Page 22 of Stranded with the Billionaire
“Hey,” Jake took her cold hand in his. “We can ration out the food. As long as we are warm and okay, we can stay here. Maybe someone will come by for ice fishing and be surprised that he has guests in his shack.”
Sterling nodded in misery. Even if Max managed to get the authorities to trace the call it could be weeks for them to cover all the area. The logging road was a good clue, but how many logging roads were in the area? Were they passable for vehicles in the winter? Was this particular logging road even on the map?
“I’m going to try to get you free,” Jake let go of her hand and Sterling immediately missed the contact. She berated herself for the feeling of loss. Jake was just a source for her articles, she couldn’t grow dependant on him.
He picked up the piece of wood and began hammering beside her knee. Moments later, Sterling could feel the wood near her leg shift and she was able to pull up her leg a little.
“Can you help me up?” she asked.
Jake carefully helped her stand. Sterling took one step and gasped, sinking down as the pain from her knee protested at any weight being put on it. “Here, use me as a crutch.”
They each wrapped their arms around the other for support to make it back to the shack, Sterling hopping on one leg through the snow. As Jake helped her to sit on the cot, Sterling groaned as a thought crossed her mind. “A pin!”
“What?” he frowned as he carefully tore open Sterling’s pants at the knee to have a look at the grotesquely swollen and bruised joint.
“I should have gone to Google Maps and dropped a pin on our area,” Sterling lamented. “I could have read the co-ordinates to Max and they would have found us.”
“You don’t know that your phone would have been able to open Google Maps,” Jake reasoned. “It was broken. Plus, it might not have worked anyways, the app takes data and who knows how good of a signal was available.”
“Three bars,” she moaned. “I had three bars on the phone.”
Jake looked at her, not sure what to say. He didn’t like the thought of her blaming herself. “It still might not have opened the app.”
“We’ll never know now,” she rubbed a hand over her eyes. “I’m so sorry Jake. I should have thought before trying to phone Max and using up all the battery.”
“It’s okay,” Jake sat beside her on the cot and put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to him. “You were just working on our previous plan. We gave Max all the information that we knew. We will get rescued Sara.”
“I feel so stupid,” Sterling said quietly.
“Don’t. You did okay,” Jake rubbed her back. “Next time you find yourself in this situation, you’ll know exactly what to do.”
“There will be no next time,” Sterling gave an unamused huff of laughter.
“Quitting your job as a flight attendant?” he asked.
She gave him a small smile. “I just don’t think it’s for me.”
“If you ever need a job in the insurance industry, let me know,” he offered.
“Thank you but I think I’ll try writing,” Sterling grimaced. If she had a job when she returned to the city, she’d be grateful. “Some people say I have a talent for it.”
“I promise to buy your books,” Jake gave her a smile.
“Really?” she asked in surprise.
“Sure. Any time someone comes in my office, I’ll point to them and get to tell the great story about how we were stranded on a mountain and this impressive flight attendant saved us by calling my cousin,” Jake grinned.
“Now you’re patronizing me,” she rolled her eyes.
“No, I’m not because it’s going to be true,” Jake got up from the cot. “Now, I think you should lay down and elevate that knee. I’ll see if I can find something to put some snow in, so you can hold it against the knee and get the swelling down.”
Sterling leaned back on the bed, putting the lumpy pillow below her knee. She kicked off her too tight shoes and pulled the blanket up over them for added warmth.
Jake was right. She had no way of knowing if her phone would have been able to pick up their location. It was unfortunate that they would never know. If there were a way to charge the phone battery, then they might get somewhere. However, the shack had no hydro. It didn’t help that her phone was somewhere in the outhouse, probably underneath it.
She was never getting that phone back. Sterling moaned. It had all her contact numbers. She was going to have to take a lot of time to rebuild that list. Fortunately, her emails were backed up so she still had all that information saved.
Jake returned with a bag filled with snow, laying it on her knee. “I’ll get breakfast started.”
