Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the previous chapters, with a special thank-you to my real-life editor. Remaining errors, if any, are mine. Reading the chapters of this story in order is highly recommended. All geek culture references are properties of their original copyright holders.
*****
Mike rolled out of bed to the sound of Electric Light Orchestra's "The Diary of Horace Wimp." Another day, another chance for incredible sex with one of his delectable houseguests. Of course they were friends now, first and foremost, and he wouldn't do a thing to jeopardize that, but as long as they were open to it, and they were stuck here anyway because of the snow... What was that sound?
Dripping. A
lot
of dripping. Rain? No, he'd hear it on the roof. It was the snow melting. Okay, he'd heard it in the background for nearly a week now, but not this much.
After getting ready for the day, Mike went out onto the balcony. The snow indeed was finally starting to show visible signs of recession. A two-day blizzard left the entire area buried, trapping the three women there to begin with, but now there was a chance that their time together was starting to come to a close.
With a sigh, he went back inside, and downstairs for another of Cassie's culinary spreads. Mike had no idea how many different breakfasts were possible, but Cassie was determined to show them off.
"I wanted to talk to you," Jenny started in the middle of the meal, "About the... idea you had yesterday."
"Still can't think of what to call it, but there's time," said Mike.
"No, I mean, it sounds good in a pitch, but I want to really think about what it would actually take to pull off, to see if it's worth the risk."
"Number one," Mike responded, gesturing with his spoon, "I appreciate your point of view. You're the center of the enterprise, do what you need to get prepared. Number two, I am a professional assessor of such risks. People pay me outrageous sums to determine if paying even larger sums are worthwhile, savvy? I'm telling you it's worth it, so that should count for something. Number three... hang on... rats. I forgot where I was going with that." He got up to refill his coffee mug.
Jenny still looked apprehensive when Mike returned to the breakfast table. Cassie and Veronica sat quietly watching the exchange.
"Tell you what," Mike suggested, "I'll get my four hours of work in, and then after lunch you can talk it over with Cassie."
"What about me?" asked Veronica.
"You need your MBA, hands-down. After that, I'm sure you'll have no problem managing the business side of the company. Besides, I figured you'd want to come with me."
"To your office?"
"No, in the Hummer," Mike said, cracking a grin. "The snow's melted enough, and still dripping. I want to go see if the road is clear of fallen trees and excessive as-yet-unmelted snow. You mentioned being the most stir-crazy in this group."
"Or just the most crazy," murmured Cassie into her coffee cup. She grinned slightly when everyone turned to look her way.
"Anyway," Mike continued, "You're car's shot, so we're taking the Hummer. It'll be slow going for up to a forty-mile round-trip, so that's the whole afternoon. I'd like some company so I don't get bored, and if there's anything blocking the road that doesn't need a chain saw, we can just get it ourselves."
"Okay, okay," said Veronica, "Dude, you oversell. You had me at Hummer."
"All right then. Ladies," Mike said, getting up, "I will see you at lunch." With that, he put his dishes into the sink and went to his office to work.
"So what's your input, then, Veronica?" asked Jenny, "Since you'll be gone later."
"You provide the product, or in this case, service, and I'll do what I can to help you keep doing it," Veronica said, "How much goes into the product, what space you'll need, how specific, how much quality and quantity, that's what you need to hammer out. You bring me a full venture proposal, and I'll look at the whole thing, holistically, and give you my input. I can't really, until then. My job is making it all fit together as best as it can."
Jenny thought for a second. "Okay, I get that. Cassie, what about you?"
"Let me think about potential details for a while. I might even do some Internet research."
"That's actually a good idea. Meet back here for lunch?"
They all agreed, and went to their separate rooms.
*****
In his office, just before lunchtime, Mike called Dave, the ranger he knew best from the park.
"Hello?"
"Monkey, it's Uncle."
"Hey, Mike. What's up?"
"I'm taking the Hummer out to see how clear the road is. How is it on the big wide world beyond?"
"Cold. Wet. Still rock salt everywhere. What we need is a good rain followed by a night we don't get a freeze."
"Yeah, I agree, that'd be good," said Mike, subconsciously nodding, despite being on the phone. "Should I find a tree or somesuch, how long would it take to get someone out?"
"Depends on how many miles, trees, and 'somesuches' you find. Look, I can have three guys on call and ready to go at a moment's notice after fifteen minutes. I'll make some other calls to see if I can wrangle more, but if the snow's too high at this end, you're still stuck."
"I get that. I'll be heading out in about an hour or so. I'll call you when I'm done, either way."
"Sounds good. You know what I'm going to say next."
"Yeah. Don't freeze, don't waste gas, don't pee in the snow, and don't mess up any trees I don't have to."
"More or less. Talk to you later."
"Same. Bye."
"Bye."
*****
After lunch, Veronica got on her most weather-appropriate clothing. She and her friends hadn't banked on being stuck in snow, so she had to improvise a little. Her undergarments were easy enough- a black pair of string bikini-style panties, with the of-course-it-matches bra. Over these, she first donned a white t-shirt and her exercise pants, tight against her skin for warmth. She doubled up on socks, and completed her main ensemble with jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. To this, she added her shoes, and a coat, hat, and pair of gloves from the downstairs hall closet. She opted against a scarf, as she planned to not leave the warm car.
Now ready for anything, or so she felt, Veronica headed to the garage. Mike was already in there, double-checking the Hummer for drivability, as it had sat idle for a month or so.
"Everything okay?" she asked. Mike looked up, or since it was from the driver's seat of a Hummer, down.
"So far, so good. We'll find out for sure on the road, if we get very far."
"Wow. I feel so comforted."
"Ha ha frakin' ha. You want to get away from the house for a couple of hours or not?"
"No no, I'm coming," Veronica said quickly, hurrying over and getting into the front passenger seat.
Mike finished his checks and climbed in, but it still seemed an interminable time to Veronica until they were ready to go. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes, but she was antsy.
Finally, the garage door opened and Mike pulled out.
"Woohoo!" she exclaimed suddenly, then placed her hands over her lips and darted her eyes over to Mike, who was holding his ear and trying to turn a grimace into a smile.
"It's okay," he said, "I... didn't want to use that ear again today anyway."
After briefly pausing to make sure the electronic garage door device activated to shut the door behind them, the Hummer rolled slowly out, and up onto the road.
The service road ran along the outer border of the park itself. It was mainly used for emergency vehicles, ranger access, and the construction vehicles from when the ranger stations were first built. Mike's driveway was a left turn off of it, and by the time a car hit the gravel driveway, it was outside the park.
Without being built for ease of travel, the service road had its quirks. At times, it turned abruptly to avoid a particularly large tree. The landscape's bumps and dips were only flattened as necessary, so any kind of speed was going to be difficult to maintain. The upshot of this was that even in ideal conditions, they would not reach the main road for over half an hour, easily. The good news was that this was not much slowed by the presence of snow.
Mike kept the radio off, and tried not to speak during some of the tighter turns. Where he remembered particularly large dips or bumps in the road, he gave what warning he could to Veronica.
"OW!" she cried at one point.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. That last bump just made me hit my head, that's all."
"Sorry."
