Page 29 of Just for December
Flashing lights from emergency services light up behind them, doggedly requesting everyone move out of the way to let them through.
‘Must definitely be an accident then,’ Evie observes.
‘You think?’ Duke snaps, tapping his foot in erratic rhythm.
Evie shoots him a look. ‘Hey,’ she says. ‘You can be anxious to catch them up without being an asshat to me, buddy. Cool it.’
Duke sighs irritably. ‘I think I can be afforded a little wiggle room on being an asshat,’ he tells her. ‘When this is your fault.’
Evie thinks he’s kidding to begin with, so laughs before quickly noting his serious face. ‘Oh, for real?’ she asks.
‘It was your idea to go up the hill,’ he says.
‘And the gun I held to your head that persuaded you,’ she retorts.
‘You’d been crying! What was I supposed to do, leave you?’
Evie’s jaw drops in temporary bewilderment. ‘So you walked around with me all night because you … what? Felt sorry for me?’
She holds his eye, bold and defiant. She doesn’t need his pity. This is exactly why she doesn’t tell people about her mom. She’s fine. She thought hewantedto take the stupid frickin’ walk. She was already making her way back to the hotel when she saw him. She’d only meant to smooth things over and make nice; she could have easily not bothered.
‘Well?’ she pushes, when he doesn’t reply right away.
‘Forget it,’ he says, turning his attention to outside, craning his neck to see what’s happening.
They wait, the air between them full of resentment. Evie isn’t sure what turn they’ve taken, but she sure as hell knows she’s seeing a side of Duke Carlisle that she doesn’t like. The sooner they get to Augsburg the better. She can see this isn’t anything close to what she thought, or if it was, she’s had a lucky escape. His moods are dark. Is it because he’s not used to having anything but a smooth, easy time? What is it they say – you can tell a lot about a person by how they handle lost luggage or a sudden downpour of rain? Apparently Dukecan only be charming when everything is going right, and that isn’t real life.
More blue lights flash, more cars move to the hard shoulder to let them through, and they wait ten minutes, fifteen, thirty, Evie long having put in her AirPods and Duke continuing his effort to make his thumbs fall off from scrolling.
Forty minutes. Forty-five. It starts to snow. An hour. They still don’t move.
Evie sees the driver turn around to talk with Duke, so she pulls out an AirPod to listen.
‘What do you mean, closed until the morning?’ she catches Duke saying. ‘Can’t we take another route?’
The driver nods, signalling he understands the request. ‘The smaller roads,’ he says. ‘Even if I could get to them, in this weather? It’s no good. It’s very dangerous. This is a big car, and the snow …’
They both turn to look out of the window the driver is gesturing out of. It’s windy – really windy. Inches of snow have fallen even in the time they’ve been stationary, and it’s now being picked up by the gale to make a blizzard.
‘The radio,’ the driver presses. ‘They say not to move.’
Duke argues, listing all the reasons why it’s impossible, why he’s a special case whom the weather should not affect, offering more money, a little extra if the driver can just sort it all out, and Evie can see that the more he talks the less impressed the driver is becoming. The more he speaks the less impressed Evie is becoming, to be honest.
‘Duke,’ she says finally, when he pauses for breath. ‘Nobody can control a snowstorm. It literally needs to just blow over. Look!’ She points out of the window. ‘People are leaving theircarsin the road.’ She gives a little clap in between each word for emphasis. ‘Two hundred pounds can’t stop that.’
Duke flares his nostrils, his breathing heavy. He’s upset. Like really upset. Evie doesn’t want to suggest that it’s disproportionately so, but the shoe fits. She lets the reality of their situation sink in for him. He watches a family in the next lane get their two kids out of the back, each parent carrying one as they all tuck their heads down.
‘There’s a service station just up ahead,’ the driver says. ‘We have to go.’
Duke looks to Evie for confirmation, and she nods as he zips up his coat.
17
Duke
It occurs to him that if the blizzard is so bad that they have to abandon their car, surely filming will have been halted too. Small mercies, then – any further delays won’t be his fault. Thank God.
Duke wishes he’d worn better shoes, since the snow takes seconds to seep into his trainers and turn his feet to ice. Evie thought to grab spare socks, jumpers and her toothbrush from her suitcase and stuff them into a bag to bring with her, but Duke is stranded with nothing. He wonders if petrol stations sell socks.
