A Cranberry Inn Christmas

by Beth Ehemann

  Viper grimaced as he opened and closed his right hand. “I’m not sure I can. I think I strained something in my hand yesterday.”

  Andy stood and lightly slapped Viper in the back of the head. “You really should give that hand a rest once in a while. Now get up!”

  Brody came over and took my hand, pulling me up from the chair. “I’m gonna turn the fireplace on while you girls get cozy in the family room. We’ll take care of everything.”

  “Thanks.” I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and headed toward the family room with the other girls right behind me. We all collapsed on different couches and talked the next hour away, while intermittently breaking up fights over Legos and changing a few diapers.

  Just as the boys finished the kitchen, Alexa glanced over at Lauren and sighed. “It’s about that time, Lauren.”

  Lauren’s already pouty bottom lip stuck out dramatically. “I know. I was waiting for you to say it.”

  My heart sank. “This sucks.”

  “It totally sucks,” Lauren agreed.

  Michelle and Dani met Lauren and Alexa because of me, and didn’t talk to them as much as I did, but they were clearly sad to see them go too. The day we’d all spent together went by way too fast, but was amazing none-the-less.

  “Can we do this another time? Like . . . just for fun?” Lauren sniffed as she stood.

  My heart sank even lower. “That would be awesome, but where? The inn won’t be mom’s for much longer.”

  “You could always twist my arm and drag me away for a spa weekend,” Alexa said with a laugh.

  Michelle sprang up from the couch and pointed at Alexa, “Yes! That sounds like fun. Let’s do that. Kids and husbands stay home and we spend a couple of days—or a couple of months—at the spa.”

  “A couple of months?” Viper rolled his eyes as he stepped into the family room and wrapped his arms around Michelle’s waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. “You can barely go a couple of hours without the Viking, let alone a couple of months.”

  She giggled and gave him a hard elbow, right in the stomach.

  We helped Lauren and Alexa pack up their stuff and the kids and then said a tearful good-bye in the driveway. I don’t think anyone was more disappointed than Tommy, who really did want to stay and hang . . . mostly with Brody and Viper.

  After they pulled away and I shut the door, Brody pulled me against him, the sound of his heart thumping loudly against my ear. “Sorry they had to go so soon.”

  I took a long, slow breath. “I’m sorry too. There never seems to be enough time with them, but . . . this little bit was better than nothing.”

  “Good point. Hopefully you feel that way about me, too, because I need to start packing up so we can head to the airport in a few hours.”

  My shoulders slumped. I’d either forgotten, or totally blocked out, that he, Viper, and Andy would be leaving also. “Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

  “Don’t be bummed. We’re playing two quick games and we’ll be home before you know it. Then, it’ll be time for the Christmas morning of all Christmas mornings. Can you even imagine how many presents are going to be in that room with all these kids here?”

  “Santa’s gonna need one hell of a sleigh,” I joked as we walked hand-in-hand back toward the family room.

  Our plane landed in Nashville, but rather than head to the hotel with the rest of the team, we waited around for Andy’s plane, which was about twenty minutes behind ours.

  “Sucks that he couldn’t get on the same flight as us,” Viper grumbled as he shifted uncomfortably in the blue airport chair.

  “It’s only twenty minutes or so. Not that big of a deal.”

  “Yeah, but these chairs fucking suck.”

  I glanced over and watched him fidget and stretch, trying to find a comfortable spot. “Did you want me to get you a bottle, you big baby?”

  “Shut up.” He finally stopped moving and let out a heavy sigh.

  “Did you get Michelle a Christmas present yet?” I asked, hoping I could distract him enough that he’d quit complaining about the seat.

  His eyes lit up in a way that usually meant trouble. “Hell yeah I did. And I think she’s gonna go nuts.”

  “What’d you get?”

  “I had one of those mothers necklaces made for her. You know . . . the ones where the kids’ birthstones are in there? She mentioned wanting one when we had Michael, but I never got around to it and I think she forgot. She’s gonna freak out.”

