by Nancy Naigle
Would there be cookie swaps with friends? Caroling to kick off the holiday season?
Or would this be the only Christmas she spent away?
There was no rule that said she couldn’t still come home for Christmas no matter where she lived. There was comfort in that thought.
And her parents would come visit her in DC, too. There was so much to see. The museums. The theater. It would be fun to show them around the city. Maybe invite them down for the Cherry Blossom Festival. She’d only seen pictures, but it looked amazing—something not to miss. It would be interesting to see how festivals in Washington, D.C. compared to Evergreen, too.
By the time she got to the Burlington International Airport, the weather had settled in. The sky was an ominous gray, and the snow was beginning to pile quickly.
Yellow taxicabs lined up in front of the arrivals area, and people rushed here and there. Cars wove in and out like a well-choreographed dance, dropping off and picking up passengers.
Allie turned into the long-term parking area and searched for an open spot. She had to go to the very top floor to even find a place where she felt comfortable leaving her truck. Grandpa had given it to her in mint condition, and she didn’t plan to change that. Even if it meant walking farther in the snow to protect it.
She got out and took a picture of the area sign to help her remember where she parked. Then she locked the door behind her and grabbed her bags, careful not to drag the wheels along the wooden stake side or the paint. The dry snow brushed right off, not even leaving a mark on her new luggage. The tan set with dark leather handles and trim had been a splurge. Kind of a look-the-part-of-a-well-traveled-city-girl treat to herself.
She slid the tote over the telescoping handle of the carry-on bag with wheels and then guided her luggage to the elevator. The bell rang and the doors slid open. A happy couple exited, holding hands and looking grateful to be reunited. She cruised in, standing against the back wall.
At the ground level, she hurried to the crosswalk, waving a thank you to the cars that had slowed to let her get by. She squinted against the heavy snow, flakes settling in the hair around her face. She blew her bangs from her cheek and rushed inside.
Terminal one was hectic. With the holidays upon them, even this small airport teemed with passengers anxious to reunite with family and begin their Christmas plans. She got in line to check in, noticing the electronic board behind the airline attendant showing several flights with delayed departures or late arrivals.
Thank goodness her flight was still on time. So far.
She headed straight to the security line with her carry-on bag. The long line snaked up and back down the corridor, corralling travelers like cows at the livestock market. She people-watched as she waited her turn and shuffled toward the screening area.
Finally through security, she walked down to the gates. It was one big, open area for several flights, and most of the seats were already occupied.
She found her gate and checked in with the agent. “Washington, D.C., please.”
The gate agent handed her driver’s license and ticket across the counter. A shiny gold aluminum Christmas tree shimmied on the counter as she moved her hand to take it. The whole terminal was decorated for Christmas with those same shiny miniature trees. Not too creative. “You’re all set. Have a nice flight.”
“Thank you.” Allie was bursting at the seams, wanting to scream out to everyone that she was getting ready to move and start a whole new chapter in her life. Instead, she maintained composure and grabbed a seat near the gate, pulling her bags over next to her. She’d never done anything this brave or exciting before.
She overheard one of the gate agents telling travelers that several flights were delayed because of weather. That was probably why there were so many people milling around waiting. The flights were stacking up. She tucked her bags close to her seat, leaving room for others to sit down for the longer-than-usual waits. As long as her flight didn’t get canceled, she didn’t mind a wait. It suited her just fine, in fact. This was the first time she’d had a moment to slow down in days. Enjoying the buzz of activity, the sound of someone mentioning Evergreen behind her caught her attention.
She turned to see if it was someone she knew.
Sitting right behind her was the father and daughter who’d miraculously helped her start her truck with the mere cross of fingers.
Chapter Nine
Ryan and Zoe made good time back to the airport. They dropped off the rental car and went straight to the terminal. They must have hit things just right, because when they got there, the lines to get through security moved quickly, putting them back on schedule.
They found a couple of empty spots together and got settled in the large multiple-gate seating area. His phone hadn’t stopped pinging until he’d finally silenced it earlier, but now that they were sitting around waiting, with time to spare, he felt compelled to at least check his messages and make sure there wasn’t anything urgent that needed his attention.
Zoe seemed happy enough people-watching at the gate. There was plenty to see, too. The gate agents rebooked passengers who’d missed connections, and emotions ran high when the new flight wasn’t until the next day.
A silver-haired woman wearing a pretty white sweater and a knit scarf with a red, green, and white pattern was walking through the gate area, wishing passengers a Merry Christmas and giving out three-and-a-half-inch decorative poinsettias she’d hand knit herself. They could be worn as a pin or used as a tree ornament, she explained. She went on to tell everyone how delighted she was that her daughter and her new son-in-law were flying her down to Miami to visit her grandchildren. She hadn’t seen them in almost a year.
Zoe seemed intrigued by the knitted flower, tucking it safely into her coat pocket.
