Page 14 of Recipe for a Curse

Chapter 6

Aweek passed with no sign of Rio. Zach said he was checking on the trailer, but didn’t have much to report other than it seemed like Rio had taken the supplies we’d given him. But the news was forecasting the monster of all storms. A possible three feet of snow, then a clearing up of the sky, which would remove the cloud cover keeping us in the twenties, and drop us into the negatives.

The manor was bustling, everyone planning to hunker down. Zach had checked all the generators, made sure the tractor he used to plow the drive was full of gas, and commanded that I fill the pantry with enough food to last a month. That was sort of normally how it was stocked anyway, except for the veggies which didn’t last that long. But I’d bought frozen and canned, just in case. And today I was using both of the fancy new ovens to make rotisserie chickens, a half dozen of them. It would be enough for sandwiches, soups, and a dozen other things. The smell was divine, and the warmth of all the fireplaces in the house going strong made me want to curl up with some cocoa or mulled cider. Which meant I had both ready in case anyone wanted some.

Zach came in the side door from the drive as I was pulling the chickens out. He stood in the small mudroom shaking off what looked like a ton of snow. Was it that bad already? I glanced out the window and the flakes were coming down pretty hard, but the view on this side of the house wasn’t of much other than distant trees.

“Is it bad?” I asked him.

“I’ve already plowed the drive twice. The wind is blowing pretty hard, shoving everything I move up against the house. This keeps up all night and it’s going to be more than three feet. It will take days for them to clear roads.” Zach stripped off his hat which looked like it had been coated in snow and ice. He was wearing one of those full-bodied snow suits that I’d seen some professionals use when battling this sort of thing in the city. The man was prepared for everything, it was what he did. He would keep us safe. Even if the power went off and the snow buried us for a week, he’d make sure everyone was warm, fed, and happy. But it wasn’t us I was worried about.

“Do you think Rio will be okay?” My heart did little flip-flops when thinking about him out in this snow.

“I checked his trailer this morning before the snow hit. No sign of new tracks or anyone around. The path hasn’t been cleared,” Zach said. “Maybe he’s with a friend.”

“Or found a cave or something to stay in,” I said hopefully.

“The mountains aren’t that close. Theylookclose, but that’s a good fifty or so miles. On foot in this snow…” Zach shook his head. “Even if he knew of a good cave, I can’t imagine him getting that far, through the woods.”

That put a stone in my gut with worry. I bit my lower lip. “Is there someone we can call? To look for him?”

Zach took off his coat and added it to the rack over a drip plate near the door and began stripping off the rest. “I already called the local authorities. Let them know he might be out there. They said without knowing a general area, they won’t be able to search. And even then, they would have to wait until the storm was over.”

“There’s nothing we can do?” I blinked; my vision suddenly blurry with tears. Was Rio out there? Alone? Homeless in the middle of a blizzard, and we couldn’t do anything?

“I have a search and rescue spotlight. Was thinking of aiming it out of one of the back windows. You said he’s ex-military, he’d be able to follow the light here, or at least get close enough to see the house.”

I turned to Zach, hope rising. “Can we? Please. The thought of him out there…”

Zach nodded. “I’ll go dig it out of the garage. Keep cooking. Whatever you’re making smells amazing. I think I’ll be bringing Sean and me into the main house for the night too. Our cabin doesn’t have a fireplace in case the power goes out.”

“He was in the library,” I said. “I brought him a tea tray a little while ago.”

“Thanks,” Zach said. He shoved his boots off and tiptoed to the opposite edge where everyone now had house slippers waiting. It was a bit of a new thing that had started when Sean arrived. No outside shoes in the house. Everyone had inside slippers. Mine were super cushy with little donuts on them. Zach’s had bunnies, which I thought was cute. I knew the cleaning staff loved it because it kept the floors cleaner. I liked how they kept my feet warm on all the cold, hard floors.

He headed out of the kitchen toward the opposite side of the house and the entrance to the garage. I hoped he’d find the light fast and that Rio would see it. No one deserved to be out in this sort of madness.

Once I’d pulled all the meat off the chickens and gotten a pot of soup going, then packaged the rest into the fridge, I washed up and headed to find Zach. Had he found the light? Got it going? Would anyone see it through the storm?

I found Zach and Sean in the ballroom near the fireplace. They’d made a cozy seating area and I could feel the heat blazing from across the room. “Dinner is almost ready,” I told them. “I made chicken noodle soup, so nothing fancy.”

“With sourdough bread and homemade noodles?” Zach inquired.

“Of course,” I said, because I was a chef and wasn’t serving anything out of cans.

Zach snorted a laugh. “Just chicken noodle soup. Not fancy. You realize I’ve lived most of my life eating the canned stuff?”

“Barbaric,” I said dramatically. It had been years since I’d had the stuff. Now I made my soup with real chicken drippings from their roasting process, handmade noodles and always a loaf of crusty bread. It just so happened my sourdough starter had been thriving, so we were living well on the byproducts. “Did you get the light up?”

Zach waved at the back of the house. “I have to keep going out and clearing it off, but it’s up. Normally the heat of the light would be enough to keep it clear, but the snow is coming down too hard. I’ve got a timer on my phone for once an hour.”

That wasn’t good news. Would he stay up all night?

“It will be fine,” Zach promised. “I plan to stay up most of the night to keep an eye on the house. If the power goes, I want the generators up fast. I’ve already been out clearing them. The wind is blowing snow everywhere. I’ll need to build more windbreaks in the spring. And there are a few windows upstairs that I’ll need to replace. They are rattling too much for my taste.” He pointed to a spot near the back door where he’d set up another drip plate and an old school coatrack to hold his stuff. Everything looked wet. No wonder he was staying near the fire.

I let out a long breath. “Sorry. I can’t help but worry.”

“I understand. I promise to keep an eye on things. It’s my job, right?”