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“They probably never went to sleep.” I frown because what the fuck? I lean to the left and hang out the side. “You took over an hour to get your pajamas on, and you get your snow gear on in five minutes?”
“Can we come?” Camdyn asks, eager.
“What are you doing up?”
Camdyn puts her arm around a very sleepy Sev. “We can’t sleep.”
I snort, noticing Sev’s pants and jacket are on backward, but she doesn’t seem to care. She stares at me as if she’s sleepwalking again. Sighing, I motion behind us. “Get in. Make sure you buckle up.”
They both hop in, and Morgan looks over at me. “Pushover.”
I put the side by side into gear. “Says the guy who bought Camdyn a five-thousand-dollar saddle.”
He shakes his head. “That’s what uncles do. Dads are supposed to stand their ground.”
“Uh-huh.” Right out of the garage, the wind and snow give us a beating. The shop is less than a half mile away, but it’s brutal, and the wind feels like it’s tearing my face apart. Forget breathing through your nose in the frigid air.
Thankfully the girls know the drill and have their faces covered with their jackets. The only thing peeking out is their little eyeballs.
Through the snow globe around us, I can faintly see through the windshield. I can’t be sure, but it looks like a car is in the side of the shop.
Morgan leans forward, squinting. “Is that a car?”
“Looks like it.” I adjust the wipers on the side by side and speed up on the trail we’re on, sliding around in the thick powdery snow pilling up along the path. It’s so thick we struggle to get through and even get stuck a few times. The girls squeal in the back with excitement, and though it’s late and I’m kinda drunk and shouldn’t have my kids outside, I smile because their laughter is worth it.
At the end of the trail, I glance toward the fence line as we approach the shop from the back. The fence is down, in pieces, and a set of tire marks lead to the shop.
Morgan shines a flashlight at the shop. “Well, that explains the noise.”
“What happened, Daddy?” Camdyn asks from behind me.
“I don’t know.”
“Looks like they spun out,” Morgan notes, reaching for his beer and his gun he carries everywhere he goes. You can never be too prepared when you live in the country. We once had a guy hit a buck on this road, came up to dad’s house, and pulled a gun on him. You get all kinds of crazy people out here.
I follow the tire tracks to see what looks to be a silver Mercedes 500 SL smashed into the side. All that’s showing is the back half. “Fuck. This is going to be expensive.”
I pull up to the front, shut the engine off, and pocket the keys. With both girls in tow, I unlock the shop door to make sure whoever it is that lost control is okay. Yeah, I’m pissed about the damage, but I certainly don’t want my girls seeing their first dead body. In person. We’ve discussed their viewing habits while with their uncle.
I motion toward the office. “You two sit in here while Uncle and I check this out.”
Flipping on the lights, Morgan sighs at the sight before us. “Jesus Christ.”
It’s a fucking mess. Blood and deer carcass is embedded in the windshield, and debris from the building surrounds it. While the shop wasn’t in the greatest condition before, now it has a hole in the side, a Mercedes plugging it, and a white-tail buck as a hood ornament.
Making my way around the side of the car, I notice a woman in the front seat moving around. She spots me and waves her hand out the window. “I’m so sorry if this is your shop, or your animal. But this fucker hit me first.”
I smile, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because here she just drove through the side of a building and she’s making jokes, or that I’m in shock and all I can do is smile because I’m pissed off. I survey the damage to the building. Siding. Roof. Maybe some structural damage.
And her car… radiator, front end, windshield, airbag deployed.
I look to the woman again, stunned she’s alive. “Are you all right?”
She’s bleeding from her forehead and trying to get out of the car, only her door is pinned shut by our air compressor.
I move the welder in my way and then walk around the front of the car to the passenger side door. “You can get out this side.”
Morgan eyes the buck. “Nice. A lot less work to fill the freezer this way.”