Ryan listened to his messages. Most of them were just informative, but there was one he probably should return before they got on the plane. He dialed the number. Unfortunately, his colleague was in surgery. “Please tell him that Dr. Bellamy called. I’ll be back after the New Year. Okay. Thanks so much.” He glanced over at Zoe. “Last work call. I promise.” This time, he meant it.
“It’s okay, Dad. I’m having fun.”
“You are?” He hoped so. So far it seemed pretty uneventful to him, but then, he’d been chasing down work calls all day. “What has been your favorite part so far?”
Zoe gave him an are-you-kidding-me? look. “Evergreen, of course!”
“Oh, hey!” a woman’s voice came from nearby.
Ryan and Zoe turned to see the woman with the truck that wouldn’t start back in Evergreen sitting right behind them.
“Well, if it isn’t my mechanic and her assistant.” She twisted around in her seat, resting her elbow on the back of her chair with a friendly smile.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Ryan was shocked to see her again. Maybe that magic snow globe had granted one of his wishes without him even shaking it.
“Taking an airplane.” She wrinkled her nose.
Well, if that wasn’t a dumb thing of him to ask. Of course she was here to get on a plane. “We are, too,” Ryan said, and Zoe giggled. “We’re going to Florida.”
“Washington D.C. I’m Allie, by the way.”
Allie. That was a nice name. It suited her. “I’m Ryan, and this is Zoe.”
“Hi, Zoe,” Allie said. “How was lunch?”
“It was great! And I made a wish on the snow globe.” Zoe raised a brow. “I’m pretty sure it’s what my heart wanted.”
Allie’s face lit up. “You know, my grandpa used to say, ‘the heart knows what it wants even when the head doesn’t.’ So, what did you wish for?”
Zoe shook her head in an emphatic no. “I can’t tell you or else it won’t come true.” But then her face contorted in disappointment. “But I�
�m starting to worry that it’s not going to come true anyway.”
“Hmm. Well, maybe you should wish for it again—give it a little turbo boost,” Allie recommended with exuberance.
“But I don’t have the snow globe.”
“Oh, it’s pretty powerful,” Allie said with certainty. “I bet it’ll be able to hear you from all the way over here.”
Ryan was impressed by the way she interacted with Zoe, and Zoe seemed to buy into the idea of a turbo boost.
Zoe considered that for a second, then with a nod, she spun around in her chair. She raised both hands and crossed her fingers. With determination on her face, she squeezed her eyes tight.
He looked to Allie, smiling appreciatively.
Allie gave him a she-is-the-cutest-kid-ever look, but before he uttered a word, a voice came blasting through the speaker system overhead.
“Ladies and gentleman in the terminal, I’m sorry to report that due to heavy snow, we are closing the runway and cancelling all flights.”
Disappointment dominoed through the building as travelers realized what that meant to them and their holiday plans. Allie’s jaw dropped.
Ryan glanced over at the blue electronic flight tracker board above the gate desk. Flights began flipping from ON TIME to CANCELLED, and before he knew it, there was a blackout bingo of cancelled flights.
“Oh, come on.” All Ryan wanted was to give his little girl a happy Christmas. One she could remember that might dim the sadness they’d gone through last year. Why was the universe working against him?
There were moans and groans from everyone, but if he didn’t know better, he’d have thought he saw a smile on Zoe’s face before she turned around. She was such a good sport.
People scattered in half panic, trying to figure out the best way to salvage their trips. Some were on the phone rebooking; others were lined twenty-five deep at the gate counter, demanding to be put on a plane or get their money back. A couple of guys standing nearby talked about renting an SUV and driving out of the mess.
Ryan told himself to relax. True, he was anxious to get to Florida and get this Christmas started, but they still had a few days before the cruise ship set sail. If they got out tomorrow, or even the next day, they’d miss the land portion of the trip, but everything else would still work out. Getting upset would only make things worse for Zoe, so he put his best foot forward.
He texted his office manager and asked her to get them rebooked on a flight tomorrow. Any time of day would do. Then he turned to Zoe. “Come on, kiddo.” He grabbed the luggage and gestured for her to fall in step with him.
“Are we going home?”
“No way. That wouldn’t be any fun.” He wheeled their luggage out of the gate area and through the glass doors to the Burlington Central Hotel. It was convenient that they didn’t even have to leave the airport building to get there. Unfortunately, a lot of other travelers had the same idea, but this line was a lot shorter than the rebooking line.
Luckily, when it was his turn at the registration desk, they had rooms in the process of being cleaned, and he was lucky enough to get the last double room.
“We’ll stay up late and watch movies. It’ll be great,” he said to Zoe.
“Okay. Do you think we could get something to eat first?”
“Sure.”
The desk clerk pointed to the fancy dining room behind them. “We’re serving French cuisine in our restaurant there, or”—she leaned forward and lowered her voice—“the bistro next door at the airport just before the security gate has the most awesome grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich. It’s my personal favorite.”
“Grilled cheeses,” Zoe and Ryan said in unison. “Thanks so much,” Ryan added.
