I was heading off to visit my sister. We were partners in a property management company, and it was our annual meeting. It more of visiting family than working. She mostly ran the business herself, with me being a silent partner. My sister and wife don't get along, so my wife stayed home. My college attending daughter initially didn't want to come either, she felt she was getting too old to go on road trips with her dad. She was taking a semester off from her pursuit of a degree, but she preferred trips with people her own age. She wasn't too old for a little bribery, however. My sister had bought her a necklace, but would only give it to her in person. It was a multi-day trip by car to reach my sister. It should have been pretty uneventful heading up there, but a bad winter storm was coming down our way, so we left early to beat it. We didn't leave early enough, and on the second day it had overtaken us. The main highway was shut down, so I was driving back country roads. I was driving a good 4 wheel drive SUV and was confident in my ability to get through, but the roads were very slick. I lost control and we slid into a deep ditch. Neither one of us were hurt, and the vehicle seemed to be okay, but I couldn't get lit out.
"Great. I knew I shouldn't have come on this stupid trip." My daughter said.
"Its okay. I will just call for help." I said.
I picked up my cell phone. There was no service. I got out of the car and walked around. Nothing. I got on top of the car and held my phone into the snowy air. Still nothing. I got back in the car to warm up.
"Dad, I don't have any cell phone service." My daughter said as I reentered the car.
"Me either." I replied.
"Are we stuck?" She asked.
"It looks like it." I replied.
We sat in silence for a little bit. I watched the snow continue to fall around us outside. It was really piling up. I realized we might be stuck for a long while. I looked around the car to see what we had to get through this. There was some food. Mostly junk food, the kind you grab for any road trip. There were a couple water bottles. A couple blankets. A small space heater that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket I used to warm up the car on cold days. There was a tool box with some basic tools, and our suitcases with our clothes. I had a 5 gallon container of gas in the back as well. Not a lot to work with. I opened the toolbox, nothing but tools. I started looking through our suitcases for something bright and orange.
"What are you doing?" My daughter asked.
"I'm going to make a flag so that anybody driving by can see us. We will wave the next car down and get a ride to town from them. We can come back for our car once the snow stops." I said.
"Okay." She said.
I got out and raised an orange sweatshirt as a flag on the antenna of the car, then got back in. After an hour nobody had come by, and the roads looked impassible.
"I don't think anyone's coming." My daughter said.
"I think you're right." I replied.
"What are we going to do?" She asked.
"We will have to conserve what we have, and make it last until somebody does come. If we run out of gas we will be in trouble, so we are going to just have to use the heater and blanket, and use the fuel only to keep the battery charged."
I considered the effects of that. I would probably have to go out periodically and ensure the tailpipe is clear, because if it got blocked we could suffocate.
"I'm scared dad." She said.
"We'll be ok." I lied.
I grabbed a blanket for her and one for me, plugged in the heater, and shut off the engine. After a bit it started to get really cold.
"I'm cold." She said. "Can I snuggle up to you to get warm?"
"Sure." I said.
I opened my blanket up to invite her over, but the center console and steering wheel got in the way.
"This isn't going to work." She said.
"Here, let's go set something up in the back." I said.
I crawled over to the backseat, then folded up the seats so we had a big space to lay down in. My daughter crawled over and started emptying out the suitcase. We soon had a place to lay down together that was well insulated. I moved the space heater from the front to the back. I set it up to blow into our blankets, and we cuddled up close together. It seems to work okay,
"This is good." She said.
"Yeah, it worked." I said.
We sat there cuddled up together for a little bit, then I started having a very embarrassing problem. My daughter looked like a younger version of my wife. She felt very feminine and good. Every little wiggle caused my body to react. I kept reminding myself that it was my daughter and not my wife, but it was a losing battle.
"Dad, you're poking me." She said.
"I'm sorry." I mumbled, deeply embarrassed.
I started to move to give her a little space.
"Don't move, I'll be cold. Just take care of it." She said.
"Well, it's..." I started to say, embarrassed.
"I know what it is. Take care of it." She said.
"Here? I don't know..." I said.
"I can't have you poking me, and I don't want to be cold." She said.
"I don't think I should do it in front of you." I replied, humiliated.
"It's fine. It isn't like I don't know you're a man." She replied.
"You are my daughter though. It's not right to do it in front of you." I said.
"Take. Care. Of. It." She said.
"But it would make a mess..." I responded.
"Look, why don't I just help you." She said.
"You can't, you're my daughter." I said.
"It's okay dad, I'll just handle your problem nice and quick, then we can forget what happened, and you'll be done poking me." She said.
"I can't let you. Its wrong." I said.
"Don't be such a prude dad." She said.
She moved, unzipping my pants.