A Crazy Little
Winter Vacay
A Novel
Rena Manse
© 2015 by Vizionstories
and Andrea M. Harris
Distributed from Canada and the United States of America
All rights reserved. The reproduction of this publication in any form, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise is prohibited without consent of the author, and in direct violation of the copyright law.
2015
Toronto, Canada
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to events, establishments, or incidents is entirely coincidental or used fictitiously.
12 15
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Books by Rena Manse:
A Crazy Little Winter Vacay
Circle of the Heart (The Revealing Series)
Keir & Myah
Never Like This (The Revealing Series)
Then, There’s Love (The Revealing Series)
A CRAZY LITTLE WINTER VACAY
Just because something can go wrong, that doesn’t mean it should.
Jada Stanton and several other travelers are caught in the flash blizzard of the decade in the middle of Where, exactly? Montana.
Dr. Bretton Heathrow left behind a few bad memories to make his dream come true. Stranded motorists are the last thing he expects at dark-thirty in the morning. But one bright shining star may make the near-disaster a worthwhile inconvenience.
Like the blizzard, Jada Stanton is the one he never saw coming.
Christian Romance
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
“HELP ME!” In one second, everything changed. Jada Stanton jerked the steering wheel to avoid colliding with the vehicle in front. Headlights flashed, and the world around her vehicle went white.
Headlights? Had the car in front spun around? Guiding a ton of metal blindly through the swirling snow, she threw the lever to neutral. The car continued to sail forward on its original path. Hitting something out there was inevitable.
“Father, help me.”
Smash. Jerked forward on impact, her mind couldn’t linger on what she hit. Oncoming vehicles from behind were driving straight into the same whiteout. How many vehicles had decorated her rearview mirror? Five? Six?
Staring out at the wiles of the flash blizzard, she braced for impact. A hefty bump meant she wasn’t hit head on. She sighed. Probably just the back, right fender. At least the person behind displayed better maneuvering capabilities than she’d managed.
Her mid-sized Acura jolted with another impact. And another. She clutched the steering wheel and peered over her shoulder. Naturally, the weather’s fury showed the same view outside all windows. White, with a chance of white. She tried to find images, lights, gaps in the completely encasing shroud. Nothing.
Forecasts hadn’t predicted any of this severe weather in Montana. She’d listened to storm warnings since she set out from Seattle. Leave it to her to get caught in a freak storm when she didn’t know where she was going.
“Isn’t I-90 famous for whiteouts?” Her sister had asked the ironic question when they discussed her making the trip over the phone. That would have been a good time to listen to Judith’s advice. But 20/20 couldn’t help her now.
“You live out there and you don’t know?”
“Hey, I’m smart. I fly.”
Jada had grinned from ear to ear. “I’m going to love this drive.”
“It’s eleven hours.”
“Stop being a worry-wart. The fourteen-day forecast looks great.”
“Whatever.”
“Oh, very articulate for a language post-grad.”
“A post-grad who’s going to Greece!” Judith’s voice screeched. Her sister probably did a happy dance in the process.
Jada pulled the phone from her ear and laughed before clearing her throat loudly in the receiver. “Yes, yes. Rub it in that you’re spending a month in Europe and see if I leave your condo standing by the time you get back.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you kidding? Never be sorry about going away.”
“But this is our first Christmas apart.”
“What it is is an excellent opportunity. Don’t miss out.”
“Stop it. You’re a year younger than me. Why do you sound like you’re my mom?”
Despite not having their parents for most of their lives, Jada didn’t mind watching out for her older sister. Foster care hadn’t been easy, but they’d been kept together most of the time. If it hadn’t been for one God-fearing couple setting them straight, neither of them would have made it in life.
In all their years, Judith never gave up hope to reach out and educate children in their own languages. Jada watched her suffer setbacks, and ended up enrolling in every one of her courses years after everyone else. But at age thirty, Judith was about to complete that dream.
“I’m never standing in your way,” Jada told her. “Which doesn’t mean I won’t camp out at your place for my Christmas vacation to get away from my nosey roommate.”
“I keep telling you to move out here.” Judith’s voice took a high-pitched “I told you so” tone.
“And leave everything I’ve worked so hard for? Everything in my world is in its place.”
“You said yourself you have two things. Church and work. I go to a decent church. And nothing’s so great about your job you can’t find one similar somewhere else. Boy did that ever come out like an insult.”
“I hope you don’t talk to your clients that way.”
“Whateva’.” Judith’s corny New York accent painted a picture of her trying to be cool.
“I don’t ever want to hear you try that again, worry-wart. Have fun. Talk to you when you get back.”
The calm and sweet moment evaporated.
The low wail entering her mind took its place as the center of Jada’s attention. She gasped at its significance. “No.”
Searching wildly around the car for some sort of cover, there was nothing left to do but brace again as the cries of the 18-wheeler she’d passed a mile ago, caught up to the scene.
