Page 110 of Snowed In
“Put me down!”
“You’re just going to slip again.”
“I’m not arguing with you on that point, but you don’t need to carry me.”
“How else are you going to get up the hill?”
“With great caution,” she says, glancing back at the car as I start walking. “Christian. I’m serious.”
“So am I.” And it’s not that big of a walk or that steep of a hill. A minute of hiking and I spy the property between the thick trees, the triangular slope of the cabin’s roof peeking out over the top.
Megan remains tense against my chest as I speed up, her hands in a rigid grip around my neck as if convinced I’m going to drop her.
“Where are we even…Oh my God.”
And just like that, I’m so smug you’d swear I built the thing.
Megan peers up at the two-bedroom, eight-hundred-euro-a-night log cabin with her mouth agape. The pictures of it on our website feature it in the summer, with sunny blue skies and the firepit out front. But it looks just as nice in the snow too. Better even.
Maybe I should get Andrew to take some pictures when he’s up here.
Megan clears her throat. “When you saidcabin…”
“What part of luxury rentals do you not understand?” I ask, my mood lifting as I bring her up the driveway and to the front door. It’s a huge wooden slab with floor-to-ceiling windows on either side, and in front of it lie several boxes of food and drinks. Most of it looks nonalcoholic, with Andrew being sober, but I spy a few bottles of wine meant for Molly.
“Just how much did he order?” Megan asks, as I set her to her feet.
“He likes to overprepare.” And at least it’s here. When I didn’t see any tracks from the delivery guys, I assumed they got stuck in the snow the same as we did, but they must have come early enough this morning when it wasn’t so bad.
I unlock the front door and let Megan inside before turning to inspect the packages. I’ve just heaved the first one up when she calls me tentatively inside.
“Um…Christian?”
“There should be a bathroom on the ground floor.”
She doesn’t respond, and I adjust the weight of a box simply labelled DESSERT (1 OF 3) as I follow her in. “Next to the kitchen,” I say when I spy her in the foyer. “Could you help me check what needs to be put in the…”
She turns to face me, her eyes wide, but my attention is on the scene behind her, and the reason for her silence.
We’re standing in what should be the showpiece of the entire property, a large, open-plan living room that takes up most of the entire ground floor. Low couches and armchairs all face the stone fireplace on the left-hand side and a small bar takes up the back wall, right next to the towering bookshelves.
It’s supposed to radiate rustic elegance and cozy comfort. And it would do if it weren’t for the fact that it’s been completely trashed.
“Did someone break in?” Megan asks in a hushed voice. I can see why that would be her first guess. Discarded food wrapping, dirty plates, and even a broken glass or two litter the space, along with a wine stain over half the rug.
I shake my head, lowering the box to the floor. “No, they…no.” The door was locked, and the room is warm enough that I can guess no windows are broken. “It must have been the previous guests. They left yesterday.”
“Do you not have a cleaning crew between visits?”
“We do,” I say, confused. “Usually. I was working this morning. No one flagged any issues.” But as soon as I say it, I realize what must have happened. Like a slow-motion movie playing in my head, I see myself booking Andrew’s accommodation, bypassing our usual system to add in the perks. The usual system, which would have scheduled something in automatically. Which I didn’t.
“Shit,” I mutter, but Megan doesn’t seem to hear me, wandering farther into the mess.
“Guests actually leave places like this?”
“You’d be surprised.” Bitterness fills me as I look around. The more I do, the worse it seems, and I kick a McDonald’s bag out of the way, wrinkling my nose at the smell. We get this a lot. People don’t care about paying a deposit because they have the money to do it. All cash and no decency. But seeing it firsthand is something else.
“Can you get someone up?”