  I nodded slowly. “Nice.”

  “Did you get Kacie anything yet?”

  Turning toward him, I pressed my lips together and shook my head.

  “What? Why not? You’re screwed.”

  “I know. I’ve been thinking and thinking about it, but I just can’t come up with anything. I mean . . . I can come up with a million things but none of them are special enough to go along with her perfect Christmas, ya know what I mean?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded as he stared straight ahead. “Need some suggestions?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest as I sat back into the seat. “I’m kinda scared to ask, but go for it.”

  “Okay. There is always your typical fallback of jewelry, but then there are more . . . exotic options. How about, say, a stripper pole for your bedroom? Maybe some sexy Christmas lingerie that’s red with white fur around the edge? Perhaps one of those sexy homemade coupon books? Ya know . . . present this coupon for one blow job?”

  I frowned at him in horror, but said nothing. After a few seconds, he looked over at me. “What?” he asked defensively when he realized I was already staring at him.

  “First of all, that coupon thing for a blow job? Yeah, that’s a present for me, not for her. So is the lingerie and stripper pole. Stop giving me suggestions. I think you used all your smart brain cells on the Christmas party idea.”

  Viper let out a boisterous laugh and punched me in the arm. “Shut up, asshole. I have amazing ideas.”

  “Yeah, like one percent of the time,” I teased. “The rest of the time, your ideas make Andy have to prepare a statement for the media.”

  “Oh God. I don’t like hearing Andy, statement, and media in the same sentence,” Andy said from behind us.

  Viper and I both turned in our seats. “Hey! We thought you were coming from that way,” I said as I pointed my thumb behind me.

  “I was and then they switched my gate at the last minute. Now . . . do I even want to know what the hell you two are talking about?” His eyebrows lowered and he looked back and forth from me to Viper.

  “This knucklehead was giving me gift ideas for Kacie and they weren’t exactly . . . good.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Wait. You don’t have a gift for Kacie yet?” Andy asked in a surprised tone.

  “No. I don’t,” I defended. “Do you have Dani’s present already?”

  Andy nodded. “Yeah, I got it two months ago.”

  I stood up with a heavy sigh. “Let’s go,” I grumbled.

  We got to the hotel and Viper had to pee, so he went straight to his room while I waited with Andy at the front desk.

  “Why are you so damn grumpy tonight?” Andy asked after giving his license to the receptionist.

  “I’m not grumpy. A little stressed, maybe, but not grumpy.” I grabbed a mint from the bowl, unwrapped it and popped it into my mouth.

  “Okay, then let me rephrase. Why are you so stressed?”

  The receptionist handed him back his license and frowned down at the screen. “Unfortunately, Mr. Shaw, there’s been a glitch in the system and I’m afraid we don’t have a room available.”

  “What?!” Andy exclaimed.

  She looked up at him; worry flooding her face. “I’m so, so sorry about that, but we’ve overbooked. I can give you a credit for a free stay in the future?”

  He sighed in frustration and ran his hand through his hair. “What good is that going to do me tonight?”

  The nervous receptionist shrugged and star
ed at him wide-eyed, like she was waiting for him to scream at her.

  “Dude,” I lightly smacked his chest to get his attention. “My room has two beds, why don’t you just stay with me?”

  Andy searched my face, hesitating for just a second. “Are you sure?”

  “Totally. All that bed ever does is hold my suitcase, anyway.”

  “Thanks, bro.” Andy turned toward the receptionist, “Alright, I’ll just stay with him.”

  Her shoulders fell and I practically heard the air leave her lungs in relief. “Okay, I’m really sorry about that.”

  Andy gave her a quick wave before throwing the strap of his duffel bag over his shoulder. “Don’t sweat it. Shit happens.”

  She shifted her eyes to mine and gave me a wide, thankful smile. I nodded quickly before Andy and I turned and headed toward the elevator.

  We got to our room and dropped our bags on the floor next to the dresser.

