Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“Duly noted.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – SYLVIE
“Nope. I think the battery’s gone,” Thomas said, securing the bonnet of Gramps’ truck back in place.
I bobbed on the spot and rubbed my hands up and down my arms. “Can’t you jump it?”
“If I had jump cables, then yes. Unfortunately, I don’t. Zara took them and never gave them back. Story of my life,” he finished on a mutter. “I can take you back if you want and come out here in the morning to tow it to your house.”
“Why can’t you tow it now? You have a tow hook on the back!”
“In this weather? Sylvie, I can barely see three feet in front of me when I’m driving. I only knew you’d stopped because we were on the phone.” He made doubly sure the bonnet was down and wiped his hands together. “Your choice.”
I sighed. “Fine. I guess that works. As long as you can bring it back in the morning.”
“If I can’t, I’ll get someone who can.” He handed me the keys with a sympathetic smile. “You just keep ending up in my car, don’t you?”
“Well, they say it takes twenty-one days to form a habit, so let’s hope we stop running into each other like this,” I grumbled, shoving the keys into my bag.
“Do you want to walk there?”
“In this? Not really. I’m going to get run over.”
“By what cars? We’re the only ones daft enough to be driving.” Thomas laughed and opened the passenger side door. “Come on. Get in.”
A wind blew through, sending snow hurtling all over me, and I shivered before rushing into his Range Rover. It was nice and warm in here—much better than Gramps’ old car. Really, it was no wonder the old thing had broken down in inclement weather.
I should have expected it.
Then again, I wasn’t expecting the weather either. I was hugely regretting having stayed at the town hall to set all the trees up, given the fact it’d been snowing quite heavily when Thomas and Ryan had arrived. It’d been a terrible call all things considered, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it now.
Just sit here in Thomas’ Range Rover and let him play bloody knight in shining armour again.
He got in the truck and slammed the door with a sigh.
“I can just walk,” I said after a second.
“Don’t be stupid.”
“You’re the one who asked me if I wanted to.”
“It was a rhetorical question, Sylvie.” He put his key back in the ignition and turned it, and for a second, I thought the car wouldn’t rumble to life, but it did. “I never intended to let you walk home. I thought you might have realised that.”
“I know, but…” I trailed off. “Never mind.”
He put the truck in reverse and looked over his shoulder, then slowly released the clutch.
It didn’t move.
The. Truck. Didn’t. Move.
“Oh, you’re having a bloody laugh,” Thomas said, revving the engine.
The truck shook and the wheels were turning, but it wasn’t reversing. We were most definitely in the same spot.
I swallowed hard. “Now what?”
He put the stick back into the neutral position and got out, and I followed him back out into the snow. I was on the hedgerow side, and when I stepped just a smidge too close to the hedging, I sank several inches into the snow, so I knew what was going on before I even saw the fact his back wheel was off the road.
Thomas’ truck was stuck.
Oh, dear.
I wrapped my arms around myself and looked at him. “What do we do now?”
He took a deep breath in and sighed it back out, his nostrils flaring. Then, slowly, he lifted his shoulders before letting them sag back down in something that vaguely resembled a shrug.
“Is there anyone we can call? Do you think Ryan can come and get us and take us both home?”
“No, and I wouldn’t ask anyone else to drive.” He looked around. “I guess we have no choice but to walk.”
I rubbed my hands up and down my arms again, looking around. It was pitch black other than the headlights of the truck, but it wasn’t illuminating much other than the immediate area that was almost a white-out with snow anyway.
“Well,” I said, still scanning the area. “There’s a spare room at my house. You can always stay there. I’m sure Nana and Gramps won’t mind, and—”
“Sylvie, we’re closer to Castleton Manor.”
I pressed my lips together. I did not want to stay at his place. “My house is—”
“Twice as far as mine at this point,” he continued, and I could feel his gaze boring into the side of my head. “It’s ten minutes to the manor. Almost twenty-five to your house if we walk.”
I swallowed.
“If you’ve got one spare room, I’ve got ten. Mum or Beth will have pyjamas for you to borrow tonight, and we have another car that can handle this kind of weather to tow us out in the morning. It just makes sense.”