Lantern Lake Winter Collection: Books 1-3

by Gretchen S. B.

  As they walked into the cabin, she could see it wasn't exactly large. The garage hooked into a great room. It was a weird U shape. To the right was a decent sized kitchen with an island in the middle. Straight in front of them was part of a wall that jutted out and moved back to the far wall of the kitchen. To the left and straight ahead she could see an entryway and a front door; there was a small door which she assumed was a closet set in the section of wall. Jared moved her past that and on the other side of the U shape was a large sectional couch. He plopped her down a little unceremoniously before he went back, grabbed her bags, and jogged into the back hallway.

  “I'm going to put this stuff in the room you're staying in. The Wi-Fi info is right there on the wall, you should be able to see it from where you're sitting next to the TV."

  It was a little weird that he jogged from the room. But for all she knew maybe he had dirty underwear lying around in the hallway. Claire scanned and sure enough there was a piece of paper with the Wi-Fi password and username on it. Claire quickly connected her phone and immediately called Roland.

  He picked up after the first ring. "Claire, where are you? It's almost ten o'clock. Did you get stuck at work?"

  She was touched by the worry in his tone but agitated to see she didn't have any missed messages from him. If it was that late why wouldn't he have tried to contact her?

  "I'm okay, some jerk on the road, not well-lit road, ended up going in circles, chasing me into a tree. I don't know how bad my car is, but a Good Samaritan pulled up and tried to take me into town, but visibility was so bad we couldn't make it in, so we turned around. He lives outside of town. I'm in his cabin right now." She turned away from the hallway, glancing at it as she did so to make sure Jared wasn't walking back.

  "His name is Jared McAllister and I am going to call you first thing in the morning, but if you don't hear from me by like nine, call the police and let them know what happened. My car is only about ten to twelve minutes outside the city, I guess."

  "He took you to his house?"

  "Yes. That's why I'm saying if you don't hear from me reach out by nine to do something. Hopefully they will be cleaning the roadways by then and I can head into town.”

  "I can come and get you now. Do you know approximately where you are?"

  Even though she knew he couldn't see it, Claire rolled her eyes. "Roland, your Ford Focus is not going to make it through a storm if a heavy-duty truck had problems. Plus, I'm not sure where we are. There are rows and rows of cabins in a weird pattern. I don't know if you'll find us. I should be fine, just call in the morning." Roland was making her nerves sing. Her paranoia was starting to kick in again.

  "All right, all right, Claire. I'll talk to you in the morning. Be safe and keep your phone on you." Roland hung up.

  When she did the same, she turned back to lean on the couch. When she turned, she saw Jared standing there on the other side of the large sectional couch, clearly within hearing distance of at least part of the conversation. Most likely he heard her demanding Roland to call early in the morning in case something happened. If he was a crazy person at least now he’d know someone was looking for her. On the other hand, if he wasn't a crazy person he might be offended.

  Either way, his face remained a blank scowl that seemed to be his normal look most of the time anyway. Ringing cut through the air between them. He had clearly put whoever he called on speakerphone.

  "Hey, big brother. It's a little late for you to be calling me," came a singsong voice with a questioning tone weaving through it.

  "Max is my little brother, he is also a nurse. Max, I have a woman here by the name of Claire whose car got forced off of the highway out of town toward my place. Guessing some idiot in the snow was driving too fast or something. Anyway, she hit a tree pretty hard and might have a concussion; how do I tell for sure?"

  When Max’s voice came over the phone this time he cursed. "Am I on speakerphone?"

  "Yup."

  "Hello, Claire," Max's tone was much softer this time. Clearly, he was accustomed to using a bedside manner. "I'm going to have my brother check your pupils, so his ugly mug is getting pretty close to you for a second."

  Jared snorted in response to his brother's words but didn't say anything.

  "Okay." What was she going to say, no?

