The Shuddering

catching the attention of the lady working the only available checkout lane.
    “By the way…” He lifted his phone. “If anyone needs to make a call, now is the time. No reception at home.”
    “The Wi-Fi isn’t working?”
    “Disconnected. I checked.”
    “What about the house phone?”
    “Disconnected too.”
    “Makes sense.” She shrugged.
    “Maybe,” Ryan countered. “But I’d rather blame it on pockets so tight they squeak when he walks.”
    “Your dad’s a miser?” Lauren asked, doubtful.
    “Oh, he’s not a miser when it comes to buying stuff for himself,” Ryan assured her. “But if it comes to leaving the Wi-Fi connected, he’s going to cancel it and save himself fifty bucks a month.”
    “You think it’s abnormal to disconnect the phone if the place is up for sale?” Jane countered. “Especially if he’s not going to come back?”
    “If he’s not going to come back, then he should have taken all his crap with him.”
    “So we could sleep on the floor?”
    “Why are you defending him?” Ryan asked, suddenly annoyed. It was just like her, sticking up for that prick for no reason at all.
    “I’m not defending him,” Jane countered. “You’re just being overly critical and a little ridiculous.”
    “Ridiculous,” Ryan muttered with a scoff.
    Jane shot Lauren a wry look. “Let’s go. Dinner is going to take a while, and I want to make a cake.”
    With a trunk full of groceries, Ryan guided the car back up the mountain, squinting at the glare of the snow through his sunglasses while Jane tapped her fingers against her thigh and Lauren bobbed her head to Huey Lewis and the News.
    Turning off the main highway, the Xterra bounced along the snowy road that would eventually lead them to the cabin’s steep driveway. Jane held her chin in her hand, watching the scenery glide by—the skinny pines that swayed in the breeze, the roll of phantom mist as the sun baked the top of the snow into a fine, brittle crust. She always watched for animals, hoping to see a family of deer with their noses buried in the snow or a squirrel bounding up the trunk of a tree.
    As her eyes scanned the beautiful scenery, her heart lurched into her throat. There, upon a blanket of virgin snow, was a large swath of red. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. She mutely tapped her finger on the window instead, the urgency of her motion catching Ryan’s attention.
    “What is that?” She finally managed to spit out the question, her finger still pressed to the window. “Do you see it?”
    Ryan slid his shades down his nose.
    “Stop,” she told him, reaching over to the stereo and turning Huey down to a whisper. When the Nissan continued to amble along at the same pace, she turned to look at Ryan with wide eyes. “Stop!” she repeated, this time with more intensity.
    “What? What? ” he asked, slamming his foot on the brake. The SUV skidded to a stop, the three of them lurching forward, only to be shoved back into their seats.
    “What is it?” she asked, pointing to the blotch of red. It looked like something had been killed and dragged into the trees.
    “I don’t know.” Ryan shrugged. “Roadkill or something.”
    “Roadkill is usually on a road,” Jane corrected.
    “Are there wolves out here?” Lauren asked from the backseat, wrinkling her nose.
    “Werewolves,” Ryan said flatly. “That or serial killers.”
    “It’s a forest,” Jane cut in, incredulous.
    “Woodland serial killers, then,” Ryan corrected, amused with himself. “They’re the worst kind. They’ve all got cabin fever. And axes. And a dozen kids to feed.”
    “God, totally creepy,” Lauren said. “Wolves like in that one movie, the one with Liam Neeson.”
    “Like Texas Chainsaw Massacre ,” Ryan added. “But, you know, with snow instead of Texas.”
    “Don’t start,” Jane warned. She had never been a fan of gore and Ryan knew it. He also knew she was terrified of the forest at night. As a child, he had convinced her little girls were bears’ favorite food.
    “That movie where the plane crashed,” Lauren continued, sounding oddly worried, “and they had to walk through all that snow. Did you see that?”
    “Oh yeah, we saw it,” Ryan told her. “Planes crash here all the time.”
    Despite Jane’s own trepidation, she bit back a pang of amusement. It was a nice change of pace, Ryan teasing Lauren rather than her.
    “There aren’t really any wolves out here, are there,