  “Why the hell is flying so exhausting?” Andy asked as he collapsed onto the bed. “All you’re doing is sitting in a chair, exerting zero energy. So why when you land do you immediately feel like you need a nap?”

  “Well, first of all . . . it’s late so that nap would actually be called bedtime, and second, I have no idea about the other part.” I sat on the edge of the other bed and lifted my hands, rubbing my tired eyes with the base of my palms.

  “Okay, what’s eating at you, dude? For real?”

  I glanced over at Andy quickly before laying back on the bed and staring up at the dated popcorn ceiling of the hotel room. “I told you . . . I’m stressed.”

  “You’re this worked up over a present for Kacie?”

  “Andy . . . she’s so awesome. She handles my career without skipping a beat and never complains about anything. She also never asks for anything. Low-maintenance is an understatement for her, which only makes me want to get her something that much more special. Jesus, the girl still clips coupons!”

  He raised his head off the bed and frowned at me. “She does?”

  “She does,” I nodded and let out a laugh, thinking about my crazy wife. “And she wants the perfect Christmas . . . well, I need to give her the perfect gift to go along with it, but I’m coming up with nothing.”

  “I could ask Dani to hint around while we’re here?” he offered.

  “Nah. Thanks though. I’ll come up with something . . . hopefully.”

  “Hopefully, when you do figure it out, we’ll be home in time for you to actually give it to her.”

  I turned my head toward him. “What are you talking about?”

  “My phone died on the plane, so I had nothing to do but listen to the two guys next to me go on and on about the storm moving through the Midwest in the next couple of days. I kinda blew it off, but then as I was getting off the plane, the flight attendants were talking to each other about it too.” He raised his eyebrows, “Supposed to be a big one. Like . . . really big.”

  My stomach twisted into a huge knot. “That’s not even funny.”

  Andy shook his head. “I’m not kidding.”

  I looked back up at the ceiling. “Well, those weather men better be wrong because the last thing in the entire fucking world I want to do is call my wife and tell her we won’t make it home for Christmas.”

  “Alright, boys. Slight change in plans.” Coach Collins let out a heavy sigh as he walked through the door of the locker room after our win over the Nashville Predators. He moved further into the room and lifted one foot onto the bench, resting his elbow on his knee as he rubbed his chin. I wanted him to stop talking. I knew what was coming was bad and I didn’t want to hear it. “I just spoke with the front office and they’ve been watching the weather reports every minute tonight. There’s a good-sized storm moving across the Midwest with strong wind gusts and they’re not comfortable with us going up in the plane.”

  My eyes shot to Viper, whose own eyes grew wide as they slid over to me.

  “They have agreed to let us take a bus since the roads still look pretty good at this point,” he continued. “So get ready and head out there as quickly as you can. We’re taking off ASAP to beat whatever weather we can.”

  It was rare that hockey games were ever canceled. Beyond rare, but with the way they were talking, this storm was going to be one of epic proportions.

  The guys all started hustling around the locker room, throwing stuff in their bags and taking two-minute showers. No one said a word, but we didn’t have to. We were all thinking the same thing and we knew it. Them canceling our flight was a big deal. Not making it to St. Louis for our next game would be a big, big deal so we were anxious to get on the road too.

  “Shit!” I stood and froze, staring at Viper.

  “What?” he asked but didn’t look up from his locker.

  “Andy.”

  “What about him?”

  “What are we gonna do with him? He can’t come on the bus with us.”

  “Ooooh,” Viper said slowly, finally realizing what I was getting at. “Well, he’s a grown man, Brody. He’s gonna have to figure that shit out.”

  “I’ll text him from the bus,” I said with a sigh.

  We boarded the bus quickly and were on the road within minutes. I pulled out my phone and sent Andy a text.

  Yo! As it turns out that storm really is a mess, so they put us on a bus to St. Louis instead of a plane. I feel bad that we left you behind but we didn’t have a choice.

  Staring out the window at the passing lights, I tapped my leg impatiently as I waited for his response. After a minute, my phone buzzed.