  "You need to check her pupils, you know the black pits of the eye, see if they’re dilated. See if she tracks your finger well. That kind of thing." It was almost patronizing the way he spoke to his brother and Claire couldn't help but be amused.

  "She was having trouble processing when I first pulled her from the car, and she's dizzy as she walks. It seems to be challenging for her to walk on her own." Jared spoke into the phone as he looked closely at her eyes.

  He had nice eyes himself, they were hazel green with little flecks of gold in them. How could a man with so many sharp edges be somehow gentle and have such gorgeous eyes? The universe was weird.

  "They’re dilated," Jared announced after a moment.

  A couple more curses could be heard over the phone. "All right. Claire, odds are you have a concussion though I don't know how bad. I’d prefer you go into a clinic or hospital, but I'm guessing Jared went back to his fortress of solitude because the roads are closed?"

  Jared shifted back from where he squatted to give Claire a little more room. "Honestly, I don't know. My wheels were losing traction and I didn't want to chance it. The last thing we needed was for both of us to be stranded. At least here you are on the phone and we can do minor measures until stuff melts enough that I can take her to the hospital at Lakeside."

  "Okay, hold on, let me check." There were a couple moments of silence and Jared and Claire exchanged glances.

  She couldn’t read his expression. There wasn't a lot to this man; he appeared to not like people but didn't have it in him to leave somebody who needed help stranded on a roadway. At least that was the vibe she was getting. She could be wrong, and he could be some crazy maniac.

  "Yeah, it wouldn't matter anyway, they've closed the roads into town for both Lantern Lake and Bunny Ridge. Lakeside is the only one with roads open and that's probably because they have the hospital. And you wouldn't be able to get there from your place anyway without going all around the city which is probably really dangerous at this point." After a pause he sighed. "Claire, is there anything else you can feel that doesn't feel right? Or that hurts?"

  She checked in with herself as he asked that question. She hadn't noticed anything but between her adrenaline and exhaustion she could miss any number of things. Overall, she felt a couple bumps and bruises and a massive headache coming on but other than that only her left knee was giving her trouble. "My left knee hurts, I have a massive headache starting; that's it."

  "Good, that's good news. I'm going to have Jared look at your knee. Is there a way we can do that comfortably for you?"

  She was relieved she’d decided to wear pants today. They were large work pants which meant she could easily roll the leg. If she'd worn a skirt or leggings things would've been more difficult.

  "I can roll up my pant leg," she responded.

  "Great, do that.”

  As she rolled it up and got close to the knee, she could already see some discoloration. By the time she rolled up all the way she didn't need the nurse on the phone to tell her she was going to have a hell of a bruise all the way across it. Not all the colors had come in yet, but they were definitely beginning.

  "She's going to have a pretty bad bruise all the way across. It's already discolored and a little swollen," Jared reported into the phone.

  "All right, keep it elevated and keep some ice on it for a little while. If the headache gets too bad, take painkillers. I'll check in with you in the morning to make sure there isn't anything we missed, or things didn't get worse. Hopefully the roadways won’t get too much worse and you'll be able to get back into town tomorrow afternoon or evening. I'll speak with you in the morning."

  When Max h
ung up, Jared slid the phone back into his pocket but didn't get up from a squat position. Instead he looked at her with that blank unfriendly expression. "Would you like to sit out here a while or for me to take you back to the room you'll be using?”

  With her knee already swelling, Claire wasn't sure she wanted to sit on the couch because she might have trouble getting up later. Sighing, she slid to the end of the cushion where it’d be easier for her to get up. "No, let's get me to the room I'm using, thanks."

  Nodding, he stood up, wrapping his arm around her again. They slowly made their way toward the hallway he’d dashed down earlier. As they passed the first door on their left, there was a thump against it and Claire jumped. All the horror movies she'd ever seen came flooding back to her.

  "What the hell was that?" Her voice came out sharp near panic.

  Jared let out a huff as they took a few more steps and he moved to lean her against the wall facing that door.

