Page 26 of Stranded with the Billionaire
Chapter Five
They argued.
Jake thought that due to Sterling’s knee, he should set out alone, with the map. He felt he would make better time without her and could bring back help. He was probably right.
Except Sterling was convinced he’d get lost. He’d already said he sucked at camping and had no life skills for the forest. She was even more worried since he proposed taking a short cut on the map if it proved that the pond did exist where the two of them had reasoned it might be. They’d poured over the paper for most of the afternoon, debating where things were, where they should be on the map.
After dinner, they knew exactly where they were.
It had been a total coincidence. Jake had gone out to get more snow to melt on the stove for drinking water when he’d stopped in the doorway.
“Sara, you need to see this,” he said as he looked at markings carved into the door frame.
With Jake’s help, Sterling hopped to the doorway. She squinted against the afternoon sun against the snow. The markings were faint and old but still readable. “Waldo’s hut.”
“The only reason I noticed it was the angle of the sun,” Jake traced a finger over the letters in the wood. “It was in the shadows otherwise.”
“Do you think the Waldo sticker on the map is where we are?” Sterling looked at Jake excitedly.
He grinned back. “I do.”
It had changed the entire situation. Now they had a sense of direction, a chance to find their way to the town of Urts Siding. They knew the general direction of the sun. They were on Jerry’s logging road. All they had to do was follow it past Buckshot caves to Cauld Sideroad then to the town.
Yet Jake thought that he should set off alone, go through Den’s Misery to the Terrywittle homestead since it was closer on the map. He felt should they take the chance and get assistance from the Terrywittles.
Sterling argued that the Terrywittles probably were dead or had moved to a retirement home, leaving their house abandoned since the thirty years the map had been issued. Urts Siding was the most likely source of rescue. Plus, there was no need to take any shortcuts to get to the town so there was no risk of getting lost.
There was a risk of not reaching it before nightfall and risk of exposure. Neither of them were good a judging distance on the map. There was no legend to say how many miles long the road was. It could be that Cauld Sideroad was just out of sight, around the next bend in the logging road or it could be twenty miles. Then who knew how many miles more to Urts Siding.
They just didn’t know.
Which led to the third option, to shelter in place until the food or wood ran out and hope for an unlikely rescue before then.
It didn’t help that Sterling didn’t want to be left behind, sitting in the cabin, warm, toasty and worrying. She would worry about Jake and that was a problem. Sterling was getting to like him far too much.
It also crossed her mind that he might find out just who she was and decide not to rescue her. While she didn’t think Jake was like that, they had only known each other for a short time. Okay, so he’d probably have other people rescue her and then slap a non-disclosure agreement at her, Sterling thought.
Finally, they agreed to sleep on it and Sterling woke up alone the next day.
“Jake?” she frowned as she noticed one of the survival blankets missing, a few of the cans of food missing, a knapsack left by Waldo their absent host was missing. Sterling felt the stirrings of anger as she hobbled around the small shack. There was a note on the desk, along with her phone. Most telling of all, the map was missing.
Sara,
I found your phone. Thought you might like to have it even if the battery is dead. Decided to compromise. I’ll walk to Urts Siding to get help.
Stay in the shack,
Jake.
“For the love of fudge and wine!” Sterling growled into the empty air before letting out a huff and sitting down on the cot. “How dare he?”
She would go after him except Sterling knew she would slow him down if she even managed to catch up to him. Her knee felt a little better, but it wasn’t up to walking speed and probably would only be injured worse at the end of the day.
What he should have done was wait until her knee healed enough that both of them could set out together. He wasn’t thinking and she could prove it.
CEO of Ramesly Insurance sets off into snowstorm with canned food but no can opener. How does he even run a business?
Grange wouldn’t like that headline. Too bizarre even though it was true. What did Jake think he was going to do, run into a bear with a can opener and ask politely to use it?
