Rain pounded against the roof of the apartment complex and against the windows of each unit. The trees groaned in protest as the wind attempted to uproot them. Lying awake, Greg stared at the window and watched the water pour down. It was the largest storm of the year, and Greg was glad to be lying in bed as icy water poured down outside. He sat up slowly and reached around until he found his television remote control. He turned it on and blinked as the TV brightened the previously dark room.
Lying in bed watching television suited him. He was a recently divorced thirty one year old, still trying to readjust to the single lifestyle. He flipped through the channels and checked the clock. Only a few minutes after midnight, on a Friday night, now technically Saturday morning. He sighed and continued flipping through the channels. He wondered if he should be out mingling in singles bars, but laughed at the thought, remembering the few disastrous occasions when he had tried that before he had met his ex-wife.
He finally found a good program, and was settling comfortably in to watch it, when his phone rang. He muted the television and got out of bed. He frowned as he walked to the phone, wondering who would call at midnight. Brief visions of family or friend emergencies flashed through his mind as he reached the phone. He took a deep breath and picked it up.
"Hello?" he said calmly.
"Hello Greg?" a female voice greeted him, "This is Sandy from work."
Sandy worked in a different department, but they had talked a few times. At the Christmas party about a month ago he remembered exchanging phone numbers with her. They had spent almost the whole party getting to know each other, and Greg had felt like they had really made a connection. After the party he had found out she was married and the next time they talked it had been much more subdued. Greg remembered how disappointed he had been after he found out; because she was the first woman he had felt strong feelings for since his divorce.
"Oh hey Sandy, uh, what's up?" Greg said, trying not to sound as confused as he felt, and not really succeeding.
"I'm really sorry for calling so late, did I wake you up?" she said.
"No, I was just sitting around," Greg answered.
"This is going to sound crazy and horrible of me, but I didn't know who else to call, and I had such a great time at the Christmas party with you, and your number was one of the few in my purse that I thought could help me, and I know I must sound like a wreck, I still can't believe I'm calling you out of the blue like this…" Sandy's voiced had started getting higher and higher in pitch as she talked. Greg frowned and tried to interrupt her.
"Sandy, Sandy, its fine. I'm glad you called, are you all right?" Greg said quickly. She paused on the line, and he heard either a laugh or a sob and then she took a deep breath.
"Honestly, no I am really not, but that aside, I am kind of stranded." Sandy paused and waited for Greg to respond.
"Stranded? Where?" Greg asked.
"I was driving around trying to think of what to do, because I, I've just, well, I was driving around in this horrible weather, and my car just died. I don't know what the problem is, I checked the engine but I don't know what's wrong. I know this is horrible of me, and I'm sorry to even have to ask you, but I was wondering if you could pick me up and take me to a hotel somewhere." She finished, her voice barely held together. She sounded as though she had been crying and Greg's first thought was to ask why her husband wasn't going to do it.
"I can come get you, sure," Greg said, "where are you?" She gave him directions, thanking him profusely and apologizing constantly. "Ok, it will take me a little while to get there, I live half an hour from where you are, not counting the rain."
"Oh that's fine, I'm just so glad you can do it, however long it takes is fine." Sandy replied gratefully.
They hung up and Greg quickly changed. He put on long pants and grabbed a thick jacket quickly. He grabbed his keys and wallet and left. He hadn't remembered how badly it was raining, and the time it took him to walk from his apartment to his car was time enough for him to get soaked. He climbed in his car quickly and started it. He turned the heater up and pulled out of the complex.
It took him about forty five minutes, he had horrible visibility and he had to watch for the roads to be flooded when he got out to the area she was stranded in. He finally saw a car parked to one side of an empty road. He pulled up behind it and saw someone moving inside the car. He turned off his lights and got out into the pouring rain. He saw the other car's door open and someone emerge.
"Sandy?" Greg called out.
"Yeah," she said as she walked over.
As she got closer, Greg saw that she was soaking wet. She had a purse clutched in her hands and she was shivering. She was wearing jeans and a sweater, but the sweater was thin and was drenched as well. Her hair was plastered against her neck and face, and her face looked ashen. When she got close to Greg, he let out an exclamation as he saw her face closer. Her skin was white and her lips were blue. Greg ran forward and pulled off his jacket. He wrapped it around her and helped her to his car. She got in his car, still shivering with extreme cold and Greg ran around the other side. He got quickly into the drivers side and turned the heat up to the maximum and pointed all the vents at her.
"Thank you so much Greg, I will be fine in a minute," Sandy said in a shaky voice.
"Do you have anything else you need from your car? I can go get it," Greg asked.
"No, I can get it tomorrow," Sandy replied.
"Are you going to be all right? You look frozen; you might have hypothermia or something," Greg asked.
"I'll be fine, I'm feeling better already," she said quickly, but continued to shiver. "When my car died I got out was fiddling with the engine, trying to see what happened, I got completely soaked and then I couldn't turn my car on for the heater. Then I waited for like half an hour before I called you, because I wasn't sure what to do."
Greg turned back onto the road and started heading back towards the main roads.
"I don't know any hotels around here, do you?" Sandy said softly.
"Not really, I know of some near my apartment. Um… Did something happen at your house?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, I left my husband. I should have driven straight to a hotel with this weather, but I felt like I needed to clear my head, so I just started driving around, why I chose a deserted area I have no idea. Thank you again for getting me," she said meekly.
"Oh really, its no problem, I'm sorry it took me so long."
They drove in silence back towards Greg's apartment for ten minutes. Sandy stopped shivering and Greg began sweating with the heat on. Sandy was still leaning forward soaking up the heat though, so Greg left it on full blast.
"I don't know what the situation is with your husband, but I have a spare bedroom at my house, it has a couch that is pretty comfortable, and I haven't had company in a long time. It would be no problem," Greg said carefully.