  "It's my dog. I have a Newfoundland and he's extremely friendly but tends to bowl people over when he gets excited. He heard us come home and usually takes a minute to do all of his doggy yoga stretches before he bounds into the living room to knock people over like bowling pins. So, I ran down the hallway and shut him in the bedroom." As he said the last part, he opened the door to the room a crack. Immediately, a large doggy head popped its way through the door and Claire could hear the thumping of the tail hitting the wall as the happy dog looked at her and wiggled a little. It was definitely a large dog.

  "All right, Newt, backup. Backup, Newt," Jared cooed as he pushed with his leg on the side of the dog's head so he could close the door again, leaving the dog alone in the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, there were large pathetic whines from the bedroom. The only response Jared had was to roll his eyes.

  He walked over and put his arm back around her waist as they continued to walk past the second door that was also closed.

  "Newt?"

  Jared shrugged as he turned her toward the third door which was open and led to a decent sized guest bedroom.

  "Yeah, I'm not the most creative person. This will be your room. The next door down the hall that we didn't pass is the bathroom. If you need anything, let me know. You could holler anywhere in this place and still be heard; thin walls." Jared gently removed his arms until he was sure she could stand on her own. He didn't walk away. Once she was on her own two feet, he walked to the closet and pulled out a folded blanket, placing it on top of the bed, which was made perfectly.

  "Use that to prop up your knee. I'll get you a bag of ice." He walked from the room. It was a nice if not sparsely decorated space. A lot of the cabin so far had been pretty bare. The only glimpse she had gotten that seemed at all personalized was in the very back of the living room between it and the hallway. In the back of the living room was a computer set up. It was a full high-tech computer station in a cut out in the back of the living room. You would have to walk out of the computer area and turn to walk down the hallway to the back of the house. Claire could not help but be curious about what he would need that kind of set up for.

  He returned with an ice pack that would very easily sit all the way across her knee. On his way into the room, he was wrapping it in a towel, and he placed it on the small bedside table which held an alarm clock and a desk lamp. He didn't stop moving until he was back in the doorway.

  Much to her surprise, he started shutting the door so they would both be in the room together. But he stopped at the point where she could see the back of the door. He pointed to the small little metal piece in the inside of the doorknob. "This room locks from the inside." Demonstrating, he turned the metal piece and opened the door more to show how he could not turn the knob. "I know staying the night at a stranger's house is not the most positive of experiences. Just know you can lock the door and I can't get in. As you can see." He opened the door wide again so she could see the knob in the hallway. "There is no key in this knob, so it isn't like I can use some sort of skeleton key to get in. I'm not one hundred percent sure who designed these cabins, but all of the inner doorknobs are like this. Again, if you need anything let me know. I'll come check on you in the morning. Good night." Jared shut the door.

  She was touched by the fact that he went out of his way to show her the door locked. He could be lying or faking it, but she didn't think so. To test it, Claire walked over to the door, locked and unlocked the little mechanism and tested it herself. It had been exactly as he showed her. The fact he had no way to get in and he made sure she knew that helped to put her at ease. Claire shut the door again, took a deep breath, and prepared herself for the massive effort it was going to be to change her clothes with this pounding headache and the knee that was becoming increasingly immobile.

  ~~

  The smell of brewing coffee hit Claire's senses first and there was a split second before she realized the real reason she had woken up was her ring tone on the bedside table next to her. She opened her eyes and there was a moment of panic before all her memories came flooding back to her and she remembered where she was. Claire grabbed her phone off the charger. She noted it was Roland calling before answering and putting into her ear.

  "Morning, Roland." She practically croaked before clearing her voice so her next words would sound more human and less like a frog.

  "I’ve been texting you and have called you twice now. Is everything okay?" His frantic, angry voice came through the phone.

  What had initially been a pleasant mood brought on by the smell of coffee was smashed by his tone; she couldn't help but feel irritated. Opening her eyes, she looked at the screen, it was only eight-thirty. “I might have a concussion so my body is not quite working as well as it should.”

