"Are you ok?" Robbie asked Laura, a cautious questioning half smile half grimace on his face after the car had stopped moving and he'd got his breath back. He knew she was ok; he'd kept his focus on the vehicle's movement but also on her, monitoring all the time that she was not in any danger. Thankfully the car had slowed in its momentum a little before it had performed a half-pirouette and then pivoted almost gracefully, bonnet first, into the ditch without even deploying its airbags.
"I'm fine, thanks to your excellent driving, Robbie. It could have been a lot worse. Not quite sure what we do now though" Laura said, smirking slightly even though her breath was also a little fast as her heart rate returned to normal.
"I know." Robbie said simply. There had been a series of clunks and a loud scraping sound as the car slipped into the ditch and Robbie suspected damage to the undercarriage. This was a moot point he realised. Nose down in the ditch they weren't going anywhere whether the car was damaged or not.
"We can't stay in here, that's for sure" he said, looking aimlessly at the dashboard and its sorry lack of lights.
"We could try ringing the AA" Laura said, pulling out her mobile phone, and finding, as she had suspected, that there was no network coverage "No signal" she said, shaking her head, her lips pursed in resigned acceptance.
"Me neither" Robbie said, checking his phone with a similar expression on his face. "I think we should get out and walk until we get a signal, we can't stay in here, there could be a petrol or oil leak" he continued with a frown as he looked out at the swirling snowflakes that were already settling onto the car windscreen.
Laura knew what he was thinking, all it would take would be two bare wires in the car's electrics, damaged by the impact into the ditch to facilitate a spark that could ignite any spilt fuel and the car would go up like a torch.
"Good idea" Laura said unbuckling her seatbelt
"Careful, the whole lot's unstable, let me get out first and I'll give you a hand" Robbie said, unbuckling his seatbelt
"If you insist" Laura said with a smile. She suddenly realised that out of everyone she knew if she were to be stuck in a snowstorm in a broken down car she would choose Robbie to be the person she was stranded with. If truth be told she felt a little shaken up so she was glad of Robbie's calm assurance and decisiveness, as well as his concern for her. She felt her usual flush of attraction to him as well as a humbleness at his care for her.
After negotiating his way out of his side of the car, Robbie carefully opened the passenger door. He was worried the whole thing might pivot over the bank of the ditch but it seemed to have sunk into the snow and was thankfully quite stable. He offered Laura his hand and she gratefully took it as she climbed out of the car.
"Robbie you're getting covered!" She said as she found her feet in the snow that was already thick onto an already uneven surface of grass hassocks. Laura's coat had been with her in the car but Robbie's was in the boot. Luckily, she had a pair of knee length leather boots, worn purposely for her trip. Her coat was also a thick winter one; it could get cold walking around the New York streets and as such the clothes she had with her were all appropriate for very cold weather. Robbie on the other hand had put his winter wax jacket in the boot of the car when he had set off, not wanting to get hot in the car as he drove. By the time he had helped Laura up the snow-covered ditch and onto the road and got his coat out of the boot he was covered in snow.
"We can't leave these in here" Robbie said finally putting his coat on before lifting out his hold all and Laura's suitcase. Laura looked at Robbie's feet. He wore his usual leather work shoes which were completely unfit for walking in the deep snow. Robbie had a pair of walking boots in his holdall, packed in readiness for a boxing day walk with Lyn but it wasn't practical to open up the bag to find them and then get them on. Buttoning up her coat, Laura began to doubt that they would get very far without another mishap.
After the initial adrenaline the reality of the situation dawned on them. They were in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm.