Page 6 of Frost and Felines

Snow pelted her face as she transferred the bags from the cart to her trunk. The wind swirled again, and a particularly strong gust sent the empty cart careening across the lot.

"Sorry!" she called to no one in particular, watching it crash into a snowbank. She quickly walked over to retrieve it and tucked it into a nearby cart corral.

Once inside her vehicle, Mallory gripped the steering wheel and took several deep breaths. The SUV rocked in the wind, and she knew her heightened emotions weren't helping the weather situation any.

"Okay, Mal. Get it together." She closed her eyes, focusing on happy memories. Eli teaching her to make hot chocolate from scratch. Curling up with a book by the fireplace. The view from her cliffside house on clear days.

The wind eased slightly. Not much, but enough that she felt confident about driving. She started the engine and cranked up the heat. She flicked on the radio mid-weather report.

"...unprecedented storm system moving through the area. Residents are advised to stay indoors..."

Mallory switched it off. "Yeah, thanks. I'm aware."

She maneuvered carefully out of the parking lot, her windshield wipers working overtime against the heavy snow. The bridge to her house was only a few miles away, but in these conditions, it might as well have been a hundred. At least the roads were mostly empty now.

"Just get home," she told herself firmly. "Then you can have hot chocolate and pretend this whole day never happened."

Red and blue lights soon pierced through the curtain of snow, reflecting off her windshield like a disco gone wrong. Her stomach dropped at the sight of sawhorses blocking the bridge entrance.

"This can't be happening right now." She slowed to a stop as a tall figure approached her SUV, his flashlight beam bouncing off the falling snow.

The officer bent down slightly to her window level, and she rolled it down reluctantly. His badge read 'Sheriff Blackmane,' and despite her rising panic, she couldn't help but notice he looked more like he belonged on a romance novel cover than directing traffic in a snowstorm.

"Evening miss. I'm afraid the bridge is closed. Part of it collapsed about twenty minutes ago."

"Collapsed?" Mallory's voice cracked. "But I live on the other side. Will it be fixed soon?"

"Not until this storm lets up, and even then we're looking at several weeks of repairs." He shifted, snow collecting on his broad shoulders. "You'll need to head back into town."

Perfect. Just perfect.

"Several weeks?" She gripped the steering wheel tight. "But all my things are over there. My house, my work setup, my-" She cut herself off, realizing she was starting to babble.

"I understand it's inconvenient, but-" A particularly strong gust of wind rocked her vehicle, cutting him off. "Miss, you really shouldn't be out in this weather anyway. It's getting dangerous."

Mallory bit back a laugh. If he only knew she was partially responsible for that growing danger. "Right. Yes. Of course." She tried to calm herself before she accidentally turned this storm into a full-blown blizzard. "I'll just... go back to town then."

"Drive carefully." He tapped her car roof twice before stepping back.

Mallory executed a careful three-point turn, her headlights cutting through the thickening snow. As she drove away, she caught sight of the sheriff in her rearview mirror, now directing another car to turn around.

"Well, Eli," she muttered to herself, "I could really use one of your terrible jokes right about now." The silence that answered made her throat tight. She blinked rapidly, focusing on the road ahead.

The snow fell harder, driven by her churning emotions. Somewhere in town, she would have to find a place to stay. The thought of being surrounded by people, trapped in close quarters, made her magic surge again. A nearby tree branch cracked under the weight of accumulating ice.

"Calm down, Mallory," she whispered, easing off the gas as she navigated the winding road back to town. "One crisis at a time."

Once back in Saltwater Grove, Mallory circled the town square three times, her windshield wipers fighting a losing battle against the snow. The quaint buildings blurred together in the storm, their holiday decorations twinkling like distant stars through the white haze.

"This is what I get for not coming into town a lot lately," she muttered.

She soon passed by an upscale hotel called Lux Grove. Even if they had rooms available, the chrome and glass monstrosity looked about as welcoming as a dentist's office.

Then she spotted it - The Hearthstone Inn. The stone building sat on a quiet corner, warm light spilling from its windows onto the snow-covered sidewalk. Window boxes, empty for winter, hung beneath each pane, and a wrought-iron sign swung gently in the wind.

"Well, it's not home, but..." She pulled into the small parking lot and grabbed her emergency duffel bag and groceries from the trunk. "At least Eli's boy scout mentality is finally paying off."

The inn's lobby wrapped around her like a warm blanket. A fire crackled in a stone hearth, and the air smelled of pine and cinnamon. Overstuffed chairs clustered around coffee tables, and watercolor paintings of local landscapes dotted the walls.

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