Free Snow Follies by Chelle Dugan Page B

guess I’ll always be her baby brother. I’m Eric, by the way.” He put his hand out and Officer Gallagher shook it.
    They looked at each other, their hands lingering just a couple of seconds too long. Both wished they were not wearing gloves. “I’m Cameron. Nice to meet you.” They released each other’s hands and stepped back.
    “Sergeant Gallagher! You better get going. They are going to close the road at dark until tomorrow morning,” his replacement came over and told him. “The snowplow is about five miles ahead so you should be good to go.”
    “Thanks, Peterson. I’ll see you back at the station once the crews get the road closed. Has the alert gone out to ADOT?”
    “Yes, sir. The crew should be here any time. We’ll let one last group go when the snowplow comes back. We should be back in by six or so.”
    Eric looked at his watch. It was four-thirty now. They had to stand out in the snow for another hour and a half? He had new respect for the officers up here. “Well, I better get going. I’ve never driven in the snow before.”
    “You what?”
    “I’ve never driven in the snow. How bad can it be? I can only go thirty miles an hour.”
    “Jeez. Okay, you are the last of this group to leave. I’ll follow you into Flagstaff. If you start to skid, steer in the direction your car is pointing, not away. If you start to feel uncomfortable at all with the drive, just pull over, and I’ll take you in the rest of the way.”
    “Okay. I will, and thanks. You’ve been really kind to a stranger.” Eric got into the car, started it up, and drove off at ten miles an hour. Cameron chuckled to himself. The next hour was going to be a long one.
    Cameron climbed into his police-issue Blazer. He had four-wheel drive and snow tires. He could drive quite a bit faster than thirty, but he wanted to make sure Eric got where he was going. Once he got on the road, he did something he shouldn’t. He put Eric’s license plate in the computer. He knew the car was Eric’s sister’s, but he didn’t expect the name that came up in response to the license search. Shannon Riordon. She was his neighbor down the street, who was quickly becoming a good friend. That was her brother? She’d said he was a physicist and a nerd. The man he met today might be a rocket scientist, but he was definitely not a nerd.
     
    *  *  *
      “I have finally arrived!” Eric called as he stomped his shoes on the welcome mat.
     “Uncle Eric! Uncle Eric!” was the answering call. His twin six-year-old nephews came barreling into his legs, almost knocking him down. “Mommy was worried ’bout you. She said am-turs should not drive in a blizzard. What’s an am-tur, Uncle Eric?”
    “It’s amateur. It means a person who is unskilled in a particular activity. I think your mom was saying that I have never driven in the snow before.”
    “Eric. I’m so glad you’re here. I was getting worried. It’s been an hour and a half since we talked on the phone.”
    “The wind was so bad that I pulled over at Mund’s Park. I told you not to worry. I had a police escort. He helped someone who had skidded off the road. They didn’t have any chains and were trying to get down the hill. I just waited at the country store until he came back. For a while there, I thought he had forgotten about me. It isn’t blowing as much, but it’s really snowing hard.”
    Shannon had a cup of coffee waiting for him. She knew he had to be cold and tired. “I was nervous when I saw the time but I didn’t want to call because I didn’t want you to talk on the phone while you were driving. So I cleaned the kitchen twice while I worried.”
    Eric rolled his eyes at his sister but felt a rush of warmth, also. They were three years apart and had spent most of their childhood at odds with each other. He remembered some knockdown drag-out fights. He still had the bite mark scars on the back of his hand from one such occasion. He was glad they seemed to have put