  "That's an excuse, Claire. I was concerned. Not to mention I've been talking to the woman who runs this establishment. I saw the plow trucks out clearing streets and I asked her when she thought the side streets would start to get done out of town. I mentioned a large grouping of cabins. She laughed at me, can you believe that, laughed. She said this was more snow than they had gotten all season. The plows are struggling to keep up and probably won't make it to the outer reaches of the city today. This is outrageous. How can they not clear the ways out of town? She said it will be impossible to get to those cabins before tomorrow. Then she mentioned that's only if we’re lucky and don't get more snow. Any snow that accumulates on the streets in town will get precedent above the country roads. I don’t understand how a city can work like this."

  Claire’s irritation grew so when she spoke again her voice was clipped but as angry as his. "I do believe it was your idea to come out here, Roland."

  There was a scoffing sound then some shuffling as if he was either moving or switching his phone. "I'm aware, but I've never been here when it snowed more than a dusting. If I’d known this was going to be the case, I would have suggested we stay on the west side. Keep me apprised of how you're doing throughout the day. I want to make sure that man who took you home isn’t trying to take advantage of the fact that the two of you are pent up somewhere."

  Now Claire grew more irritated. Roland had a controlling streak and she wasn't fond of it.

  "Fine, I’ll text you throughout the day to let you know I'm still alive. I’ll call you tomorrow morning and we can discuss what the roadways are like. For now, I have to hang up because I need to use the restroom."

  "Yes, okay fine. Text me before lunch, please." He hung up without a proper goodbye. Something else that irritated her.

  Knowing the call put her in a mood, Claire swung her legs out and tested standing on her knee. She couldn't help but wince. The colors had exploded overnight. While she was sure the ice she’d put on it for a while last night helped it from swelling to an insane size, it was still tender and hard to move. She was probably going to be walking with a limp for at least two days. It would make things difficult, but at least she drove an automatic so it wouldn’t impede her getting home, if her car got fixed. Gritting her t
eeth, Claire stood up, grabbed her toiletries, a change of clothes, and headed toward the bathroom. She would get washed up and check in with her body as she did so. See where all the bumps and bruises were and maybe her laptop would work, and she could at least get work done while she was here. She liked having a plan; it made Claire feel more grounded. She didn’t like not being in control of things. She'd always been in control of her life, at least as an adult. Taking a deep breath again, she cleared her thoughts and concentrated on checking in with her body.

  ~~

  The shower felt great, but Claire knew she wouldn't be able to overindulge simply because standing on her knee hurt so much. So, she washed up rather quickly and then stood in the water until her knee began to protest. Once she dried off and changed, she slowly, trying not to wince with each step, made her way down the hall to the main room. She was surprised when she turned and didn’t see Jared at either the computer station or the living room. A moment later she heard a tune that was just on the tip of her memory. She followed it to find Jared standing at the stove with his back to her, cooking.

  Seeing the grumpy, but relatively kindhearted man cooking was such a surprise that Claire stood there a moment and watched. A second later she registered a thumping noise and when she looked down, she could see, at least the back half from where she stood on the other side of the island, of what had to be Newt. He was lying on the floor facing his owner, most likely waiting for him to drop food.

  "Go ahead and take a seat at the table. Breakfast will be ready here in a few minutes," Jared commented, startling her; maybe Newt's wagging tail announced her. Either way she did as she was told and continued walking past him to the small dining room table that was already set with two places. Instead of sitting down, she grabbed the mug on the table and moved to the island where the coffee machine was. She filled her mug with the dark liquid and walked back to the table. She slid into the seat and inhaled what smelled like good coffee. Claire sat a few moments with her eyes closed, enjoying the smell of the brew. Then she heard scraping noises and realized with a start Jared had put food in front of her and was in fact moving the other chair back from the table so he could sit down.