My weekend in Fernie went incredibly well for my first real work trip with Rush. The gear that Hudson bought for me made my job much easier. Sure, I didn't look as good but I was warm and that made the days feel a little shorter and my fingers still functioned at the end of the day. Plus, he had never bothered to try and use it against me. Videography was still a struggle but I felt like I was getting a little better at it each day, especially when I rode on the back of a snowmobile to do some back country shots. The angles and lines that Hudson could create in the untouched snow was unlike anything I had seen before.

And though I had been worried about our dinner going sideways Hudson was nothing but nice. I had a couple glasses of wine and a nice steak while I showed him some of the pictures and videos that I had transferred to my phone. He was full of praise towards my work and didn't bring up my food or my car again. It was all going so smoothly it was heavenly.

Then it was time to go home and it seemed like Satan himself had called for the snow storm of the century. In all my years in beautiful Canada I had never experienced anything like this.

There were few of us brave enough to venture out onto the highway, but we were all in agreement to go at a snail's pace. The risk of adding speed to an already deadly situation was absurd. On the more frightening hills we slowed down even more. I forced my eyes to stay ahead and stare into the dizzying snow, instead of peering down at the drops that would surely kill me should my car slide down them.

And the only thing that I could think about the whole time was Hudson warning me about how bad my tires were.

The drive that was supposed to take three hours looked like it would be closer to six with the way the snow was blowing and the poor visibility. There were several times when I could see nothing but taillights in front of me. I knew that if they went into the ditch or veered off the road I would follow because in all this whiteness it was impossible to tell where the road was. I couldn't see anything and the way the snow was swirling in front of my headlights was making me feel faint.

Unfortunately pulling over wasn't much of an option either. Even with my hazard lights on there was a high chance I would get hit or cause an accident when someone swerved around me.

So we continued on slowly. And I'm sure that everyone in the convoy line thought that it was a miracle when the snow seemed to let up a little bit. Everyone's speeds increased closer to the speed limit, but caution was still ever present.

And it was then that I saw a truck racing up beside me, attempting to pass the slow moving vehicles. The only problem was, with the low visibility, the driver didn't see the small, white car in oncoming traffic.

"No," I whispered to myself, my heart in my throat.

The truck had no option but to turn back into my lane. Directly in front of me. I let out a strangled noise and slammed my foot down on the brake, knowing that it was the only way the truck and car wouldn't meet an awful fate.

And my damn all season tires just couldn't get the traction they needed as the truck pulled in front of me. I felt the back end of my car start to shift over. My hands that were gripping the wheel automatically moved to try and correct the slide.

It only sent me in the other direction, into oncoming.

I let out a scream and jerked the wheel again, knowing that I wouldn't be able to regain control, but not having much time to think. I didn't care what happened I just didn't want to hit anyone else.

I jammed my eyes shut and prayed.

And when my eyes opened again my car was buried in the snow. I had plowed into the ditch until the snow stopped me.

My first instinct was to sit very still for a moment, scared that if I moved I would hurt myself or damage my car more. Then, when nothing was screaming at me immediately, I sucked in a breath. No pain in my chest. Then I wiggled my fingers and toes. They were all working fine. I progressed to bigger extremities and was so thankful when I found that nothing hurt too bad.

But that only brought me to my second problem: my car was stuck in the ditch, surrounded by at least three feet of fresh snow. And the asshole who had made the riskiest pass in history was long gone, taking the massive truck with them. I let out a frustrated and frightened scream and put my car in park though it couldn't go anywhere anyway.

I was nowhere near Calgary yet, still about an hour and half away. That meant that I couldn't call Jen and in weather like this if there wasn't a tow ban I'm sure there would be a long wait for a tow truck. All I had to combat the frigid weather outside was a half tank of gas and the winter clothing.

But Hudson had only left Fernie a few minutes before me. He couldn't be that far away now.

My trembling fingers reached for my cell phone, pulling up his contact.

It rang twice before he picked up.

"Hey princess," he greeted.

"I need you," I managed, feeling close to tears.

"What happened?"

"I'm in the ditch. I'm okay, but I'm stuck. Very stuck," I whimpered.

"Okay, just stay in the car and tell me where you are."

In ten minutes I saw the burnt orange colour of Hudson's car pull over on the side of the road. The driver door flung open and he was running into hip deep snow in a second. I opened my door after shutting the car off, wiping away the few tears that had trickled down my cheeks since I had talked to him. the large snow drift around my car made it hard for me to open the door more than a few inches.

"Hey Penelope," he greeted. He tried to grin at me but it was rather grim looking.

"How bad is it?" I squeaked. I couldn't afford this. I couldn't afford to fix this car. And if I didn't have a car I couldn't do my job. my hands started to shake again and I wondered if I was twisting myself into an anxiety attack. I hadn't had one in years and I couldn't have one now in front of my newest employer.

I started to count down from ten, taking slow, even breaths and thinking all the things I could touch and feel in the moment.

"Relax, your car is going to be fine. All this snow just acted like a big pillow. You might have a cracked bumper, but mechanically your car is going to be perfect." As he spoke he reached a hand towards me. I took it gratefully and let him pull me out of the car. "We aren't going to be able to get your car out today with this weather, but no one is going to be able to move it so no one is going to be able to steal it. just get your important things out of the back and I'll take you to my place, okay?"

I could only nod mutely before I opened the back and pulled out my camera gear. Once everything was transferred over to his car I locked up my SUV and we were back on the road.

"It's only twenty minutes to my house. You can crash there as long as you need and when the weather gets better I'll drive you out so you can have your car pulled out," he assured as he pulled back into traffic.

"Thank you, for everything. You didn't have to do this, but I'm so grateful you did. I don't know what I would've done otherwise," I said as I shuddered and shook in the passenger seat.

"Hey, I'm glad I could help, but you really need to get those winter tires," he pushed while shaking his head.

"I know, Hudson," I ground out.

"You say that but you still don't have them and look at what happened. Next time it could be-"

"I can't afford them!" I shouted, suddenly losing my cool. "Connor screwed me out of everything, okay?! After this weekend I'll barely be able to afford rent for a new place because he's taken fucking everything from me!"

And with the admission tears streamed down my cheeks.