Page 14 of Stranded with the Billionaire
Branches scraped her face and hands as she carefully found her way down the trunk of the large pine. Sterling breathed a sigh of relief as her feet touched the ground and she was able to make her way out from under the tree. Sterling looked up to see if Jake had already started to climb down. She shaded her eyes with her hand but couldn’t see him. Over the edge of the rock face it looked like the plane was hanging off by nearly a third of the nose. They were so lucky it hadn’t moved.
Sterling was tempted to call up to Jake then she realized that if she yelled it might set off an avalanche. That would be the worst thing that could happen to them right now. Instead, she swallowed anything she might have been going to say and waited patiently for him to descend the tree.
Her toes were already numb. Either from cold or from the lack of ability to move. Her pants were actually warm. Sterling blessed Jake silently for thinking of making them.
The tree shook a little under his weight as Jake made his way to the ground. A few moments later and he emerged from the branches, dusting off his suit jacket. “Ready?”
“No,” Sterling shook her head. “Remember when I talked about doing my business? I’m going to find a convenient tree. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“You sound like you’ve been camping before,” Jake thought he should find a tree himself.
“More like bush parties,” she shrugged as she walked away. “Meet you back here.”
“Sure thing,” Jake went in the opposite direction. The good news is that it wasn’t snowing. When he was done, he followed his tracks back to the tree where they had climbed down from the plane.
“I hope you like to walk,” Sterling was plowing through the snow as she returned. It was up to her knees.
“We should probably take turns going first,” Jake said as he fell into step behind her as she walked past. “That way we won’t tire out as easy.”
“Okay,” Sterling puffed. It wasn’t easy going. The elevation wasn’t helping her either. “I think going downhill would probably be best since we have no idea where we are.”
“Maybe we’ll find a road,” Jake offered some hope.
They trudged along for hours, taking sips from the water, then putting snow in it to melt with their body heat. It was bright and sunny. They saw no one. Not even any wildlife besides the birds singing to them.
“I need a rest,” Sterling finally gave in. She leaned against an old stump, puffing.
Jake handed her the water bottle. He looked around the clearing. “I think this might be an old logging road.”
“What do you mean?” Sterling looked around.
“There are a lot of stumps in the clearing. Then there’s a clear way between those trees at that end,” he pointed. “I think that might be an old logging road.”
“If we follow it, we might come to a real road,” Sterling smiled in appreciation. “With real people in real cars who will give us a lift to the nearest town.”
“Shall we give it a try?” Jake asked.
“Beats walking through the trees,” she agreed.
“How are your feet and knee?” he took the offered water bottle back, drinking the rest, then stuffing it with more snow. It wasn’t efficient, but it was all they had until they found a stream or other source of water.
“Knee hurts but that’s to be expected,” Sterling shrugged. “My feet are completely numb. Whether it’s from the cold or the too tight shoes, I don’t know.”
Jake frowned. His feet were cold but not numb. “Maybe we should rub them to help with circulation.”
“We don’t have time,” she pointed to the sun which was slowly making its way across the sky. Sterling got up from the stump and began walking again. “We need to find shelter or rescue before tonight or we’ll end up freezing.”
Jake realized the wisdom in what she said, even if he didn’t like the idea of her getting frostbite or worse from the cold. He would make sure that his turns pushing through the snow lasted longer than hers since Sterling was starting to tire as the afternoon wore on.
“How long have you been a flight attendant?” he asked in an effort to make time seem to go faster as they walked.
“Not long,” Sterling admitted. “It was something I sort of fell into.”
“Not your dream job?” Jake questioned.
“No,” Sterling had a half-laugh. “What about you? What do you do?”
“I head up the western division of Ramesly Insurance,” Jake automatically replied. “We provide insurance for large businesses.”
