Stranded

10 | Homeward Bound

**Dana's POV**

Peter and I worked off and on throughout the day on Sunday to dig his car out of the snow. Unfortunately, there was so much snow that we still have not been able to dig out the driveway to actually go anywhere.

Our plan was to continue shoveling all day today to hopefully get his car out so he can take me back to my parent's house. I figured their house was closer and we had plenty of friends with tractors that could help me pull my car out. Plus, by now they were bound to be worried about me and would be relieved at my arrival.

"Jenna, do you mind making us some breakfast while I go start shoveling?"

"That's not a probl--"

Knock knock knock

Peter and I both look at one another, shocked by what we just heard. Peter steps toward the door to open it.

"Good morning, sir, I'm Deputy Mason, sorry to bother you this early, but we were wondering if a young woman had come to your door in the past few days due to a stuck vehicle?"

I stepped into the deputy's view as Peter turned and looked at me.

"Yes, Deputy. I did."

"Miss, is your name Jenna Porter?"

"Yes."

"Miss Porter we received a missing persons report concerning you. If you'll please come with us."

"I'm not missing, my car just got stuck and this man was kind enough to take me in."

"Ma'am we've already called a tow truck to come get your car out of the snow and bring it back to our station, so you'll need to come with us to get your vehicle."

I turn to Peter in disbelief. "Can you believe it, Peter, they're getting my car out." I throw my arms around his neck, unable to contain my excitement.

"That's great, Jenna."

"Excuse me, sir, is this your cabin?" The deputy asks Peter.

"Yes, Deputy. Peter, Peter Masters." He extends his hand to shake the deputy's hand.

"Mr. Masters I've got a plow here with me, he's cleaning out your driveway as we speak so I can get my cruiser in here to escort Miss Porter back to the station."

"Thank you."

"I'll just grab my things." I turn and walk into the bedroom to grab the few items I have here.

When I walk back out from the bedroom, I give Peter another hug.

"Thank you for everything, Peter. I'm so glad I knocked on your door."

I gave him a kiss and left with the deputy.

When we got to the station, I was greeted by Ken, the Sherriff, an old family friend, with a big hug.

"Miss Jenna, you sure been worryin' me and your folks somethin' fierce."

"I can only imagine. I'm so sorry, Ken. I didn't mean to worry anyone. Have you called my parents yet?"

"I just got off the phone with 'em. I told 'em to stay put for now and I'd have you give 'em a ring before you head back home."

"Thanks, Ken."

While I waited for my car to be towed back to the station, I called my parents to let them know I was safe and fill them in on what had happened to me over the course of the past few days. I may have intentionally left out a few details that weren't relevant.

After I had calmed my parents down, I called into work to try to save my job. Thankfully, my boss was very understanding and simply asked me to pick up a few extra shifts that week for the nurses that had filled in for me over the weekend, which I was more than happy to do.

By the time I had gotten off the phone, the tow truck had arrived with my car  and Ken insisted on sending one of his deputies to escort me back to the city to make sure I got back safely. I tried to refuse, but to no avail.

The first thing I did when I got home was take a long shower and put on some of my own clothes. It was then that I realized that I had still been wearing Peter's t-shirt and sweatpants and I hadn't given him my number or gotten his. I had no way to get ahold of him.

I pulled out my laptop to Google him. He's a famous writer, how hard could it be to find contact information for him online? Pretty hard, it turns out. I remembered him mentioning that he tried to stay out of the public eye and really valued his anonymity. As a result, I came up empty trying to find any personal info about him online. I did find out the publishing company he works with and thought about contacting them, but figured it was unlikely they'd willingly give out his number to a random woman that asked for it.

My last ditch effort was to try to search for him on all the social media platforms under different variations of his name. No such luck. After all that searching, I had come to the conclusion that Peter would likely be completely off-the-grid if he could be.

Maybe we were only meant to have this weekend. Maybe we weren't meant to be anything more. Maybe it never would have worked between the two of us. That realization was more sobering than all my empty online searches.

**************

**Peter's POV**

She's gone. One minute she was making breakfast, the next minute she's gone. I knew the storm would end and she would leave eventually, it just happened faster than I had expected. Even worse, I had no way to contact her.

In an effort to push her absence out of my mind, I took out my laptop to work on my book. I didn't exactly get as much work done this weekend as I had planned. I made the decision to stay at the cabin until morning and work and then make my way home before I get trapped out here in another storm.