Zoe spun her bright purple suitcase around and led the way back into the terminal to the diner.
Chapter Ten
Allie walked back into the airport and as soon as she did, she spotted Ryan and Zoe standing near the hostess station of the airport coffee shop waiting for a table. “Did you get a hotel?”
“We did. Yes,” Ryan said. “We’re just going to grab a bite to eat. Did you?”
“I’m going to head back to Evergreen. It’s not that far.”
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive in this storm?”
Allie rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. My truck has seen way worse than this. Hopefully, tomorrow, everything will be back up and running again.”
Zoe nudged her dad. “Does the plane getting cancelled mean we aren’t going to Florida?”
“No,” Ryan reassured her. “We’ll still have plenty of time to catch our cruise.”
Zoe didn’t seem thrilled.
“Oh, wow. A cruise?” Allie mused for Zoe’s benefit. “That sounds like a fancy Christmas. Certainly a lot warmer.”
“Yeah. It’ll be great,” Zoe said.
Allie realized she didn’t want to exchange goodbyes with these two yet, but there wasn’t anything else to say. “Well, it was nice to meet you.”
“Nice meeting you, too.” Ryan looked into her eyes as if he were going to say something. Finally, he said, “Maybe we’ll see you around here tomorrow.”
I hope so. “Yeah. And if not, Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Allie!” Zoe waved with one hand, clutching her purple roller bag with the other.
Allie waved goodbye and headed for the exit as the hostess came to seat Ryan and Zoe.
“Yes. Two, please,” she heard him say.
She glanced over her shoulder one last time before exiting the terminal. It would be nice if their paths crossed again tomorrow.
She hadn’t been away from her truck long enough to need to reference the picture she’d taken with her phone just a couple of hours ago to help her find it. But, having parked on the rooftop, when she did get there, her truck already had a good bit of fresh snow covering the windshield. She put her luggage inside the cab this time and dialed Spencer on his direct line.
“Allie?”
“Hi. Bad news. The flight got cancelled because of the snow.”
He made an audible sigh. “I was just heading out to the airport to pick you up.”
“I’m sorry. It’ll be sometime tomorrow. Hopefully.”
“I’m working tomorrow.”
What does that have to do with anything? “That’s okay. I can get a cab from the airport.”
There was an odd silence. “No second thoughts, right?”
The question surprised her. “Spencer. I didn’t cause the snow. Let me just get there. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Sure. Of course. Call me tomorrow?”
“Of course.”
She disconnected the call and considered it for a moment. Was she having second thoughts? Or was the universe trying to tell her something with the flight being cancelled? She shook her head. It’s winter. This is what happens in this kind of weather.
Ready to get back home and do this all over again tomorrow, she tucked her phone away and started her truck. Well, she tried to, but it wouldn’t do more than that tired, droning groan again. “Oh, no, come on. Really? I thought you wanted me to be in Evergreen!” She smacked the steering wheel.
Calming herself down, she gave the truck a little time to rest before she tried again.
After another thirty minutes of unsuccessful attempts, she was getting cold, and it was becoming clear this old truck wasn’t ready to leave. She’d probably flooded the engine trying for so long by now anyway, so she gave up and decided it was time to go back inside to warm up.
It was like déjà vu as she took the elevator down from the parking garage. She jogged across the crosswalk and went back into the airport.
The warmth of the lobby was welcoming. She brushed away the snow from her coat. A nice c
up of hot chocolate and something to eat would be good right about now. Perhaps it would also let her blow off that feeling that had been nagging her ever since she’d spoken with Spencer. That call had bothered her, although she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.
She walked over to the diner. “Can I sit anywhere?” she asked the hostess, who was walking up just as she got there.
“Sure.” The hostess pointed to her right toward several open tables.
“Thanks.” Allie hadn’t even gotten past the second booth when she heard her name.
“Allie!”
Her heart leaped at the sound of Zoe’s voice. They’d just finished their meal. “Hey there.”
“I thought you were going back to Evergreen.” Ryan stated the obvious.
“I was. I’ve been trying to get my truck started for the last hour.”
“Do you want us to pretend to fix it again?” He raised his hand and crossed his fingers, sending Zoe into a fit of giggles.
“Thank you, but no.” Allie loved their sense of humor. “I’m going to grab a bite to eat and then I’ll try again. If it still doesn’t start, I’ll get a hotel for the night.”
“Come sit with us, Allie!” Zoe scooched over in the booth. “You can tell us about Evergreen.”
She looked to Ryan to make sure he was okay with her joining them, and he was nodding, too, so she slid into the booth next to Zoe. “What would you like to know?”
“Well?” Zoe thought for a moment. “What do you do for Christmas?”
“Oh.” Allie settled into the seat. “Every year, we have this big festival.” The waitress brought her a menu. “Thank you,” she said, then continued her story. “With food, games, and a choir. People come from all over the place. It’s the town’s biggest tradition.”
