Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 106(@200wpm)___ 85(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 106(@200wpm)___ 85(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
With the storm rolling in, she has no choice but to take shelter in the cabin of the hunky, gruff, Tyson, whose land she’s wandered onto by mistake.
He dresses like a lumberjack, but he’s smarter than he looks. Well-read and knows just how to make Penny laugh. But he’s not about to let her trespass slide either.
What is a man like Tyson doing out here on his own? Penny wonders. And will his harsh tongue drive her away? Or once the rain clears and her boss comes searching for her, will he be able to convince her to stay?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
PENNY
It’s a scary feeling being lost. I came here to Upstate New York to get away from Wall Street for some hiking and some much-needed time away from the city, and now I have absolutely no idea where I am. It’s like something out of a movie.
The over-confident analyst from Goldman Sachs takes a day off to go “commune with nature” and ends up losing her way. That’s me. I worked so hard, put in so many sixty-hour weeks, took so much crap from Jerry, my boss, that I just couldn’t take it any longer. I needed to take a break. And seeing as how I don’t go out to the normal watering holes like everybody else, I figured this would be a good way of taking my own time off.
But now I see the storm clouds rolling in, deep gray and purple, no doubt holding back one hell of a storm. And I know that if I don’t get down off this mountain soon, they’re going to let loose on me, and I’m going to be stuck here for the night under a downpour I have no idea how to handle.
I’m no camper. I’m not one of those ultra-rich traders who take their weekends, pick a spot in the wilderness, and go play the game of survival. I’m just an analyst trying to work her way up. The most hardcore time I’ve spent outside was when I was nine and was playing out back and my mom accidentally locked me out for three hours when she took a Xanax and passed out on the couch.
Mom was, and still is, a receptionist at a carpet cleaning company. She never really liked the job, but they were always decent to her, the pay was okay, and they provided health insurance.
Dad works at an auto parts shop back in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It’s a nice town, but we never had enough money to send me to school. So I worked my butt off and was able to make it to Stanford and Wharton business school on a full scholarship. I could tell my parents were both proud of me, but I also always knew they thought I was working too hard.
“She’s gonna have a heart attack, Nora!” my dad would always say from the living room after a long day’s work when I’d be upstairs studying in my room. I remember him sending my mom to check on me, her seeing me and calling back down to him.
“She’s alive, Elijah!” she’d call back down. “Don’t you worry.”
There was nothing I wanted more than to get out of that house back then. But what I wouldn’t give to be back there now.
I step over a fallen tree and nearly fall as my pantleg catches on a broken branch.
“Damn,” I curse as I reach back and free myself. This vacation trip sure isn’t turning out the way I anticipated.
A clap of thunder rings out behind me. It’s so loud I actually jump and brace myself against the nearest tree. My heart starts beating insanely fast, and I start gulping for breath as I steady myself.
“Holy crap,” I mutter as I look up at the sky. The clouds are moving even faster. They’re going to be on top of me in minutes. I have basically no time to get out of here before they dump their contents on me and I’m soaking.
I basically just have to pick a direction and go. There’s no time for calculation or debate. It wouldn’t help anyway. The big problem is that I’ve come out near Adirondack Park, which is six million acres of wilderness, so if I end up wandering into the park instead of away from it, I’m going to just end up even more lost. And that’s not good.
A second thunder clap rings out, just about scaring me out of my boots. That settles it, I think. Nothing else to do but go.
I swing my arm ahead of me in an arc, and at a random position stop.
“That’s where I’m going,” I say to no one in particular. And with a deep breath, I take a step forward.
At least it isn’t winter. The fact that it’s the beginning of September makes this at least a little bit more tolerable. It’s too bad I wasn’t in Chile or Brazil or Australia. Then if it rained on me, I wouldn’t be as worried about getting cold. No such luck in New York State.
I push my way through the brush, stepping over fallen tree trunks, branches, stepping over stones and slabs of granite. There are lots of pines and many tiny streams. If I wasn’t so worried about my safety, I would be much more inclined to stop and admire the scenery. It really is quite beautiful.
I keep pushing on, telling myself that I’ve definitely chosen the right direction and it’ll only be a little while longer before I reach the parking lot where I left my Subaru. But that’s when I hear another clap of thunder that sounds and feels like it’s just above me. And this time, instead of just echoing out across the landscape and going away, the roar that shakes the ground itself is followed by the sound of rain.