over to me with the biggest smile on his face, beaming positivity.
“Not to worry, Mr. Roberts. We will have the plane fixed very soon. I am going to stay here with the plane to make sure that everything goes well. I’ll call you as soon as I have any news.”
It was very cold, and the wind and snow were still whirling about. We shuffled off the plane, onto the quiet runway, stepping into huge piles of snow. There were a few people off in the distance. Employees, I assumed, although the sky was so bright and white in the storm that it was hard to see much of anything. But, otherwise it was pretty deserted.
We made our way in silence across the runway. We parted ways as we approached the limo that was parked and waiting. James and his co-pilot bid their goodbyes and ran off in the direction of an open hangar while Dana and I loaded into the limo. It wasn’t the one I was used to but was a weather-equipped Hummer style limo that could get us through the storm.
Once the door of the limo closed, I sighed and sunk into the cool leather. I was so glad to be back safely on the ground.
The reality of our situation began to sink in. We were some place far from home and both had busy lives and responsibilities to attend to. I knew that I probably should have called home to check on Olivia, but I was going to put that off for as long as possible.
Instead, I began to busy myself with finding a hotel for us to stay for the night. It had been a very long day and I was beyond ready to get some shut eye. I pulled out my phone and called my assistant. I told her where we were and that we needed a place to stay for the night. I hung up, sat back, and closed my eyes.
I could hear Dana on the phone with her parents. Her voice was light and airy. She made it sound like our landing was like winning the lottery or something.
Her voice took on a softer quality when she asked, “Can I speak to Scott?”
Once he came to the phone, her voice dripped with maternal love. It was like each syllable was a warm hug that she passed through the phone. When she hung up, her entire demeanor fell. Just then, my phone began to ring. It was my assistant.
“Talk to me,” I said.
“Okay, so I checked everywhere in town and even on the outskirts of town. Every hotel is booked due to the storm. Apparently, it derailed a lot of traffic that would usually keep on going on the highway, but people had to get off the road and find a place to stay and ride out the storm. Normally, it’s a quiet town, but not this week.”
“Lucky me,” I sighed, getting an unfavorable response to my earlier question about whether things could get worse. They could, and they were.
“But,” continued my assistant, “there is one room available. It’s a quaint cabin in the woods, called Stay Inn. It’s owned by a local couple who turned their home into a resort-like property for people who enjoy traveling to remote locations to ski, hunt, and fish. It seems like it would be right up your alley.”
Even though it was much like a place that I would have hand selected for a getaway, I was largely uninterested in the festivities and activities. All I cared about was getting somewhere where I could recharge my battery and get onto my meeting.
“Go ahead and book it,” I told her.
“Done,” she responded, half a second later. I gave our driver the address and he tapped it into the GPS.
Once that was taken care of, I made the dreaded call to the nanny to let her know what had happened. She sounded very stressed, like she was mentally and physically exhausted. Her report about Olivia’s further behavior after leaving the school explained it. It turned out that, not surprisingly, not much had changed and Olivia was still being more than a handful.
She asked me if I wanted to speak to Olivia. It was less asking and more begging. She wanted me to say something that would tame the beast that was my daughter. Unfortunately, I had no such words. I quickly rushed her off the phone, promising to call back before bed time. Maybe I’d feel better once we got to where we were going.
I broke the news to Dana about the cabin, in case she hadn’t overheard the conversation. She nodded slowly, like she was processing everything. I could only imagine how she must feel. This was her first day on the job and the plane all but fell out of the sky. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had quit. Disappointed, but not surprised.
I could see the worry etched on her face and could feel the nervous tension in the air as we drove on the dark road, passing endless rows of fir trees.
The cabin came up on our right so fast that Ron, our driver, slammed on the brakes, put the limo in reverse, and backed up. He had a hard time maneuvering the long, luxury vehicle into the narrow driveway, but somehow, he did.
When we got out, a cheerful woman with curly brown hair came running out to meet us, as well as she could run through the snow, while wearing fur boots and a long winter coat. It was more like clomping through the snow. She greeted us like we were long lost friends, not complete strangers lost and in need of shelter.
“You must be the Roberts,” she said, but before I had time to correct her, she just kept talking. “Welcome to Stay Inn. Come in, come in!” She clutched Dana and me by the hand before we had a chance to object.
We walked through a solid, oak wood doorway and stood in a foyer with high, vaulted ceilings. The candles scattered along the walls and on tables gave the home a very charming look and feel. It was bigger than I’d expected, but it really reminded me of the many luxury cabins that I’d visited with my family.
Dana gasped as we entered, impressed by the beauty of the inn. Under normal circumstances, it looked like a fun and romantic place to visit.
“This is my husband, Tom,” said the woman, presenting a man that had an impressively imposing frame, a slightly round, friendly face, but very few words. He nodded hello to us and shuffled off.
“I’m Maggie,” announced our hostess. “Let me show you to your room. And I’m sure you’re hungry, so I’m going to fix you a nice, hot meal.”
It was at that moment that I was truly grateful to have ended up in this sweet cabin in the middle of nowhere. I might be stranded in the mountains in a fucking blizzard, but at least I was getting a hot meal. And, as I caught a glimpse of Dana’s cute ass as she wandered around in front of me looking around the cabin, some great company, too.