Snowed in Together (11 page)

Chapter Fifteen

A half-second later, Ellyce spotted the rig.

"Oh!" Her hands flew to her mouth. Then she raised both arms over her head, waved madly and charged her way toward the rig. "Matt! I can't believe it! It’s Matt!"

I tried to swallow the huge lump of dashed hopes in my throat. I didn't know exactly what happened next.

I did see Ellyce fling herself into Matt's arms and give him a world-record kiss. I sort of remembered going back into the school, rounding up everyone else and telling them the "good" news about our imminent rescue. I did know that Jeff gave me a look of encouragement and Tony punched my arm and said, "Don't give up yet."

I also knew that somehow Matt packed all of us into his rig and got us all safely home. It was, in fact, after he dropped off everyone except Ellyce and me that my level of awareness picked up again.

"There, by that mailbox," Ellyce was saying. "That's the driveway to Wes's house."

I was surprised she knew, even if Willamette Valley Regional was not that big a school.

"Hey," I said, finding my voice for the first time in the ride home. "You don't have to go up my driveway. I can walk from here."

"No problem." Matt barreled his rig through the snow, patting the steering wheel. "It's no trouble with this baby, especially with that old plow Dad had out in the barn."

It wasn't any concern for Matt or his rig that made me offer to get out and walk. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd find at the end of my driveway. I'd been pushing any thoughts of Dad to the back of my mind, but now that I was almost home again I was worried. A pile of snow-covered beer bottles would not exactly make a good impression. "Really, I can walk."

Matt didn't wait for me to open the door. He headed down the driveway insisting, "My rig can handle anything."

As soon as my house was visible, I was glad to see smoke curling out of the chimney. At least I could eliminate finding Dad frozen to death in the kitchen. And there was no pile of bottles, snow-covered or otherwise, for anyone to see.

Just as Matt pulled up to the porch, the front door blew open and Dad ran out with open arms. "Wes! Thank God. I haven't lost you, too!"

For a second, I felt glued to the back seat as I looked out at Dad. He looked both thrilled and bewildered.

"Th-thanks for ride." I hesitated, not wanting to open the door and get out just yet.

"No problem!" Matt tapped the dashboard.

I tried to steal a look at Ellyce, half hoping she wasn't looking at me. She was. She looked straight into my eyes, reached back and pressed her hand on my shoulder. "Take care, Wes."

"Sure." She was trying to be nice and still dust me off. "You, too."

I got out of the rig and stepped into a flurry of backslaps and hugs from Dad. For a second I just stood there feeling weird. I couldn't remember the last time Dad hugged me. But I hugged him back. It felt good.

Matt honked as he turned and headed back down the driveway. Ellyce waved. I lifted my hand and slowly waved back. Already, being snowed in at school with her was beginning to feel like a dream. I figured by Monday things would be right back to where they were before the blizzard, as if it'd never happened. We’ll be back to saying
Hi
, and that’ll be about it.

"Well, come on!" Dad said. "Let's not stand here freezing. Let's go inside and you can tell me what the heck happened, where you've been, what you were doing."

As we climbed the front steps, I noticed a snow-covered mound that I hadn’t seen from Matt’s SUV. It looked like a pile of beer bottles. Dad saw me staring at it and said, "Those aren't empties! They've got beer in 'em. Not remembering where you went shook me up so much, I quit drinking. Cold turkey!"

I was sure then that everything had been a dream. I wondered when I'd wake up.

Chapter Sixteen

Of course, I hadn't been dreaming. And things did not go back to the way they were before the blizzard. At least, not quite.

It took about a week before Dad started drinking again. But he had changed. He admitted he had a drinking problem and decided to do something about it. At first, he tried to quit on his own. When that didn't work for more than a few days at a time, he joined a support group.

After dragging my heels, I joined a support group for kids of addicts. I'd been avoiding Ellyce, but a few days after the blizzard, she cornered me at school.

"I've got a meeting tomorrow," she said. "I'll pick you up at your house at four."

"Tomorrow?" I scratched the back of my neck and tried not to look at her. "Um … I don't know. I … I think I'm busy."

"Wes." She grabbed my hand. "As soon as I saw Matt driving up to the school, I realized how much I love him. But I care about you. I really do." She paused, then said, "I'm not going to let go of your hand until you say you'll go with me tomorrow."