She didn’t want Judith to come home to find out what happened to her. Smashed to bits on the way to her home for the holidays. God, help whoever they hit first. The morbid sound of the domino effect of impacts pulsed through her. How many other vehicles were between her and the truck? They shielded her enough that she only suffered a bump and felt her car slide a few more feet.
Her hood sloped on an incline. Somehow, in the midst of all of this, she’d traveled from the left lane to the right shoulder. How was she going to get out of this mess? Or any of them, for that matter? Twisted, crunching metal had reached her ears during that last impact. Snow surrounded the car like a cocoon, and she didn’t recall spotting a tow truck among the rest of vehicles that had been unable to pass the transport truck up ahead. Great. They were probably sandwiched in between the two rigs.
Below the howls of blowing snow, the engine roared when her foot slipped. It was still running. Good. No need to worry about heat on her three-quarter tank. She pulled down the visor to check h
er face. “You’re fine. Just a setback. Wait for the snow to clear, assess the damage, and find a way out. Okay?” Pep talk over, she closed her eyes and sagged against the seat. “Thank you, God.”
Stuck in a multicar pile-up. What a story to tell her friends. The fact that she couldn’t think of anyone she wanted to share with aside from a few people at church, made no difference. She switched off the car and listened to the wind yowl. Tiny pellets kicked against the glass and metal. Stuck. Alone.
Generally a loner, this wasn’t too bad. At work, ate alone; went to restaurants alone—and lest she lose sight that she was on her way to Judith’s empty condo—vacationed alone. She never wanted a roommate, but after Judith moved out a year ago, the three-bedroom became too much to handle on her own financially. Two weeks of solitude at Judith’s seemed divine. Maybe look for her own place and find a job if she were to take Judith’s offer seriously.
First, she had to make it out of here. Wherever here could be.
In unfamiliar territory, wind buffeted the car. She swayed when it rocked every so often. Wild gusts of snow whistled and whipped around, attempting to get inside. She felt like she was in the wilderness, but civilization couldn’t be too far away. Could it? She opened her eyes to stare into their dark brown reflection. The situation worried her, but she knew she should keep her head. She had clothes and a bit of roadside supplies in the trunk. They could be reached through the back seat if needed.
“Good plan. Good plan.” Snow whipped against the windshield. “Just wait it out.”
After ten minutes, the violent sounds of wind and snow faded. The car must be buried in the stuff by now.
Jada released her seatbelt, no comprehension of why she kept it on during those past ten minutes, and tried to open the door. It didn’t budge. “You don’t say.”
Turning on the power, she eventually eased down the reluctant window, letting mounds of snow inside, and poked her head out. Snow flurries flew around her head, causing her hair to follow suit in all directions. Whiteness faded in and out in patches, but evening had started to set in, and the skies grew dark.
On the ground, a blanket high enough to cover half a foot of her car door lay outside. Forget a freak storm, the blizzard of the century just occurred in fifteen minutes flat. Unfortunately, the rest of the interstate, from the few meters she could see, appeared just as unforgiving. It didn’t help that she’d been pushed to the side where the drift was higher.
“So, God, how do you expect me to get out of here?”
Time to call in the troops. She reached for her cell phone, but voices filtered over from in the distance.
“Hello?” She looked around.
“Everybody okay?” the voice asked.
Help had arrived? She thought there would be flashing lights or the yellow strobe of a plow. A few men trudged through the snow piles from both directions. Within minutes she’d been freed from the confines of her warm car by the transport and pickup truck drivers with their handy shovels. Their vehicles sat high enough to avoid being blocked in the first place.
Tucking her flyaway hair under her hat, she followed them to a few other vehicles. For the next hour, she learned of the nine-car accident, and the men, women, and children trapped with her. Everyone appeared to be okay, and they poked long sticks into suspicious looking mounds. No one held out hope the roads would be cleared any time soon. Someone reported they’d stopped between two sparsely populated towns.
Ace and Doug took charge. Cell phones beeped or rang as people exchanged calls, but help would be a while getting to them. She replayed every horror story of commuters trapped on roads for days. This couldn’t be happening.
Mohammed, with his wife and four children—and one in the oven—huddled in their car to keep each other warm and the little ones from worrying. His had been the car to spin out in front of her. The vehicle was filled with luggage and little else. Not one to be without road equipment, she gave them one of her blankets and a few of way too many tea candles from her supply.
One of the truck drivers had a flare, but the continued low snow-cloud cover made him hesitate using it. As long as everyone was fine, they’d wait until the weather cleared up more. It would clear up, wouldn’t it?
Crouched in her car once again, she pilfered more supplies from her suitcases. Bible. “Yes.” Though not the same context, 2 Corinthians 4 never looked so appealing. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed.” She finished the chapter and rolled on top of the book, hugging it to her chest like a heat source. If she had nothing else, she had hope.
Snuggling in with extra sweats, socks, her flashlight, and one box of tea candles, she settled in the backseat of her cold car to wait out the night.
CHAPTER TWO