Page 38 of Love Under Snowfall

A crackle of static played through the radio, words indiscernible. Her heart leapt into her chest.

“Jon? Come on, Jon,” she begged, thinly veiled panic stringing through her words.

“Frankie?” Still muffled, but better than nothing.

“Yes,” she almost screeched. Looking up at Benjamin, she noted the tentative hope adding color to his pale features. He shivered slightly and held her close, likely as much for his warmth as hers. “By the drop-off. We fell down a ravine. I hit my head.” She said each word with slow clarity to break through the grainy sound Jon would likely be hearing.

“Sit tight.”

“Oh, thank god,” Benjamin breathed out, dropping his head to rest on Frankie’s shoulder. His head snapped up as if he suddenly remembered something, then he unclasped his pack. He reached for his thermos and opened the screw top. “Here, drink this.”

The heavenly scent of hot apple cider swirled up from the large container like a healing elixir. Testing a sip for temperature, Frankie moaned in delight then took a couple more gulps. Benjamin followed suit before he sealed the canister and replaced it in his pack.

“Thank you,” she said with a sigh, snuggling further into his warmth.

“You’re welcome. So, what do we do now? Just sit here?”

Frankie shrugged, partially to shimmy the accumulation of snow off the jacket draped over her. The clouds needed to stop dumping on them. More snow meant harder rescue efforts.

“That’s all we can do.” She gestured to the steep embankment. “There’s no chance in hell we can climb that thing. Stay safe, stay dry, stay put. We don’t want to make the evacuation harder for SAR than it already will be.”

“What’s the Valhalla incident of 2018?”

Frankie snorted. “If you don’t already know, I doubt you and my brother are that tight.”

She glanced up just in time to notice Benjamin flinch. The shame she saw in his eyes just before he turned to survey their surroundings tugged gently at her heart. As far as Frankie was concerned, he didn’t deserve her sympathy, but she felt it anyway.

“I shouldn’t be telling you, but seeing as you’re keeping me warm and dry, this will make us even.”

Benjamin leveled his sapphire eyes on Frankie’s face, enveloping her with his undivided attention. The intensity stole her breath for a moment before she reminded herself it had everything to do with the gossip she was about to share.

“In July 2018, Jon and I decided to hike Valhalla on our day off. He’d just gotten over food poisoning—or so we thought. We reached the lake, and he . . . had an emergency.” Benjamin cringed as she continued. “He found a semi-secluded spot, butwhile he was . . . you know . . . a family of four popped out of the woods nearby and scared the crap out of him . . . oof . . . pun not intended. Anyways, in his haste to finish up, he grabbed a fistful of poison oak instead of practicallyanyotherplant available. It was, all around, a very,verybad day for him.”

Frankie watched as Benjamin bit his lips closed to hold back a laugh despite how much his shoulders shook. “Poor guy.”

“I warned him. First, about the gas station sushi the morning before and again just before we left for the hike.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Always been a slow learner, my brother.”

By the time Jon’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie again, the snow was falling so heavily that it was nearly impossible to see clearly to the top of the embankment.

“Frankie, Benji. Do you copy?”

“Loud and sorta clear,” she responded.

“I’m trying to get eyes on you, but we can’t tell where you went off trail. The new snowfall is obscuring things. Can you both yell out? Might help.”

“Roger.”

Together they hollered as loudly as they could. Benjamin waved his arms in the air to give Jon some movement to spot. Through the growing clumps of snowflakes, they could just make out the outline of a person peering carefully over the edge.

“I see you. I’m going to hand you over to Miguel.”

“Hey, kiddo, ya hanging in there?” Not even a decade older than Frankie, the head of the local search and rescue team was like another brother. He had four younger sisters himself and regularly said it made no difference claiming her as his fifth.

Hearing his voice imbued Frankie with an extra boost of faith as she pushed the button to respond.

“We’re ok. Trying to stay warm and dry. Though the new snowfall isn’t helping.”

“I’ve sent Jon back to my truck to radio the team. It’s going to be a while before we can get you out of there. What I need you to do for me is to describe your surroundings. We need to figure out a safe place for you two to hunker down and wait.”

---