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

She smiled. "Whatever it takes."

"Well … " I gazed into her beautiful green eyes. I flashed back to our lips touching, our bodies pressed together. Maybe it wasn't the romance of the century, but at least we'd always have that moment. And there was always the chance, however slim, that going to the support group with Ellyce might lead to something more …. "Okay," I said. "See you at four tomorrow."

"Yay!" Ellyce stood on her tiptoes and brushed my cheek with a quick kiss.

I would've liked a lot more, but I was willing to settle for that.

Tiffany broke up with Derek Hogan and started going with Tony. I never said a word to him about my, um, experience with her, and I'm sure she never said anything either. For about a month, Tony was deliriously happy, even though I'm not sure he and Tiffany ever Did It. He never said they Did. But then, he never complained that they Didn't.

A month, however, still seemed to be Tiffany's limit. Then it was goodbye Tony, hello Gary Irwin. Tony was, fortunately, resilient. He survived with a just a few minor bumps and bruises to his heart, or maybe it was his ego--or maybe both. The main thing was, he survived.

Ms. Tenray and Mr. Korman started dating, which surprised none of us who were snowed in with them, but which floored the rest of the school. They roamed the halls with such big smiles that I almost found it depressing to see someone looking so happy.

For a while I kind of moped around and felt sorry for myself, especially watching Jeff and Cari float around together, enveloped in a soft haze of total infatuation. But after a few weeks of serious soul searching, Jeff broke it off.

"I got tired of sneaking around," Jeff said to me. "It was tough trying to keep our relationship secret from Cari's great-grandfather. She didn't have the nerve to have me over to her house, and she even worried that he'd find out that she came over to mine. She cares too much about what her great-grandfather thinks."

I guess the break-up got to Cari, because a couple days later she invited Jeff over to her house. Jeff went. He said her great-grandfather wasn't exactly friendly, but he didn't forbid Cari to date him either.

So, one of us ended up with the girl of his dreams. But all was not lost for me and Tony. Our brief connections with Ellyce and Tiffany did something for us. For one thing, their involvements with us didn’t automatically make
them
outcasts, at least with people who matter, which was good.

For another thing, it elevated
our
social status. Girls noticed us. Or maybe we were
allowing
ourselves to be noticed, since we felt more sure of ourselves.

In any case, we actually started talking to girls, and, amazingly enough, some of them not only talked to us, they even agreed to go out with us.

"Do you think getting snowed in was really necessary?" Tony asked one day at lunch as he chewed his way through a meatball sandwich. "Maybe we wasted a lot of time by just not talking to girls."

"I don't know." Jeff blew bubbles into his milk carton. "I'm just trying to make up for lost time."

I shrugged. I felt different. I thought I was less afraid about stuff. The support group helped me learn to not hang onto my fears and resentments.

I learned how to talk stuff out. I discovered that I could hate some of the things my parents did without hating them--and without blaming myself for what they did. Oh, and I stopped curling my toes.

I was glad there was a blizzard. I was glad I got snowed in. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. It made us (me especially) realize that everyone has problems. And once you understand that, you can start to accept yourself, worries and warts and all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ann Herrick grew up in
Connecticut
, where she graduated from The Morgan School and
Quinnipiac
University
.  She now lives in
Oregon
with her husband, who was her high-school sweetheart.  Their wonderful daughter is grown, married and gainfully employed, and has given Ann her only grand-dog, Puff, a bloodhound-rottweiller-beagle mix.  While she misses the East Coast, especially houses built before 1900, she enjoys the green valleys, fresh air and low humidity in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.  Ann loves cats, walking, the Oregon Ducks and working in her back yard.  In addition to stories and books for children and young adults, Ann also writes copy for humorous and conventional greeting cards. She loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted through her web site: 
http://annherrickauthor.com

NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Thank you for purchasing and reading this BOOKS WE LOVE eBook. We hope you have enjoyed your reading experience.
Best Regards and Happy
Reading
, Jamie and Jude

Books We Love and Books We Love Spice

http://bookswelove.net

The Beverly Hills Boutique of eBook publishers.

Vintage and New from award winning authors.

Top quality books loved by readers,

Romance, Mystery, Fantasy, Young Adult

Vampires, Werewolves, Cops, Lovers.

Looking for Something Spicier

for Sexy Spicy Selections

Try BOOKS WE LOVE Spice