  Andy: Don’t sweat it, man. I’m still gonna try and make my flight there and hope they don’t ground it. I’ll keep you posted.

  I nodded to myself at his response and decided to text Kacie instead of calling her like I usually did. The last thing I needed was for my stress to make her stressed.

  Hey, babe! How’s it going?

  She responded almost immediately.

  Kacie: Hey! Good! We all sat around and watched you guys. Great game!

  Thanks! I felt good out there tonight. We all did.

  Kacie: It showed! So, the weather is all over the news up here. Have you heard anything about it at all?

  I tried to downplay it as best as I could.

  Yeah, one of the guys mentioned something about it.

  Kacie: It looks bad, Brody. Really bad. They’re talking feet of snow, not inches. Me, Michelle, and Dani ran to the store today and spent $500 to stock up on things for the next week. People were insane. And we’re used to snow up here, so that’s saying a lot.

  Fucking wonderful.

  It’s okay, babe. Don’t freak out yet. These weather guys are wrong all the time, and sometimes things miss where they say they’re going to hit.

  Just as I sent that text to her, Viper turned his phone toward me. “Dude, look at this.” The glow of his phone lit up his round, huge eyes. I squinted and studied his phone and within seconds, my eyes mirrored his. He’d pulled up the radar of the snowstorm and it was huge. It wasn’t a wide storm, but it was long, stretching all the way from the top of Minnesota to the middle of Missouri and it looked like it was getting stronger as it moved across toward the Great Lakes. Before I could say anything, my phone buzzed again.

  Kacie: I know, and I hope you’re right. I’m just worried that if it does what they say it might do, you guys won’t be able to make it home in time for Christmas. That would be a disaster!

  Don’t worry until it happens, okay, babe? How are my girls? What did you guys do today?

  I changed the subject as smoothly as I could, but deep down I had the same worry Kacie did. As much as Viper and Andy felt like my brothers, and I loved them like family, I wanted to spend Christmas with my real family . . . Kacie and the girls.

  I hardly slept that night. The TV in my room was turned low, but it stayed on the Weather Channel. I set my phone to get text alerts so that I didn’t miss any breaking news. The storm was due to hit that day an
d I was a wreck. While I was happy that my mom, friends, and a bunch of kids were all cozied up at the inn together, I would finally be able to take a sigh of relief when Brody and the boys pulled into the driveway.

  “Hey,” Michelle said, coming through the kitchen doorway in her light blue robe.

  My lips spread into a tight smile. “Good morning.”

  She froze and scowled at me. “That look. I don’t like that look. What’s wrong?”

  “I’m just nervous about the weather.” I ran my fingertip around the rim of my coffee mug, the steam warming my hand.

  “Ugh,” she groaned as she pulled the kitchen chair out and sat down across from me, resting her cheek against her hand. “I hear you. I watched the weather this morning and it made me sick. We’re used to snow up here, so when people are freaking out and clearing the grocery store shelves, it’s no joke.”

  “I know,” I agreed. She was exactly right. Where we lived, snow was just a way of life. People in Minnesota knew how to prepare, how to move it quickly, and more importantly, when to panic. At the grocery store, it was obvious that panic had begun to set in. The guy behind the meat counter was asking every single person if they needed anything extra to ride out the storm. The bread shelf was almost empty, and there wasn’t a water bottle or juice box in sight. Thankfully we got all we needed before it was cleared out, and if we ran short, mom’s pantry was floor to ceiling mason jars filled with vegetables, jams, fruits and just about everything else you could imagine.

  “Hi, Mama,” Emma said from behind me.

  I turned in my chair and scooped her up onto my lap, just like I did every morning. I gently pulled her head against my chest and we rocked back and forth. Emma was my wild child. My little spitfire who did her own thing and didn’t care about anyone’s approval. She was also my early-riser, which I didn’t mind one bit. She spent most of the day running here or there and the mornings were the only time she moved slow enough for me to grab a few extra snuggles.