Forever Wild(28)

“We won’t know until we pull it out of here, but we’re definitely not gonna be able to drive it out. Does Jonah have a winch?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. What’s a winch?” Phil left so many tools in the workshop.

“I doubt it’d be strong enough on that old truck of yours, anyway.” She looks much like a child, packed in that oversized parka and using her mitt-covered hands to climb out to the road on all fours.

“Kelly’s coming to get me,” Mabel announces. Her thumbs fly over her phone’s screen, sending a response to her new best friend, a fourteen-year-old girl she met at the farmers’ market this past summer. “Her house is, like, two minutes from here.”

Agnes’s brow furrows. “Don’t you want to spend time with—”

“I’ll be back for dinner.”

After a moment, Agnes simply nods. She may be frustrated with her daughter, but she’ll never outright scold her. That’s never been Agnes’s way. It also could end up being her downfall, raising a headstrong teenaged girl on her own.

Agnes shifts her attention back to me, blinking against the flurry of snowflakes that even her deep cowl can’t shield. “Do the McGivneys have a winch?”

“Maybe, but I feel like I’m asking them for help for everything lately. I don’t want to drag Toby out on Christmas Eve, into this.” It seems to be getting worse, the wind picking up to the point that the only relief from snowflakes in my eyes is looking down at the ground. I groan. “I’m sorry. This was my fault.”

“We’ll figure it out.” She pats my arm. “But we might as well get back to your place. It’s getting dark, and I’m guessing it’ll be awhile before any truck makes their way out here.”

“I guess I can’t avoid him anymore, can I?”

Agnes offers a sympathetic smile. “He can be a pain in the butt, but it’s only because he cares about you so much.”

With a resigned sigh, I reach into my pocket for my phone.

“Hello, Simon?” My mom’s voice carries. “I need you to come get us. We’re down the road. Calla put her Jeep in the ditch …”

“Ugh. Great.” Jonah’s going to be pissed that he didn’t hear about this from me. This keeps getting worse!

Agnes nods toward something in the distance. “Someone’s coming.”

I follow her line of sight to the set of headlights. It can’t be Kelly, who will be riding a snowmachine. Jonah and Simon are at home with our only other vehicles.

There’s only one person who lives beyond us on this road, and he doesn’t get any visitors.

We edge to the side as the big black truck crawls forward, coming to a stop beside us.

“Do you know him?” my mom asks.

“That’s Roy.”

“The Roy?” My mom gives me a look.

“Whatever he says, don’t take it personally,” I warn her, though I told him long ago that I might put up with his bullshit, but if he tried it on my loved ones, he’d be dead to me.

“That is a winch,” Agnes says over the rumbling engine, nodding at the front grill where something that looks like a spool of wire is mounted.

“And that’s a grinch,” I counter quietly, earning Mabel’s giggle.

The driver’s side opens with a creak and Roy hops out, tugging that Davy Crockett raccoon-fur hat Jonah loathes so much onto his head. He rounds the front of his truck. His weathered face looks none too pleased as he inspects my predicament.

I decide on humor to kick things off. “My first foray into off-roading didn’t go as planned.”

The corner of his mouth kicks up a notch. “I see that.”

Agnes offers him that wide smile. “Hello again, Roy. I don’t know if you remember us. I’m Agnes. That’s my daughter, Mabel. We met in August.”

He makes a grunting sound that could be considered an acknowledgment, but then adds, “The night Calla shot that bear.”

Agnes nods. “That was quite the night.”

I gesture toward my mother. “Roy, this is my mom, Susan.”

“Roy.” She forgoes offering a handshake—her arms wrapped tightly around her body for warmth—and dips her head in greeting. “Calla has told me so much about you. She took me to see the cabin. Your work is impeccable.”

He studies her a moment before nodding once, and then he turns back to my Jeep. “Everyone all right?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. Just a little shaken up. Could have been worse, though, right?”

“You goin’ too fast, like usual?”

“See? I told you! I told her,” my mom exclaims triumphantly.

“And then she hit the brakes. You never hit the brakes like that when you’re sliding,” Mabel adds matter-of-factly.

Roy frowns at her. “How old are you again?”

Mabel adjusts her stance as if she’s trying to make herself appear taller. “Thirteen and a half.” Though she could pass for sixteen, with her sleek chin-length bob and angular jawline.

“Sounds like you’re already a better driver than Calla.”

Oh my God. “Okay, are we done here?” I snap.

Roy smirks. “Jonah on his way?”

“Yeah, that’s a safe bet.” And I’m sure he’ll be here momentarily.